The Southern Vision Alliance is a left-of-center advocacy organization based in Durham, North Carolina. The organization calls itself a “grassroots intermediary,” acting as an incubator and fiscal sponsor for other left-of-center groups. ¹

The organization has alleged ties to the communist Workers World Party; its director, Elena Everett, has been described as a founding member of the Workers World Party. ²

Background

The Southern Vision Alliance was founded in 2004 and acts as a “grassroots intermediary,” or incubator that provides fiscal sponsorship services with like-minded organizations. The group claims to focus its advocacy on “communities of color, LGBTQ people, working class families, immigrants, rural, urban and suburban youth.” ¹

According to its website, the group argues that “current conditions are rooted in the legacies of colonialism, slavery, white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalist exploitation,” while pushing against “the right of the state to decide what is, and what is not, legitimate protest.” ³

The Southern Vision Alliance argues that American society exists in a state of “manufactured scarcity.” It argues that American society forces “oppressed” communities to compete against each other for access to resources. It sees this manufactured scarcity as a way to use xenophobic and racist rhetoric to get communities to see themselves as rivals against one another. ⁴

Organization Structure

The Southern Vision Alliance runs three programs: the People’s Solidarity Hub, Students Organizing The South, and the Queer Mobilization Fund.  ⁵

The People’s Solidarity Hub is intended to be space for building a community movement of groups sharing the Southern Vision Alliance’s left-of-center values. ⁶

Students Organizing The South is a youth-oriented voter turnout project. ⁵

The Queer Mobilization Fund was launched in 2016 in response to North Carolina House Bill 2 of the same year; the bill was an “act to provide for single-sex multiple occupancy bathroom and changing facilities in schools and public agencies.” The Queer Mobilization Fund states that “[m]any queer and trans people of color recognize the legacy of slavery, genocide, and violence that made HB2 possible.” ^{7 8}

The Youth Organizing Institute was launched in 2010. The organization launched after a battle over diversity policy in the Wake County Public Schools System. It organized students and other young people to battle against school segregation and to make schools safe for gay and lesbian students. It claimed to have trained hundreds of activists through seasonal programs such as the Summer Freedom School, the Teen Convening, and the Annual Ella Baker Gala. ⁹

Ignite NC was targeted towards college students in North Carolina. It worked on issues such as police brutality, LGBT issues, student debt, and rape culture. ¹⁰

The group was associated with Charlotte Uprising, ¹¹ a group that led protests against the 2020 Republican National Convention in which police officers were assaulted. ¹²

Fiscally Sponsored Organizations

The Southern Vision Alliance’s fiscally sponsored projects have included the Abolitionist Education Collective, Afloral Herb Collective, Black Life Response, Black Workers for Justice, Brighter Future Institute, Carolina Youth Partnership Coordinator Fund, Comite De Accion Popular, Dangers of the Mind, Durham Beyond Policing, Educate Not Incarcerate (Emotions), Fruit of Labor Cultural World Center, Good Neighbor Movement, Grounded Possibilities, It’s Our Future / El Futuro Es Nuestro, Iximche Media, Mobilize Justice Education Fund, Movement Labs, NBLM Rosa Parks Education & Organizing, NC Disaster Response & Resilience Network, NC Latinx Collaborative, People’s Power Lab Education Fund, Poder NC Education Fund, Pride Liberation, Priorities Intention Practical Exchange, Providence Omnistructure, Ready the Ground Education Fund, Red Tail Hawk Collective, Refund Raleigh Education Fund, Return to the Source, Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, Rootz Durham, Serenity Fund, South Carolina Housing Justice Network, Southern Workers Assembly, Symbodied, The WELLS Healing Center, Visibility Outreach Touch Engage, and Wave – a Language Liberation Hub. ¹³

Leadership

Elena Everett is a co-director of power building for the Southern Vision Alliance, and in 2014 was the executive director of the organization. She is reportedly a founding member of the Workers World Party ¹⁴ and a former chair of the North Carolina Green Party. In 2010, she founded the Youth Organizing Institute and she works as board treasurer of Blueprint NC. ¹⁵

Joshua Vincent is the executive director of the Southern Vision Alliance, having transitioned to this role in 2021 from being the chair of the board. Previously, he was a state advisor for the Movement Voter Project, the national director for the Education Not Incarceration Network, a state coordinator for the NAACP, and a lead field organizer for Obama for America in 2008. ^{16 15}

Ricky Bratz is the Queer Mobilization Fund director at the Southern Vision Alliance. Bratz has previously been a board member for the Fund for Democratic Communities. ¹⁵

Grantmaking

In 2023, grantees of the Southern Vision Alliance included the LGBTQ Center of Durham, Tranzmission, Poder NC Action, Black LGBTQ Liberation Inc, Trans Women of Color Healing Project, Transformations Youth Group, Transgender Awareness Alliance, Youth Outright WNC, Louisiana Trans Advocates, Sexy Sex Ed, Afro Erotic Body, Rainbow Collective for Change, Gender Education Network Inc, Black Belt Justice Center, Enlace Latino NC, Beloved Community Center, New North Carolina Project, Southern Organizer Academy, and Dangers of the Mind. ¹⁷

Finances

In 2023, the Southern Vision Alliance reported $11,306,598 in revenues, $6,630,474 in expenses, and $12,413,293 in total assets. ¹⁸

Funding

The Foundation to Promote Open Society gave $1,600,000 in 2020 to the Southern Vision Alliance for its “Durham Beyond Policing” program which was distributed over two years and $25,000 in 2017 to “educate and empower young people in North Carolina.” ¹⁹

The Ford Foundation awarded a combined $4,600,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance between 2016 and 2024. The largest of these grants, paid over 4 years, was a $3 million grant for “training, capacity building, and incubation support for youth-led organizing and civic engagement in the US South.” ²⁰

Democracy North Carolina gave a combined $637,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance between 2015 and 2023. ²¹

Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues gave a combined $449,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance between 2017 and 2023. ²²

In 2024, the NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund gave $25,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance. ²³

In 2023, the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit under the management of Arabella Advisors, gave $250,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance, and $100,000 in 2022. Also in 2023, another group under the management of Arabella Advisors called the Windward Fund gave $300,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance, $300,000 in 2022, and $150,000 in 2020. ^{24 25}

In 2023, the Foundation for a Just Society gave $260,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance. ²⁶

In 2023, the Marguerite Casey Foundation gave $75,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance. ²⁷

In 2023, the Rockefeller Family Fund gave $120,000 to the Southern Vision Alliance. ²⁸

1. “Our History.” Southern Vision Alliance, November 5, 2020. https://southernvision.org/about/letter-from-the-southern-vision-alliance-our-history/.
2. “Elena Everett.” Mapping The Left. Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.mappingtheleft.com/person/elena-everett/.
3. “Vision & Values.” Southern Vision Alliance, July 4, 2024. https://southernvision.org/about/mission/.
4. “Our History”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/about/letter-from-the-southern-vision-alliance-our-history/.
5. “Programs and Special Projects.” Southern Vision Alliance, March 25, 2025. https://southernvision.org/programs/.
6. About – the people’s solidarity hub. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://solidarityhubs.org/.
7. NCLEG. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2015E2/Bills/House/PDF/H2v3.pdf.
8. “Apply.” Queer Mobilization Fund, August 7, 2025. https://queermobilization.fund/apply/.
9. “Youth Organizing Institute”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/youth-organizing-institute/.
10. “Ignite NC”. 2019. Southern Vision Alliance. Accessed December 2. https://southernvision.org/ignite-nc/.
11. Southern Vision Alliance, May 2017-May 2018 Annual Report, accessed September 30, 2020. https://southernvision.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/svannualreport2018.pdf.
12. Ablon, Matthew. “Charlotte police: officers assaulted, multiple protesters arrested in uptown demonstration.” FOX Carolina, August 21, 2020. Archived from the original September 2, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200902035726/https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/charlotte-police-officers-assaulted-multiple-protesters-arrested-in-uptown-demonstration/article_1426f3a6-e428-11ea-96e8-d3c817244df5.html.
13.  Sponsored projects directory. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://southernvision.org/our-sponsored-projects.
14. “Elena Everett”. 2019. Mapping The Left. Accessed December 2. https://www.mappingtheleft.com/person/elena-everett/.
15. “Staff.” Southern Vision Alliance, August 28, 2025. https://southernvision.org/about/staff/.
16. Joshua Vincent – Executive director – southern vision alliance | linkedin. Accessed September 12, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrvincent/.
17. “Southern Vision Alliance,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2023. Schedule I.
18. Southern Vision Alliance,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2023. Page 1 Part 1 Lines 12, 18, and 20.
19. “Awarded Grants.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed September 9, 2025. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=Southern+Vision+Alliance&grant_id=OR2017-39545.
20. “Grants Database.” Ford Foundation. Accessed September 11, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=Southern%2BVision%2BAlliance.
21. “Democracy North Carolina,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Schedule I.
22. “Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Schedule I.
23.  “NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2024. Schedule I.
24. “New Venture Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2022 and 2023. Schedule I.
25. “Windward Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2020, 2022, and 2023. Schedule I.
26. “Foundation for a Just Society,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990 PF) 2023. Page 11 Part XIV.
27.  “Marguerite Casey Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990 PF) 2023. Page 11 Part XIV.
28.  “Rockefeller Family Fund,” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2023. Schedule I.