We know that building Black political power is about creating spaces where Black people are actively setting the agenda, having direct influence during the policy making process, and making Black voters hyper-aware of the collective power they hold to take civic action and make political change. This is why understanding how Black voters perceive their power and effectively developing messaging strategies is quite vital for continuing to build Black political power, and most importantly, sustaining it.

Over the past few years, Terrance Woodbury, Founding Partner at HIT Strategies and Katrina Gamble, Senior Advisor to DPI and President of Sojourn Strategies, the New Georgia Project, POWER PA, Detroit Action, BLOC, and Florida Rising have conducted research to understand what type of messaging frames and narratives help increase political engagement among Black voters. Some of our key findings showed that raising perceptions of individual voter power as well as a belief in the collective power of Black voters is an important way to increase political participation.