Arekia Bennett

Bennett is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. She graduated from Jackson State University with a Bachelor of Science in physics. Bennett originally wanted to be a physics teacher before becoming interested in civic activism after realising that all of the issues she cared about had elected officials trying to control them. While at Jackson State, Bennett founded GIRL (Gathering Information Related to Ladies), an organization focused on advocacy, countering "problematic university policy", and helping to educate about African American women's history. == Career ==

Bennett is the executive director of Mississippi Votes, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting voter registration and organizing voter registration drives. Bennett has cited Freedom Summer, a large voter outreach effort that took place in Mississippi in 1964, as inspiration in leading mass voter registration efforts in 2017. In her role as executive director, Bennett has expanded the focus of Mississippi Votes to include voters under the age of 35, young queer people, and children or adults who have gone through the juvenile justice system. In 2019, Bennett organized a campaign to use geofencing to target specific colleges within Mississippi to serve 'get out the vote' ads in advance of the November election. Mississippi Votes estimated the ad campaign caused approximately 3,000 new voters to register. Bennett is an Electoral Justice Project fellow with the Movement For Black Lives. == Awards and honors ==

• Medgar Evers award by the NAACP • Fannie Lou Hamer award by the Southern Human Rights Organizers' Conference == References ==