As the U.S. inches closer to Election Day, the focus on voters in key battleground states continues to intensify, particularly in Florida where Tyler Perry and non-profit organization Equal Ground have partnered on an initiative to turn out Black voters.
Jasmine Burney-Clark, director at Equal Ground, said the "Souls to the Polls" initiative is about educating communities on important issues and helping them make informed decisions once it is time to cast their ballots. It also conducted voter registration efforts.
Through partnerships with local Florida churches, the group has been able to hold Park and Praise events, where voters can drop their ballots, attend in-car church services, and even hear live musical entertainment.
"We know that COVID has not allowed many churches to come together and convene in a real way inside of their places of worship, so we figured we'd do an outside version of that, where folks continue to stay in their car," Burney-Clark told Cheddar.
Perry and Equal Ground look to bring out more than 250,000 Black voters in the state through the Souls to the Polls drive.
Along with receiving "inspirational messages" at the drive-in services, Burney-Clark said the events allow communities to safely gather after not having interacted or seeing each other for months.
So far the group has received $500,000 in charitable donations to keep the program on its feet and funding the voter turnout efforts.
"We are really using it to fuel the economic structure of Black businesses in our community," Burney-Clark said, by using the money to hire local help with event production, ranging from show elements to food services. Equal Ground is also employing workers to send text messages, knock on doors, and drive people to the polls all in effort to boost Black voter turnout this election.
Facing public backlash, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has told a Senate panel that it’s his “sacred duty” to ensure election mail delivery. But he told senators on Friday that he has no plans to restore curbside mail collection boxes or high-speed sorting machines that have been removed.
Sen. Kamala Harris has become a beacon of cautious hope among cannabis advocates and industry insiders who hope she’ll push a more conservative Joe Biden left on cannabis issues.
Political ad spending is up across the board. Cheddar's Michelle Castiillo takes a look at what topics politicians are focusing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Chuck Rocha, former senior adviser for Bernie for President 2020 and 2016, talks new Book "Tio Bernie," and what the Biden-Harris campaign can do to secure the Latino vote.
President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall.
Dollar stores have conquered the United States, in an era where a “retail apocalypse” is slowly decimating brick and mortar retail shopping. The spread of these dollar stores is also deeply tied to issues of income inequality in the U.S. It’s argued that not only do these institutions benefit from poverty, but also that they perpetuate it. It has even led to some communities to limit the spread of dollar stores in their towns. So how did the dollar store conquer the U.S. - and what is their real impact?
An appeals court has allowed ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft to continue treating their drivers as independent contractors in California while an appeal works its way through the court.
President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to allow him to block critics from his personal Twitter account.
The new rule would tweak the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which regulates the fiduciary duties of private plan managers.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma in a hospital in Siberia after falling ill from a suspected poisoning.
