“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.”
—Barack Obama

ABOUT ADC
African Diaspora for Change (formerly African Diaspora for Obama-ADO) has a mission to create an alliance of African Diaspora voices representing the common concerns as a constituency in the U.S. and affecting change through education, empowerment and engagement of the next generation of leaders. As ADO, our efforts to fundraise and mobilize first-time voters and supporters for Barack Obama in communities across the nation were recognized by the media and supported by top-level representatives of the Obama campaign and the media.

Our coalition partners included Eritreans for Obama, African Professional Network, Ethiopians for Obama, Ivorians for Obama, Somalis for Obama, Kenyans for Obama and Sudanese for Obama.  From the time of ADO’s formation in June 2008, it attracted members and organizers from all walks of life, including many who were new to the political process, but strongly believed in the abilities of Barack Obama—the son of a Kenyan immigrant.

Following the Obama for America campaign’s unprecedented model for a grassroots viral campaign, ADO set its sights to become the first online African diaspora grassroots coalition in support of Barack Obama. ADO began with only a handful of members but in just a few weeks secured thousands of supporters through its active outreach on Facebook, Ning and YouTube. ADO’s success is largely attributable to the tremendous efforts of many of its young leaders, most of whom are African immigrants themselves or were raised by immigrant families.

ADO’s accomplishments are a testament to the organization’s belief that African communities in the United States are unique and an important voting bloc. The organization hosted weekly fundraisers, community discussion forums, organizing meetings, voter registration drives and raised thousands of dollars.  Together, its members knocked on an estimated 13,000 doors, hosted a major "Get Out the Vote" party, held phone banking sessions, and drove voters to the polls on Election Day in battleground states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.

Now an apolitical organization, the group strives to continue to affect change in the Diaspora. To learn more about the organization's past achievements, visit www.africandiasporaforobama.com.

IN THE NEWS
Dr. Witney Schneidman, Obama for America Campaign, Africa Advisory Group, Co-Chair on allafrica.com: “The Obama campaign is witnessing an unprecedented surge of support and excitement from African Americans as well as diaspora communities, and this support will be critical to Barack Obama’s success in November. The Diaspora community has started to organize itself into groups such as ...African Diaspora for Obama.”

ADO also received support from prominent Hollywood profiles, including Mario Van Peebles, and national lawmakers such as Congressman Donald Payne and Congressman Keith Ellison. The organization was featured in various media outlets, including All Africa, CNN, The Root, Mshale, Fasozine, Africa Log, Jamati Online, Voice of America, United Press International, the Sunday Times (South Africa) and Washington DC’s progressive radio station, WPFW.

ADO on Voice of America

TheRoot.com
“A kind of pan-African political hit squad made up of phone-banking, fundraising Africans in America, has been sending teams...to canvass undecided voters in the battleground state since mid-summer. ADO has helped provide a political voice for Africans in the area, and a means to make a real impact in a close race.”

Mshale.com
“One particular organization, African Diaspora for Obama, is grabbing African representatives from across the country and building a powerful constituency base for this year’s elections and beyond.”