New Georgia Project Has A Whole New Set Of Tactics
by David Ford
(All “From The Frontlines Of COVID” articles are summaries based on Zoom calls between Airlift and group leaders. Full audio is available upon request from donors.)
In times like these, what you need is someone like Nsé Ufot on your side. “We are changing our tactics, but not our goals,” says Ufot, the busy CEO of the New Georgia Project (NGP), who recently took time out to talk with Airlift’s fundraising folks about making political change during the current health crisis.
Ufot told Airlift that, despite the pandemic, Georgia Republicans have been up to their usual tricks. Although they recently made vote-by-mail possible, they then created a complicated application process that will (unsurprisingly) make voting harder for the poor and the elderly. But, NGP remains undaunted:
“Our priorities come from conversations we have with voters. People know us for our large-scale registration work. We have registered 420,000 people of color. Our policy agenda and political agenda has always been informed by what’s at the top of the list for the people we organize with,” Ufot explains.
And, the team is showing unwavering determination and creativity in its efforts to protect and expand voting rights. For example, they’re engaging an Atlanta ice cream company in partnership to outfit ice cream trucks with scanners to help voters who need a copy of their driver’s license to send in with their ballots.
NPG still aims to turn 25 Georgia assembly seats blue this year, not because it’ll be easy, but because it has to be done. Georgia Republicans have blocked Medicaid expansion, which led directly to hospital closures. Georgia is the third worst state in terms of the uninsured, and—not surprisingly—the Covid19 death rate in Georgia is also one of the highest in the country.
Despite numerous uphill battles, NPG can hit their goals because they have the trust of underrepresented communities—trust they earned by being part of the community, by listening to and serving the communities they organize. Ufot clearly illustrates NGP’s invaluable community ties:
“Clay County, that’s part of the rural black vote, there is no newspaper there and only one doctor, so during the Covid19 epidemic, our team sends out text messages whenever there’s breaking news, to make sure there is a credible voice communicating urgent messages to black citizens.”
Supporters of Airlift directly help groups like NGP (and their communities) reach their health care and COVID response goals.