WATCH: Paint The Polls Black - Tevon Blair Talks Vote HBCU - video Dailymotion

Tevon Blair talks about Vote HBCU during our ESSENCE &#039;Paint The Polls Black&#039; podcast.

Transcript

00:00VoteHBCU, it's a program of Excel Leader.

00:02We kicked off this work back in 2020

00:04to educate, mobilize, and empower HBCU students

00:07to be informed voters.

00:09We just got off our 10-stop tour.

00:11We went to Virginia State, Howard University, Tuskegee,

00:15Shaw, FAMU, Bethune-Cookman.

00:17And we were able to really see the power of HBCU students

00:21when they have the ability to lead

00:24and when they're able to make their voices heard

00:26and not in the space where someone's telling them

00:27to go vote for something or to vote for us

00:29specific person.

00:31This was an opportunity for students

00:32to not only lead this effort on their campus,

00:35but to come together and mobilize their student

00:37community to do this work.

00:39And so Excel Leader, we are a community of HBCU alumni

00:42who build leaders, impact HBCUs, and change the world.

00:45And I'm just honored to have a cohort of 10 fellows.

00:48These are just two of the 10 fellows

00:50that we have that picked up the charge

00:53to mobilize their students.

00:55We were able to register 859 students

00:57on our tour across these 10 schools for 31 days.

01:01And Promise, Skyteria, Anijah, they led this effort.

01:07We all came to Atlanta this summer.

01:09They learned the importance

01:11of what disinformation looks like versus misinformation.

01:14They learned how policy works

01:16as well as how to register their students to vote.

01:18And so that legacy and culture

01:20that they were able to build this work off of

01:22was able to live on campus and make it live.

01:24So that's a bit about us,

01:26but the students are the ones who really put this work on

01:30and made a shift in how HBCU students consider

01:33and see themselves in the voting room.