In this episode, Abigail and Marésha chat with Nsombi Lambright-Haynes (One Voice), Bee Moorehead (Texas Impact), and Andrea Miller (People Demanding Action). We’re talking about the importance of protecting our democratic institutions in the context of bold, ambitious climate action. Nsombi, Bee, and Andrea are three of the leading Southern voices when it comes to democracy, voting rights, and why it matters.

Nsombi Lambright-Haynes. One Voice, a statewide leadership developme nt and policy advocacy organization, headquartered in Jackson, MS. The goal of One Voice is to build leadership in an effort to address structural oppressions that show up in the institutions that are significant in the lives of families, including the public education system, voting, the environment, and the criminal justice system. Lambright-Haynes serves on the City of Jackson’s Civil Service Commission and Criminal Justice Taskforce and also served on the transition teams of Jackson Mayors Chokwe Lumumba and Chokwe Antar Lumumba. Lambright-Haynes sits on the boards of the National Network for Justice, and the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. the Mary Church Terrell Literary Society, Women for Progress and is a Life Member of the Jackson Branch of the NAACP.

Bee Moorhead. Bee has been Executive Director of Texas Impact and its sister organization, the Texas Impact Foundation, since 2000. Under Bee’s leadership, Texas Impact and the Texas Impact Foundation are among the most respected interfaith networks in the country. Bee’s policy expertise includes a wide range of issues including health and human services, climate, migration, public budgets, and civic engagement. She has served on numerous state agency working groups and task forces on topics ranging from nursing homes to hurricane response. She is a credentialed observer to the United Nations climate policy negotiations process; in that capacity, she has attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s annual Conference of the Parties every year since 2015. She is a registered lobbyist with the State of Texas. Her government experience includes 8 years as a senior fiscal policy analyst for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Andrea Miller. Andrea is an election turn-out strategist working with under-represented voters in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas. She is the founding Tri-Chair of the Virginia Poor People’s Campaign. She helped launch National Women’s Political Caucus of Virginia and is currently Acting President. She has worked as a lobbyist, legislative, political director, and organizer. Andrea is the Executive Director of People Demanding Action, a multi-issue advocacy group. She is both an organizer as well as a digital advocacy expert. As an IT professional she is also responsible for PDAction’s digital strategy and customizes advocacy tools for small to medium size organizations through the Progressive Support Project. During the 2017 and 2018 elections she designed and deployed virtual phone banks for outreach to under-represented voters in Virginia, Alabama and Pennsylvania.