The Promise of Democracy Foundation, (PDF) is a non-profit, non-partisan civic engagement organization headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, with offices in Largo, Maryland, to facilitate regional and national advocacy efforts.
The mission of the Promise of Democracy Foundation (PDF) is to improve the quality of life of African Americans and individuals living in underserved communities by promoting democratic values, voting rights, and electoral participation through research, voter registration, civic education, issue awareness programs, and the literary arts.
PDF’s expertise is in the development and execution of civic engagement programs via voter registration and education initiatives, voting rights, election protection, election administration, and conducting grassroots issue advocacy campaigns. Our foundation has been fully engaged with several organizations and coalitions that have been leading advocacy efforts on these issues in Cleveland, across the state of Ohio, and at the national level.
PDF is led by its founder and CEO, Gregory T. Moore, an author and Cleveland native who has been a leading voting rights activist working at the national, state, and local level in key leadership positions for over three decades. Its governing board includes individuals with decades of leadership in the areas of civil rights, health, economics, and social justice programs in Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and across the US.
The mission of the Promise of Democracy Foundation (PDF) is to improve the quality of life of African Americans and individuals living in underserved communities by promoting democratic values, voting rights, and electoral participation through research, voter registration, civic education, issue awareness programs, and the literary arts.
PDF’s expertise is in the development and execution of civic engagement programs via voter registration and education initiatives, voting rights, election protection, election administration, and conducting grassroots issue advocacy campaigns. Our foundation has been fully engaged with several organizations and coalitions that have been leading advocacy efforts on these issues in Cleveland, across the state of Ohio, and at the national level.
PDF is led by its founder and CEO, Gregory T. Moore, an author and Cleveland native who has been a leading voting rights activist working at the national, state, and local level in key leadership positions for over three decades. Its governing board includes individuals with decades of leadership in the areas of civil rights, health, economics, and social justice programs in Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, and across the US.
Issue Awareness and Advocacy
Since 2015, PDF has been conducting a wide variety of issue-based programs and initiatives in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and across the state of Ohio. PDF has played a leading role in advocating key statewide ballot measures, including:
- 2020 Census Education and Awareness
- Redistricting Reform
- Climate and Environmental Justice
- Civic Education and Issue Awareness Campaigns
- Criminal justice Reform and Public Safety
- Increasing the Minimum Wage
- Ending Health Care Disparities
- Support for School Levies, and
- • Expanding Access to Higher Education
Board of Directors
President and CEO:
Gregory T. Moore is considered one of the nation’s leading voting rights advocates. He is President and CEO of the Promise of Democracy Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization where he continues his lifelong commitment to the expansion of democracy, voting rights, and civic education. For the past 30 years, Moore has held several key roles in Washington, DC, and the state of Ohio, including serving as the Executive Director of the NAACP-National Voter Fund, Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for the late Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Deputy Political Director of the Democratic National Committee, and Senior Strategist for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Moore has been instrumental in several national groundbreaking initiatives over several decades. In the 1980s, he was elected as the first African American President of the United States Student Association and later served as a presidential appointee to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, where he worked with Mrs. Coretta Scott King and fellow commissioners to establish the nation’s first official observances of the MLK Federal Holiday. He also served as Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) arm of the National Rainbow Coalition.
In the 1990s, Moore helped lead an over 5-year advocacy effort for the reform of our nation’s archaic voter registration laws and was instrumental in helping to steer the final passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (The “Motor Voter” Act). He has worked for years for expanded ballot access and increased civic participation among underserved communities.
Moore currently serves as Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s National Board of Advisors and is the author of the recently released book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America’s Voter Registration Laws. Moore is a graduate of Ohio University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Organizational Communications from the Scripps School of Communications and a Master of Public Administration from the George Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University.
Treasurer:
David Holt is a Columbus, Ohio based civic leader with a long history of work and experience in both the private and non-profit sector with over 25 years of private sector business experience in addition to his extensive non-profit work. Dave is the Chief Financial Officer of the Promise of Democracy Foundation.
Dave is a Senior Finance Officer with the Columbus Urban League and has worked for a number of causes over the years to promote civic engagement, voting rights, youth employment programs, student leadership development initiatives, and faith-based programs in Columbus and across the state of Ohio. He also provides fiscal oversight to the Ohio Voter Fund, a PDF state affiliate, and facilitates the PDF’s grants administration and fiscal sponsorships. David earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University and a Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University.
Board Secretary:
Jean Moore is a veteran of the USAF, a lawyer by training, and veterans and mental health advocate and serves as the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, (NAMI) of Prince George’s County. Jean has twenty years of experience developing, implementing, and managing programs. Her expertise lies in strategic planning; organizational capacity building; monitoring and evaluation/quality assurance; resource development; grant/contract negotiations and management; conducting public policy research; and event planning.
Since 2009, Jean has been working on strategizing for ways to build a sustainable origination, developing an operations infrastructure, conducting fund development research, developing programs, proposals, budgets, and prospective donors’ outreach for support. Jean is a graduate of Howard University with an undergraduate degree in English, a Master’s of Science in Management from Lesley University, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Howard University School of Law.
Member at Large:
Cynthia Downs-Taylor is an independent civic and social organizational professional and noted civil rights leader who has worked for decades to register and empower voters throughout the state of Virginia. She has been a leader in the local and national NAACP, where she provides guidance and capacity building for NAACP branches and youth councils. She has served as a senior advisor to Senator Mark Warner and has advised prominent Virginia elected officials, including U.S. Representative Bobby Scott and former governors Ralph Northrop and Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Through her firm, Hand in Hand, Inc., she has worked with several local and community-based organizations to build their capacity to carry out non-profit educational and service programs. She is a trusted leader in the civil rights community throughout Virginia and has assisted a variety of civic and faith-based organizations in developing effective community outreach strategies. She is a graduate of Virginia State University.
Gregory T. Moore is considered one of the nation’s leading voting rights advocates. He is President and CEO of the Promise of Democracy Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization where he continues his lifelong commitment to the expansion of democracy, voting rights, and civic education. For the past 30 years, Moore has held several key roles in Washington, DC, and the state of Ohio, including serving as the Executive Director of the NAACP-National Voter Fund, Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for the late Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Deputy Political Director of the Democratic National Committee, and Senior Strategist for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Moore has been instrumental in several national groundbreaking initiatives over several decades. In the 1980s, he was elected as the first African American President of the United States Student Association and later served as a presidential appointee to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, where he worked with Mrs. Coretta Scott King and fellow commissioners to establish the nation’s first official observances of the MLK Federal Holiday. He also served as Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) arm of the National Rainbow Coalition.
In the 1990s, Moore helped lead an over 5-year advocacy effort for the reform of our nation’s archaic voter registration laws and was instrumental in helping to steer the final passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (The “Motor Voter” Act). He has worked for years for expanded ballot access and increased civic participation among underserved communities.
Moore currently serves as Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s National Board of Advisors and is the author of the recently released book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America’s Voter Registration Laws. Moore is a graduate of Ohio University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Organizational Communications from the Scripps School of Communications and a Master of Public Administration from the George Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University.
Treasurer:
David Holt is a Columbus, Ohio based civic leader with a long history of work and experience in both the private and non-profit sector with over 25 years of private sector business experience in addition to his extensive non-profit work. Dave is the Chief Financial Officer of the Promise of Democracy Foundation.
Dave is a Senior Finance Officer with the Columbus Urban League and has worked for a number of causes over the years to promote civic engagement, voting rights, youth employment programs, student leadership development initiatives, and faith-based programs in Columbus and across the state of Ohio. He also provides fiscal oversight to the Ohio Voter Fund, a PDF state affiliate, and facilitates the PDF’s grants administration and fiscal sponsorships. David earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University and a Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University.
Board Secretary:
Jean Moore is a veteran of the USAF, a lawyer by training, and veterans and mental health advocate and serves as the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, (NAMI) of Prince George’s County. Jean has twenty years of experience developing, implementing, and managing programs. Her expertise lies in strategic planning; organizational capacity building; monitoring and evaluation/quality assurance; resource development; grant/contract negotiations and management; conducting public policy research; and event planning.
Since 2009, Jean has been working on strategizing for ways to build a sustainable origination, developing an operations infrastructure, conducting fund development research, developing programs, proposals, budgets, and prospective donors’ outreach for support. Jean is a graduate of Howard University with an undergraduate degree in English, a Master’s of Science in Management from Lesley University, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Howard University School of Law.
Member at Large:
Cynthia Downs-Taylor is an independent civic and social organizational professional and noted civil rights leader who has worked for decades to register and empower voters throughout the state of Virginia. She has been a leader in the local and national NAACP, where she provides guidance and capacity building for NAACP branches and youth councils. She has served as a senior advisor to Senator Mark Warner and has advised prominent Virginia elected officials, including U.S. Representative Bobby Scott and former governors Ralph Northrop and Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Through her firm, Hand in Hand, Inc., she has worked with several local and community-based organizations to build their capacity to carry out non-profit educational and service programs. She is a trusted leader in the civil rights community throughout Virginia and has assisted a variety of civic and faith-based organizations in developing effective community outreach strategies. She is a graduate of Virginia State University.