Explorations in Black Leadership

Co-Directed by Phyllis Leffler & Julian Bond

Voter Education Project (VEP)

The Kennedy administration started the VEP in 1962 to coordinate civil rights organizations under the Southern Regional Council on their voter registration and education initiatives. The nonpartisan project organized SCLC, SNCC, CORE, NAACP, and NUL in their voter registration efforts and brought it direct funding through private, tax-free contributions. The VEP was motivated in part by the goal of reducing confrontational action by civil rights groups, but the latter viewed the funding as important and helpful in doing their work. The VEP continued to work after the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, until it closed in 1992. See also Southern Regional Council.