Desmond Meade (left), Neil Volz (center) of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and singer John Legend speak during a Get Out The Vote event in Orlando. Photo: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images
Desmond Meade, the face of a movement to restore voting rights to Florida felons, has won a so-called genius grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
- The MacArthur Fellowships give money to 25 creatives, advocates and others to free them to pursue whatever they please.
- Meade, who is from Orlando but well known around Tampa Bay, will receive $625,000 over the course of a half-decade.
Why it matters: He's the founder of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and led a 2018 grassroots effort to pass Amendment 4 to the Florida Constitution, which restored voting rights to more than a million felons.
- Meade said he's thinking of creative ways to use the money to help "returning citizens," per Florida Politics.
Get more local stories in your inbox with Axios Tampa Bay.
More Tampa Bay stories
No stories could be found
Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Tampa Bay.