Turbocharging youth voter engagement, especially at community colleges, trade, technical and vocational schools, at People of Color Serving Institutions.
Civic Influencers is a nonpartisan nonprofit that operates hyper-locally in targeted districts and states to support a civic movement that amplifies the voting power of young voters (ages 18-29) year-round. Each year, over 4 million 17-year-olds in the U.S. turn 18 and become eligible to vote. Our mission is to get them to the polls. We believe that saving our democracy is neither a sprint nor a marathon. Rather, it is an intergenerational relay—one where each generation must ensure this sacred right is passed on as seamlessly as possible.
We approach our work on two levels:
- Hiring and training young people on targeted campuses to inspire their peers to vote.
- Working with campus administrations to help make it easier for students to vote.
Our young leaders’ success in increasing youth voting across 26 states + the District of Columbia, in 2022, was powered by the following signature achievements:
- We tripled the number of youth Civic Influencers we deployed as “boots on campuses,” growing the number of peer-to-peer organizers we are training from 100 to 300 per term.
- Beginning in 2021 and into 2022, we recruited, funded, and trained 716 Civic Influencers who led peer-to-peer organizing in priority states and districts at 172 campuses across 29 states + the District of Columbia — and who will continue to use their civic engagement, advocacy, and leadership skills well into the future.
- By centering diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are proud to report that 80% of our current cohort of youth Civic Influencers self-identify as people of color, closely mirroring the student populations we serve.
- Civic Influencers directly engaged with over 156,000 young people by working on their systemic change projects and activities such as one-to-one conversations on campuses, attending voting events, signing petitions, and registering over 8,000 young people to vote.