Pandemic to Prosperity: South (Q4 | 2021)

A civic ecosystem has been burgeoning for decades in the South, and it now offers an opportunity to turn the tragedy of this pandemic into an opportunity to build prosperity and progress for all. Data and civic engagement will be critical as we chart the path forward. In 2019, Stacey Abrams founded the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP) to lift up policies that address particular vulnerabilities in the South such as underfunded public health infrastructure, thin protections for workers, and weak supports for the unemployed, families, and children. That same year, Abrams founded Fair Count to achieve a fair and accurate count in the 2020 Census while strengthening pathways to continued civic participation. Together, SEAP and Fair Count commissioned the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) to examine data documenting the state of the South during the pandemic.