Grantee Cohort Spring 2018, Spring 2020
Location Virginia
Founded in 2010, the New Virginia Majority Education Fund (NVMEF) is an advocacy organization that works with working-class communities of color in Virginia’s urban areas. NVMEF works towards a Virginia that is democratic, just, and sustainable through community organizing, large-scale voter education and mobilization, leadership development, and strategic communication. NVMEF focuses on four issues: environmental protection, immigration, smart growth/transportation, and voting rights.
In 2018, with Art for Justice’s support, the New Virginia Majority Education Fund launched “Court Watch of Central Virginia” – a program that gathered data on the disturbingly high number of people of color without legal representation during bail hearings.
In the face of COVID-19, with Art for Justice’s continued partnership, the New Virginia Majority Education Fund pivoted its Right to Vote campaign to engage voters digitally. The organization created a movement that transforms Virginia by organizing communities of color, women, working people, LGBTQIA+ people, youth and people in progressive politics.