People’s Agenda

Background

People’s Agenda was founded in 1998 by civil rights activist Joseph Lowery. ¹ It is active throughout the state of Georgia and works to create and support coalitions in the southeastern United States. ²

Several media articles credit the People’s Agenda and executive director Helen Butler, along with similar organizations, with the influx of new voters in the 2020 elections who turned Georgia from red to blue with the elections of Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) as well as President Joe Biden. ^{3 4 5}

Programs

People’s Agenda’s Voter Empowerment Crusade includes year-round voter registration, town halls, candidate forums to educate voters on political candidates and policies, the Get Out the Vote campaign, and the Election Protection project to inform voters of their rights. ⁶

People’s Agenda organizes a Ride to the Poll program for Georgia voters leveraging volunteer drivers. ⁷

People’s Agenda participated in the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Unity ’22 Campaign along with Black Women’s Roundtable, Black Youth Vote!, Black Male Initiative, and Georgia STAND-UP to encourage voting in the 2022 Georgia runoff election through canvassing, sign waving, parties at the polls, and providing rides to the polls. ⁸

Partnerships

Partners of the People’s Agenda include the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Black Women’s Roundtable, and Black Youth Vote!. ⁹

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation is an advocacy group that focuses on increasing voter turnout and activism among African Americans. The organization also professes to promote left-of-center social and economic policy under the guise of “social and economic justice.” ¹⁰

Black Women’s Roundtable is a program of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation focused on leadership development and empowerment for Black women and girls, promoting voting and civic activism. ¹¹

Black Youth Vote! (BYV!) is the organizing arm of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation focused on educating and encouraging young Black adults to vote and get involved in political activism. ¹²

Coalitions

People’s Agenda is a member of the left-leaning “anti-oppression” coalition Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD). DFAD is made up of over 250 left-leaning activist groups including United to Protect Democracy, Government Accountability Project, Rock the Vote, Common Cause, Progressive Democrats of America, Center for American Progress, and People for the American Way. ¹³

People’s Agenda is a member of ProGeorgia, a left-of-center policy advocacy and voter engagement coalition with more than 30 members including the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Common Cause of Georgia, the Community Voters Project, Faith in Public Life, the Georgia NAACP, Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions, the League of Women Voters of Georgia, the  SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, and Planned Parenthood Southeast. ¹⁴

Lawsuits

People’s Agenda joined with the Georgia NAACP, League of Women Voters of Georgia, GALEO, and Common Cause in a lawsuit that challenges Georgia’s new voting law SB202, claiming that it was an “effort to suppress the participation of Black voters and other voters of color.” SB 202 requires voter ID for absentee ballots, limits the use of drop boxes, and expands early voting access. ¹⁵

The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda vs. Raffensperger is an active lawsuit as of February 2023. It challenges Georgia’s voter registration law requiring that voter data “exactly match” data stored in the Social Security database or Georgia state’s driver database, claiming that this law negatively impacts Black, Latino, and Asian-American citizens’ ability to register to vote. ¹⁶

Financials

2019 tax returns show People’s Agenda had revenues of $828,055 and expenses of $464,902. ¹⁷

In 2019 and 2020 People’s Agenda received donations from left-of-center organizations Grove Foundation, Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO), Democracy Fund (Democracy Alliance),  New Venture Fund (NVF), Georgia STAND-UP, and Commonwealth Fund. ¹⁸

Leadership

Helen Butler has been executive director of People’s Agenda since 2003. Previously she was a district coordinator for the  NAACP National Voter Fund for the 2000 election cycle and the state coordinator for the NAACP Voter Empowerment program in 2001 and 2002. Butler is a board member of left-of-center lobbying group Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) and the State of Georgia Help America Vote Advisory Committee. ¹⁹

Lyndon Waller has been the programs director for People’s Agenda since 2013. He is a co-founder of Black Male Initiative Georgia. ²⁰

Cynthia Battles is the policy and engagement director for People’s Agenda. ²¹ Previously Battles was election protection coordinator for progressive advocacy group Common Cause Georgia. In 2017 and 2018 Battles worked for several Democratic campaigns including future U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), then-state Sen. Jen Jordan (D-GA), and Democratic candidate David Kim. ²²

Civil rights activist Joseph Lowery was the founder of People’s Agenda in 1998. ¹ Earlier in his career Lowery founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was co-founder and former president of the Black Leadership Forum, a consortium of advocacy groups. ²³ He died in 2020 at the age of 98, still actively involved in civil rights advocacy. ²⁴