The National Coalition of Black Civic Participation (sometimes called the National Coalition or NCBCP) is an advocacy group that focuses on increasing voter turnout and activism among African Americans and other underserved communities. The organization also professes to promote left-of-center social and economic policy under the guise of “social and economic justice.” ¹

The organization has frequently partnered with the National Urban League, the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” and BET. ² When Joyner teamed with the National Coalition in 2012, the Joyner family claimed the partnership registered 100,000 new voters. ³

The coalition has a national membership of organizations in the civil rights, labor, business, fraternity, sorority, women, youth, education, faith, policymaker, research, and other spaces. In 2003, the NCBCP established a year-round national program for civil engagement. The coalition has more than a dozen state-based affiliates. ⁴ The group has been active in promoting turnout in African American communities to the benefit of Democratic candidates, particularly during presidential election years. In 2024, the coalition led a nationwide bus tour promoting black voter turnout in key areas. ⁵

Background

The National Coalition of Black Civic Participation was founded in 1976 to promote civic engagement and foster grassroots organizing among “Black and underserved communities.” The group states that its constituent base includes civil rights, labor, and business organizations; fraternities and sororities; women; youth; educators; faith leaders; public policymakers; researchers; and others. In addition to dozens of partner organizations that are members of the coalition, the group has established twelve state-based affiliates to promote the group’s activities at the state and local levels. ^{6 7 8}

Affiliated Organizations

Listed member organizations of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation include the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME, AT&T, the American Postal Workers Union, Black Voters Matter, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Communication Workers of America, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. ⁹

Groups that are listed as state chapters and local affiliates of the organization include the Alabama Coalition on Black Civic Participation (ACBCP), the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation (FCBCP), the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda (GCPA), Georgia STAND-UP, the Maryland/DC Unity Coalition, the Virginia Black Women’s Roundtable, and the Northern Virginia Unity Coalition (NOVA Coalition). ⁷

Black Women’s Roundtable

The National Coalition established the Black Women’s Roundtable, which released voter guides beginning in 2007. The guides do not endorse candidates but have answers from questionnaires to presidential candidates. The coalition partners with various state and local groups across the country to distributed the voter guides. National Coalition CEO Melanie Campbell said the questionnaire was developed in partnership with Essence. The top priorities in the questionnaire are about candidates’ stances relating to issues of racism, hate crimes, criminal justice reform, economic justice, policing policy, and education. ¹⁰

The group has also commissioned the formation of state and local Black Women’s Roundtables throughout the country. The national roundtable authored a policy statement that endorsed broad policy goals concerning health care, economic issues, and education. The group states that “BWR supports policies that seek to expand the middle class, reduce wealth disparities, and improve financial literacy.” Regarding education, the group endorses training centered around “the new green-jobs economy” and states that it “encourages increased investment in a culturally responsive educational platform that aggressively tackles achievement disparities in underserved and underachieving public schools.” ¹¹

Advocacy

COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, the National Coalition joined other organizations as the National Urban League, the NAACP and the National Action Network in a meeting with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) to address an alleged disproportionate impact that the pandemic coronavirus was having on minority communities. ¹²

2020 Census and Elections

Campbell, the National Coalition’s CEO said the top priority for 2020 must be completing the U.S. Census and voting in the elections. She claimed the African American population was undercounted by more than 800,000 in the 2010 Census. Campbell added that “A low count will adversely affect Black communities politically, economically, socially and educationally for the next 10 years.” ¹³

The organization launched “NCBCP Unity 2020 Vote and Be Counted,” and scheduled Black Census Week initially for March 2020. ¹⁴

The U.S. Census Bureau profiled the coalition on its website as among the organizations that supported the 2020 census. The Census Bureau praised the group’s “Unity ’20 Black Voting and Power Building Campaign,” stating that, “As part of the campaign, NCBCP launched “#Do2in2020 – Vote and Be Counted.” The initiative brought 55 national, regional, and state organizations together to encourage Black/African American communities to complete the census and vote in the 2020 presidential election. Virtual town halls and Facebook Live events engaged audiences in real-time, and NCBCP partners and followers were encouraged to use the hashtag #CountMeBlack on social media.” ¹⁵

2024 Election

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation mobilized to promote the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by hosting bus tours across certain states and regions to boost turnout in Black communities. The group’s Georgia bus tour was titled the “Power of the Ballot Freedom and Joy” bus tour and consisted of multiple buses “traveling through key regions to mobilize Black communities in barber shops, senior centers, churches, and more” The tour was jointly organized by the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and NCBCP.” ⁵

Hate Crime Response

The National Coalition partnered with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in late 2017 to launch the Black Youth Vote #StopTheHate Organizing Campaign. State partners for the organization included Living Green Club/Building Green Initiative HBCU Green Fund @ Clark Atlanta University; the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Alabama Black Youth Vote, the Alabama Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Philadelphia Black Youth Vote, Rising Sons; and Prince Georges Black Youth Vote; and Community of Hope AME Church in Temple Hills, Maryland. The initiative focused on increasing awareness about hate crimes, advocating for tougher laws to stop hate crimes, and establishing city and regional task forces to respond to violence, harassment and intimidation affecting millennials who are Muslim, African-American, illegal immigrants, or LGBT. ¹⁶

Southern Advocacy

In 2018, the National Coalition set up a regional office in Atlanta, Georgia. Campbell claimed the reason for the office is that Republicans don’t focus on Black voters while Democrats ignore Black voters in the South. She further claimed if southern Black voters mobilized, then parties would have to pay attention. ¹⁷

In 2016, the Black Woman’s Roundtable launched Unity’16, with a plan called “State of Emergency #PoweroftheSisterVote.” It focused on Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida, which were considered battleground states that year. ¹⁸

Other Policies

The organization has expressed opposition to voter identification laws. ¹⁹

The National Coalition has supported net neutrality policies that allows the Federal Communications Commission to have some overview of the Internet when it backed the Obama administration-majority FCC’s package of regulations on internet service providers. ²⁰

In 2024, the group joined the Legal Defense Fund, the NAACP, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Action Network, the National Urban League, and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in opposing legalization that “would give the secretary of the Department of the Treasury broad power to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations The groups argued that the legislation (H.R. 9495), if passed, “could be weaponized to target racial justice organizations and protestors, which have long been targets of biased criminal investigations.” ²¹

1. National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Bloomberg. Company Profile. Accessed March 19, 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0856755D:US
2. National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Great Nonprofits. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://greatnonprofits.org/org/national-coalition-on-black-civic-participation-inc
3. Robinson-Jacobs, Karen. “Tom Joyner’s 50-Year Legacy: Social Activism Through the Power of Radio.” NBC News. February 4, 2020. Accessed March 19, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/tom-joyner-s-50-year-legacy-social-activism-through-power-n1128276
4. Press Release. “National Coalition on Black Civil Participation Honors Barbara Lee With Chairman’s Circle Award.” Rep. Barbara Lee. May 12, 2009. https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/national-coalition-on-black-civic-participation-honors-barbara-lee-with-chairmans-circle-award
5. “Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda & National Coalition Ramp Up “Power of the Ballot Freedom and Joy” Bus Tour to Mobilize Voters in Final Stretch of Early Voting.” Fox 59. October 27, 2024. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://fox59.com/business/press-releases/cision/20241027PH41137/georgia-coalition-for-the-peoples-agenda-national-coalition-ramp-up-power-of-the-ballot-freedom-and-joy-bus-tour-to-mobilize-voters-in-final-stretch-of-early-voting/
6. “Who We Are.” National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.ncbcp.org/who/
7. “Affiliates.” National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.ncbcp.org/who/affiliates/
8. “Mission.” National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.ncbcp.org/who/mission/
9. “Membership Organizations.” National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.ncbcp.org/who/member_orgs/
10. McNeir, Kevin. “Don’t be Fooled by ‘Fake News’ – Black (and Brown Votes Matter.” The Washington Informer. March 11, 2020. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/dont-be-fooled-by-fake-news-black-and-brown-votes-matter/
11. “Policy.” National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.ncbcp.org/programs/bwr/policy/
12. Givens, Dana. “Civil Rights Leaders Call Out Congress to Address Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans.” Black Enterprise. March 18, 2020. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.blackenterprise.com/civil-rights-leaders-call-out-congress-to-address-disproportionate-impact-of-covid-19-on-african-americans/
13. Campbell, Melanie. “Count Every Black Person in the 2020 U.S. Census.” Black Entertainment Television. October 22, 2019. March 20, 2020. https://www.bet.com/news/national/2019/10/22/op-ed–count-every-black-person-in-the-2020-us-census.html
14. Berry, Deborah Barfield and Smith, Sherman. “How Groups Are ‘Pulling Out All the Stops’ to Accurately Count People of Color for Census 2020.” USA Today. February 28, 2020. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/28/census-2020-bureau-community-groups-accurate-count-data/4800998002/
15. “National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.” United States Census Bureau. Accessed December 8, 2024. https://www.census.gov/library/spotlights/2020/black-civic-participation.html
16. Special Report. “National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Launches Black Youth Vote ‘Stop the Hate’ Campaign Seeks to Reduce Growing Racial Tensions and Rise of Hate Crimes.” Afro. October 9, 2017. https://www.afro.com/national-coalition-black-civic-participation-launches-black-youth-vote-stop-hate-campaign/
17. Berry, Deborah Barfield. “Black Women’s Groups Step Up Efforts to Energize African American Voters in the South.” USA Today. July 9, 2018. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/09/black-women-civic-groups-ramp-up-efforts-south/762662002/
18. Burke, Lauren Victoria. “Black Women’s Roundtable Launches National Vote Effort.” The Baltimore Times. October 19, 2016. Accessed March 21, 2020. http://baltimoretimes-online.com/news/2016/oct/19/black-womens-roundtable-launches-national-vote-eff/
19. Press Release. “National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Applauds Judge Simpson’s Postponement of Voter ID Requirement in PA.” CNBC. October 2, 2012. https://www.cnbc.com/id/100127903
20. Press Release. “The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the National Council of Negro Women Comment on New FCC Order to Preserve Open Internet.” December 21, 2010. Accessed March 20, 2020. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-national-coalition-on-black-civic-participation-and-the-national-council-of-negro-women-comment-on-new-fcc-order-to-preserve-open-internet-112280099.html
21. “Leading Civil Rights Organizations Urge Congress to Reject Bill Giving Government Broad Powers to Revoke Nonprofits’ Tax-Exempt Status.” Legal Defense Fund. November 20, 2024. Accessed December 8, 2024.  https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/civil-rights-organizations-reject-bill-revoke-nonprofit-status/