What We Do
Voting Rights. Medical Rights. Employment Rights. Housing Rights. Policy Reform.
Voting Rights
We work to restore the voting rights of formerly incarcerated people and people with convictions by changing voting policies, canvassing in our neighborhoods and communities, hosting voter registration drives, and educating the public on the civil and human rights of those with convictions.
VIDEO | After Act 636 went into effect in 2019, VOTE collaborated with Black Voters Matter on an outreach tour around Louisiana to spread the word to FIP: YOU may be eligible to vote!
Medical Rights
Healthcare is both a human right and a necessity, especially in the vulnerable times during and after incarceration. We’re working in the legislature and in our communities to ensure that medical care is accessible and equitable, both for our folks on the inside and our folks coming home.
VIDEO | VOTE’s community health workers Danielle and Haki describe the challenges of receiving adequate medical care while incarcerated, and finding care after release.
Employment Rights
We work to secure the employment rights of formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones through advocating for an end to employment discrimination and working with local partners who help our members get on a fast-track to employment. Find out about clearing your record and local expungement services here.
VIDEO | Members including Eugene Dean (now a VOTE chapter organizer in New Orleans) speak in 2013 about their challenges and determination in finding work in New Orleans.
VOTE has been instrumental in Ban the Box initiatives on the local, state and national levels.
In 2015, VOTE staff along with key partners in the FCIPFM brought 130,000 petitions to the White House urging President Obama to Ban the Box on federal job applications. A week later, the demand was met.
In 2016, we worked with a broad statewide coalition to Ban the Box on roughly 40,000 unclassified state jobs.
In 2017, VOTE testified before the Louisiana Civil Service Commission, who unanimously voted to Ban the Box on classified state jobs!
On March 1, 2019, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our members, a new Ban the Box ordinance went into effect, prohibiting New Orleans' government employers and city contractors from asking about a jobseeker’s criminal history on their job application. Download the Know Your Rights brochure here.
Housing Rights
We work to secure the housing rights of formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones through by advocating for fair and just housing policies at the federal, state, and local levels.
One of our major victories, in 2016, created the nation’s most progressive, and least discriminatory, public housing and Section 8 admissions policy. In 2021, our inclusive criminal background policy was included as part of the 2022 Qualified Allocation Plan and was passed unanimously by the Louisiana Housing Corporation board.
VIDEO | VOTE members speak out on the necessity of fair and equal access to housing for FIP and their loved ones.
Policy Reform
We know that the communities most devastated by the prison industrial complex must be centrally located in any work that will truly transform the system. We use this framework to inform both the public and policymakers about the realities of mass incarceration and change the national dialogue around solutions. Our policy priorities from the local to the federal levels vary widely because our needs do, too. To track our state-level policy priorities, check out our legislative corner.
VIDEO | VOTE’s Checo Yancy delivers key testimony on the bill which became Act 636, returning the right to vote to thousands of FIP and people with convictions.