“Our freedoms are tied together”: Angela Lang, Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing for Community (BLOC), on why helping a community’s most marginalized citizens creates better outcomes for all, BLOC’s pandemic pivot, and Backstreet Boys. Alright? * Learn more and support Black Leaders Organizing for Community at BlocByBloc.org Other grassroots regional organizations focusing on GOTV and helping underserved communities thrive: * Advance Carolina – a Black-led organization in North Carolina with a mission to build political and economic power in Black communities and institutions around the state. In 2020, Advance Carolina is working to protect and promote safe voting for African-American and progressive voters. * Detroit Action – Detroit Action is the primary community-driven organization canvassing in Metro Detroit. In 2020, their goal is to have 365,000 voter contact attempts, 60,000 voter contacts, and register 4,000 new voters. They organize in some of the most dangerous and economically depressed neighborhoods in America. * LUCHA (Living United for Change in Arizona) – LUCHA focuses on grassroots campaigns, leadership development, advocacy and civic engagement particularly in communities of color. In 2020 LUCHA’s goal is to work in 8 state legislative districts, registering 30,000 new voters and knocking on 400,000 unique doors in Pinal, Maricopa, and Coconino County. * One Pennsylvania – In 2018, One PA worked to pass one of the most far-reaching labor bills in the US. In 2019, One PA increased turnout in their wards by 6 points for the Alleghany county District Attorney race. In 2020, they will focus on 160,000 neglected voters in Philadelphia, Allegheny and Delaware Counties, with 4-6 interactions per voter. Their goal is to speak to over 200,000 voting age individuals in 2020 in Philadelphia alone. * Take Action Minnesota: In 2018, Take Action Minnesota ran a statewide narrative campaign #GreaterThanFear, which aimed to resist divisive racist politics – 8 of 10 of the candidates they supported were victorious. In 2020, their goal is to have 870,000 conversations to reach up to 235,000 votes, and electing 10-12 Democrats to the Minnesota State Senate. Milwaukee’s own Sista Strings Thanks as always to M. The Heir Apparent, who provides the music behind the podcast – check him out here! ***This is a rough transcription of Episode 85 of the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. It originally aired on October 27, 2020. Transcripts are created using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and there may be errors in this transcription, but we hope that it provides helpful insight into the conversation. If you have any questions or need clarification, please email dj@midlifemixtape.com *** Angela Lang 00:01 If we continue to think of the election as the first and only stop in civic engagement, I don’t think that we’re actually seeing our vote through. 0:09