PA Youth Vote

PA Youth Vote is changing the world by investing in youth when they are young to empower them as civic actors and changemakers in their communities. We are applying for the Elevate Prize so we can have the tools we need to connect with the radically diverse population of young people across the state of Pennsylvania. Our work with PA Youth Vote is centered around building authentic relationships with communities, especially those that have been traditionally ignored or disenfranchised by our political system. As a result, we need the financial support to develop a team of community organizers who know their communities best to build youth power statewide. The Elevate Prize will also help us ensure our programming is sustainable for our students. Because many of our students come from low-income communities, they work in part-time jobs while attending school and participating in our volunteer civic engagement work. With the support of the Elevate Prize, we can pay our youth leaders stipends to ensure our programming is reaching the students most in need. Finally, the Elevate Prize will help amplify our messaging, to ensure we are reaching students from all corners of Pennsylvania.

As a Black woman from a low-income community of color, my life has been shaped by government neglect. It was not until after I raised my children in the same under-resourced community that I recognized the disparity between the resources available to us compared to those in more affluent communities nearby. While working in government, I saw elected officials disregard low-income communities because their voter turnout was low. It took a lifetime for me to understand why voting matters. Now, I am an advocate for a new generation of voters, driven by my mission to ensure that others are empowered to make change much earlier. 

Our work began in 2018, when my co-founder, Tom, founded Philly Youth Vote to get 18-year-olds to the polls in Philadelphia. While organizing with When We All Vote, I partnered with Tom  to build a peer-to-peer voter registration program for Philadelphia youth. Our work was successful: turnout for 18-year-olds in Philadelphia was 74%, 8% higher than the citywide average. Inspired by our success, we founded PA Youth Vote to ensure students in marginalized communities across the state understand why voting matters and are empowered as advocates for change.

We founded PA Youth Vote to solve our nation’s youth civic disengagement crisis. In the 2020 election, 50% of citizens 18-29 voted—the lowest turnout of any age group. Usually, this number rarely surpasses 25%. Schools have failed to prepare students for civic life, especially in low-income districts and communities of color, where students rarely learn about voting in class. Our failure to educate youth has exacerbated the disenfranchisement of marginalized communities: Those who do not vote in their first elections are less likely to vote later in life. Youth disengagement causes a dangerous cycle, as politicians prioritize the needs of older, more vocal voters, further silencing and alienating youth perspectives. 

With youth of color at the forefront, PA Youth Vote is fighting back and changing the voting culture. We are building a nonpartisan collaboration of students, educators, and organizations working to elevate student voices and empower Pennsylvania youth as civic actors: registered, informed, and ready to vote in all elections. Through youth-led programming and peer-to-peer voter registration, teacher workshops, and advocacy for school district voter education policy change statewide, we work toward a permanent culture shift that ensures youth are prepared to vote on election day and become civic leaders.

Despite the urgent need for voter registration and programming in schools, few groups adequately provide it. Existing efforts are too fleeting and insincere, tied to campaigns or national organizations that rely on celebrity appeals and disappear when elections end. Those that are effective prioritize college students, even though most students are eligible to vote before graduating high school. Real change requires consistent, community-based work, and the most effective way to engage young people is through peer-to-peer conversations. PA Youth Vote provides year-round voter registration and education, tying our work not to a single election or outcome but to the habit of effective political and civic engagement. We are youth-led and youth-centered, not only providing opportunities for students to engage with their communities, but allowing our students to take charge of the mission, goals, and programs of our organization. While most organizations stop at voter registration, that is where our work begins. With opportunities to lead our advisory board, host a bi-weekly podcast, and spearhead advocacy campaigns, our youth don’t just vote but transform into civic leaders.

Our organization builds youth power by increasing youth voter turnout and by engaging youth as leaders in their communities. To do so, we hold weekly programming where youth have the opportunity to express their opinions, plan voter outreach events, and brainstorm strategies to better reach their peers. We are effective because youth lead; from creating social media campaigns to presenting about voting in classrooms, our youth are changing voting culture by meeting their peers where they are and elevating youth perspectives on issues they care about. 

In addition to our peer-led work, we are also advocating for Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts to require voter registration in high schools. To support our case, we have partnered with CIRCLE and the Civics Center to research the state of school-based voter education. Our advocacy has succeeded in Philadelphia, where the school district has promised to pass this policy and has hired voting champions at each high school to facilitate peer-to-peer voter engagement. By building our model now, we will be prepared to have a major impact on youth turnout for the 2022 midterms and beyond. In doing so, PA Youth Vote will ensure youth voices are heard.