A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund

Political Activities

Philip Randolph Educational Fund’s largest expenditure is on civic and voter engagement in cities with large Black populations. In 2023, the group spent $82,177 on voter engagement and turnout operations. APREF’s two major issues are voter engagement and turnout and fighting what it calls “voter suppression.” The group provides training and funding for APREF chapters and their volunteers and staff. ¹

Beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic, APREF shifted more towards advocating racial justice. The group claimed the pandemic highlighted systemic racism through disproportionate distribution of information related to the disease to the lack of broadband internet access that made it more difficult for Black people to work remotely. The group also advocates more government-run health care, arguing that Black people disproportionately lack access to health care. ¹

APREF maintains a database of officeholders and candidates. It distributes a list of every candidate running for office and provides biographies and issue stances and distributes them to its members. The group also provides sample ballots and information on where and how to vote and election dates. The group also provides information to its members on how to stay in touch with office holders and how to lobby them. ³

APREF also helps its parent group, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, host annual conferences where it trains its members in labor unionism and community organizing. ²

Leadership

Clayola Brown is the president of both the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund and its parent group, the A. Philip Randolph Institute. She is the vice president and civil rights director of the Workers United, SEIU labor union and a former vice president of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). She sits on the boards of America’s Agenda: Health Care For All, the NAACP, the Workers Defense League, Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Women, and the Sidney Hillman Foundation. ⁴

Edgar Romney, the secretary of the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, is the secretary-treasurer of Workers United, SEIU, a vice president of the SEIU, and a board member of Amalgamated Bank. ⁵

Ernest Green, a director of the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, was one of the “Little Rock Nine,” nine Black students who desegregated Little Rock, Arkansas’s Central High School in 1957 under the guard of Federal troops. He is a former Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Carter administration. ⁶

Norman Hill, a former president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, is a director. ¹

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who is the nonvoting U.S. House Delegate for the District of Columbia, is also a director. ¹

Financials

According to the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund’s 2023 tax return, the group had $192,222 in revenue, $221,830 in expenses, and $188,715 in net assets. The group gave $61,275 in grants to A. Philip Randolph Institute state and local chapters to support their operations. ¹

In 2023, the group received a $10,000 grant from the United Steelworkers. ⁷

In the past, the group has received support from local labor union chapters. ⁸

The group raises money through ActBlue Charities and the group claims the money raised will be used for engagement and turnout of racial minority voters. ⁹