A coalition of civil rights, business, faith, and civic leaders gathered at Georgetown University on Wednesday to launch a new national effort aimed at strengthening civic participation and holding elected officials accountable, as concerns mount over voting rights, civil liberties, and democratic institutions.
National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial, joined by members of the Demand Diversity Roundtable, unveiled “America 250: A Guide to Defending Democracy,” describing it as a practical tool for Americans to engage leaders and protect constitutional principles as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“We are civil rights, social justice, economic opportunity, and pro-democracy organizations that have been working together now for better than a year to resist and push back against the assault on the American Constitution, on equal justice, on democracy, on diversity, and on equal opportunities,” Morial said during the media briefing at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
The guide centers on seven questions designed to help individuals evaluate candidates and policymakers on issues including voting rights, civil rights enforcement, discrimination, education, economic opportunity, and the rule of law. Organizers said the framework is intended for use in town halls, community meetings, and everyday conversations across the country.
Morial said the effort comes at a moment of deep concern among communities nationwide.
“Everywhere I go, people are in distress about the assault on the American Constitution,” he said. “And they ask us as leaders, what can and should we do?”
The Demand Diversity Roundtable, formed in 2025, brings together organizations representing millions of Americans across racial, political, and religious backgrounds. Participants include leaders from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the U.S. Black Chambers of Commerce, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the National Association of Minority Architects, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, among others.
John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said the coalition’s work is rooted in widely shared values.
“Polling that Marc’s organization and other organizations have done shows that diversity is a strength, and Americans believe that diversity is a strength of this country,” Yang said. “Who is against diversity? Who is against inclusion? And who is against fairness? Because if you are against those values, then you are against America.”
Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, warned that fundamental rights are at stake, particularly for voters.
“If we want to protect our rights, our freedoms, our opportunity, then we have to fight for this Constitution to be upheld,” Campbell said. “This is the game-changer.”
Confronting Discrimination and Disparities
Speakers repeatedly tied the defense of democracy to both civic participation and economic opportunity.
Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, said access to markets and capital remains central to civil rights.
“Economic opportunity is actually a civil rights issue,” David said. “Who gets access to capital, contracts, and markets determines who can build wealth and who is locked out of it.”
David pointed to recent efforts in Texas to remove thousands of minority- and women-owned businesses from a state contracting program, noting that legal action was taken in response.
The guide also calls for confronting discrimination across multiple forms, including anti-Black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant bias, and anti-LGBTQ discrimination, while urging leaders to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in education, employment, housing, and health care.
Amy Spitalnick, president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, described a growing cycle in which hate and weakened democratic protections reinforce one another.
“We’re seeing how fueled by these anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic conspiracy theories at the core of this hate, that’s so distressed, the division our government is using them to justify dehumanizing policies,” Spitalnick said. “And in turn, as our democracy erodes, our communities are made less and less safe.”
Business leaders at the event said the guide provides a structure for accountability beyond government. Ron Busby Sr., president and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers of Commerce, said economic and constitutional freedoms are directly linked.
“Black business owners have always understood that economic freedom and constitutional freedom are inseparable,” Busby said. “When democratic rules erode, contract enforcement, equal access to markets, Black business owners pay the highest price.”
Organizers said the guide is intentionally simple and accessible, designed to be used across communities and generations. Virginia K. Solomon, representing a national democracy organization, said it offers a direct way for Americans to engage.
“This tool is the most simple guide that gives us agency,” Solomon said. “It is the simplest form of being able to reclaim our democracy by asking the tough questions.”
Morial closed the event by placing the initiative in a broader historical context, referencing past moments when leaders took decisive action to defend democratic ideals.
“It falls to this generation to not only fight to protect it, perfect it, I should say, but it does fall to this generation to fight to protect it, because the assault on it is unprecedented in modern American history,” Morial said. “We will fight until hell freezes over, and then we’re going to fight on the ice.”