Black Church Fund logo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to President Donald Trump asking supporters to be poll monitors, and concerns about related intimidation at the polls, the Black Church Action Fund has launched a multi-city ‘Souls to the Polls’ bus tour.
The tour began on Saturday, Oct. 24 and ends on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. It will start and stop in Orlando and feature Desmond Meade of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Bishop Reginald Jackson, Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, Bishop Matthew Brown, Neichelle Guidry, Pastor John P. Kee and others. The tour includes stops in Atlanta; Columbia and Charleston, S.C.; Charlotte and Durham/Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; and Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Miami, Fla.
“Our overall goal is to engage and activate one million Black church voters,” said Pastor Michael McBride, co-founder of the Black Church Action Fund. "Prior to the tour, we’d launched virtual ‘Souls to the Polls’ events, text-a-thons, phone banks, voter registration drives, and digital organizing workshops. We will leave no stones unturned to ensure Black voters vote in historic numbers.”
During each stop, Black Church Action Fund members and supporters will host pop-up events, visit precincts, engage voters and inquire about their voting experience. They will also distribute voter care packages which include Personal Protection Equipment, hotline information should they experience voting irregularities or intimidation, and other materials to assist them during Early Voting and on Election Day.
The Black Church Action Fund was founded in 2017 by Pastor Mike McBride, Bishop Leah Daughtry, the Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, Pastor Traci Blackmon, Bishop Frank Reid, Erica and Warryn Campbell, Dr. Iva Carruthers and other leading clergy from across the country. The Black Church Action Fund is a strategic initiative which engages in selected federal, state and local elections deemed consequential to addressing urban gun violence, mass incarceration, voter suppression and economic justice. It aims to elect leaders committed to changing these conditions and championing the equitable treatment of Black communities.
Church officials and pastors in key cities who would like the bus to stop in their community or receive live updates, should go to blackchurchrocks.com.
Jennifer R. Farmer is a communications specialist based in the greater Washington, D.C. area.