In Detroit and Milwaukee — two majority-Black cities where political disinvestment and economic inequality had long suppressed civic participation — two organizations were building something different: year-round, membership-based civic engagement programs rooted in community relationships rather than election-cycle mobilization.

Founded in 2011, Detroit Action (Norman grantee 2019–2021) engages working-class Black and Brown Detroiters through leadership development, cultural organizing, and youth programs. During the 2020 election and census cycle, Detroit Action made over 975,000 calls and 250,000 texts, distributed 124,000 voter guides, and helped increase Wayne County voter turnout by 86,000 from 2018 to 2020. When the pandemic hit, the organization pivoted quickly — developing a mutual aid fund that provided $135,000 to over 200 households facing financial hardship and working with the Michigan COVID Community Coalition and the Governor to place a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions during the state of emergency.

Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC, Norman grantee 2017–2021) was founded in Milwaukee in 2017 in direct response to the 2016 presidential election, when Black voters were blamed for low turnout in a state decided by less than 1%. BLOC’s Ambassador Program trains residents to canvass their neighborhoods, engage peers in deep conversations about the issues affecting their lives, and lead organizing campaigns focused on police reform, affordable housing, health, and education. Norman was among BLOC’s earliest funders — their very first grant proposal was to the Norman Foundation, whose support came at a critical moment for an organization that would become one of Milwaukee’s most effective civic power-building organizations.