Atlanta area college students travel to Missouri for break

ATLANTA (AP) -- Instead of heading to nearby beaches for spring break, NAACP officials say dozens of Atlanta area college students are planning to help with a voter registration drive in Ferguson, Missouri.

NAACP officials say students from Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spellman colleges are planning to travel to Ferguson to help register voters ahead of local elections on April 7. Officials say the alternative spring break trip is part of a larger initiative to honor the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

Atlanta NAACP President Richard Rose says voter registration in and around Ferguson is meant to show residents and students that civic engagement can lead to change.