The Southern Vision Alliance is a left-of-center advocacy organization based in Durham, North Carolina. The organization serves as an incubator for left-wing organizing targeted at young people. The organization also serves as a fiscal sponsor for other far-left organizations.

The organization has alleged ties to the communist Workers World Party; its director, Elena Everett, has been described as a founding member of the Workers World Party. ¹

Overview

The Southern Vision Alliance was founded in 2014 as an organization that seeks to build a radical-left youth and student movement in the South. The group targeted various minority groups such as people of color, gay and lesbian people, and immigrants. The plan was to have the young people benefit from the wisdom of older activists. ²

The Southern Vision Alliance sees American society as existing in a state of “manufactured scarcity.” It sees American society as forcing “oppressed” communities to compete against each other for access to resources. It sees this manufactured scarcity as a way to use xenophobic and racist rhetoric to get communities to see themselves as rivals against one another. ³

Organization Structure

The organization has three major projects: the Youth Organizing Insitute, Ignite NC, and fiscal sponsorships. It also awards grants through its Frontlines Funds.

The Youth Organizing Institute was launched in 2010. The organization launched after a battle over diversity policy in the Wake County Public Schools System. It organizes students and other young people to battle against school segregation and to make schools safe for gay and lesbian students. It claims to have trained hundreds of activists through seasonal programs such as the Summer Freedom School, the Teen Convening, and the Annual Ella Baker Gala. ⁴

Ignite NC is targeted towards college students in North Carolina. It works on issues such as police brutality, LGBT issues, student debt, and rape culture. It trains two cohorts of college students and other young people annually. ⁵

The group is also a fiscal sponsor to many other organizations. Among the organizations it supports are Durham Beyond Policing, which seeks to remove the presence of police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from ethnic minority neighborhoods. It also supports organizations opposed to the enforcement of immigration laws and other radical causes. ⁶

The Frontlines Funds awards grants to specific organizations that work with young people, gay and lesbian people, and other minority groups. The Millennial Voter Partnership is co-awarded with Democracy NC, Common Cause NC, and NC PIRG. ⁷

The group is associated with Charlotte Uprising ⁸, a group that led protests at the 2020 Republican NationalConvention in which police officers were assaulted. ⁹

Staff

Elena Everett is a co-director of the organization. She is a reportedly a founding member of the Workers World Party¹⁰ and a former chair of the North Carolina Green Party. In 2010, she founded the Youth Organizing Institute and she serves as board treasurer of Blueprint NC. ¹¹

Loan Tran is co-director of the organization. ¹²

Finances

According to the 2017 Form 990, the organization raised $1.13 million and spent $877,397. It donated $5,223 to the Prometheus Radio Project and $7,864 for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. ¹³

1. “Elena Everett.” Mapping The Left. Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.mappingtheleft.com/person/elena-everett/.
2. “Our History”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/about/letter-from-the-southern-vision-alliance-our-history/.
3. “Our History”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/about/letter-from-the-southern-vision-alliance-our-history/.
4. “Youth Organizing Institute”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/youth-organizing-institute/.
5. “Ignite NC”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/ignite-nc/.
6. “Member Organizations”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/members/.
7. “Millennial Voter Partnership”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/frontlines-funds/mvp/.
8. Southern Vision Alliance, May 2017-May 2018 Annual Report, accessed September 30, 2020. https://southernvision.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/svannualreport2018.pdf.
9. Ablon, Matthew. “Charlotte police: officers assaulted, multiple protesters arrested in uptown demonstration.” FOX Carolina, August 21, 2020. https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/charlotte-police-officers-assaulted-multiple-protesters-arrested-in-uptown-demonstration/article_1426f3a6-e428-11ea-96e8-d3c817244df5.html.
10.      “Elena Everett”. 2019. Mapping The Left. Accessed December 2. https://www.mappingtheleft.com/person/elena-everett/.
11. “Staff”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/about/staff/.
12. “Staff”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/about/staff/.
13. 2017 Form 990. 2017. Ebook. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/611/639/2017-611639641-0f9e7fcd-9.pdf.