Complete 5 Activities
Complete 5 activities – one in each of the 5 categories below – between now and Election Day (November 3, 2021). With 50 activities to choose from (10 in each category), there are options for all ages and all settings – individuals and families, groups/clubs/classes, or entire schools, organizations, or communities. Resources are provided for all 50 activities below.
Activity 1
Voter Registration
Activity 3
Get out the vote
Activity 2
Voter Education
Activity 4
Issue Advocacy
Activity 5
Youth voice & Leadership in decision making
Activity 1
Voter Registration
Help make an impact by registering voters! Sign up to join thousands of others making a difference in their communities and gain access to Rock the Vote’s voter registration drive toolkit, which includes:
Virtual Event Guide: Information on hosting a virtual (or socially distanced) voter registration drive during the COVID-19 crisis
- QR Codes: Use QR codes to help voters safely register themselves
- In-Person Event Guides: Everything you need to host a great in-person event
- Graphic Assets: Rock the Vote’s official logo
https://www.rockthevote.org/get-involved/help-register-voters/
Every year millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don’t update their registration, or aren’t sure how to register. National Voter Registration Day wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to vote. On Tuesday September 22, 2020 volunteers and organizations from all over the country will “hit the streets” in a single day of coordinated field, technology and media efforts. National Voter Registration Day seeks to create broad awareness of voter registration opportunities to reach tens of thousands of voters who may not register otherwise.
Campus Takeover is a nation-wide effort on National Voter Registration Day to mobilize students by registering them to vote, creating celebratory environments around voting, and fostering a culture of civic engagement on campuses.
Enormous opportunities exist in high schools to register voters before the 2020 election. In most states, students who are 17 can register to vote right now if they will be 18 by November 3, 2020. This means that most of the 3.7 million graduating seniors are eligible to register. High schools provide an ideal environment for this effort, before students enter the workforce or go to college.
- The first step in planning your drive is to attend one of our 60-minute live workshops. Join us to learn how to recruit volunteers, leverage social media, and work with your school. Learn how to identify elected representatives and help students contact them about an issue they care about.
- Once you’ve gone through a workshop, sign up your drive to receive free materials like Democracy in a Box and to get 1-on-1 support for your drive.
- Send classmates to our voter registration portal when it’s time to launch your drive. The portal gives you the ability to register to vote, pre-register to vote, and pledge to ask others to vote.
- After your drive, report back the number of students you registered, and we’ll send you “Democracy in a Bag” — a tote filled with stickers to share with classmates when you go back to school. Holding a voter registration drive may also earn you community service hours!
Plan a Digital Voter Registration Drive
Access a complete how-to manual for organizing, promoting, and launching an online and youth-focused voter registration drive. The guide includes sample texts, social media posts, emails, graphics, and Zoom video backgrounds. This video also walks young people through the process.
Ask Every Student uses the framework that full student voter participation comes from integrating person-to-person voter registration into existing processes, such as orientation or classes that reach all students. Every campus has different challenges, opportunities, and context to create a program that asks every student about their democratic engagement plan.
We’ve found that the key to reaching full student voter registration of all eligible students comes down to accessing at least 3-5 minutes of one on one focus from every student on campus, through a systematized process in order to prepare them to confidently navigate the democratic process, beginning with voter registration.
Teachers, administrators, all school staff, students, and parents play an important role in helping our school communities make their voices heard in every election. Whatever role you play in your school, you can lead important efforts to guide students and parents in registering to vote. Are you in? Here’s how to get started:
- STEP 1: Sign up your school right here. We will provide trainings and resources along the way.
- STEP 2: Download the Action Plan and watch the training video below.
- STEP 3: Start registering!
- STEP 4: Don’t forget to tell us how you are doing.
Virtual High School Voter Registration Lesson Plan
In these unprecedented times, the League of Women Voters wants to help teachers promote voter registration for eligible students. Check out our customizable lesson plan and teaching guide here!
https://www.lwv.org/league-management/virtual-high-school-voter-registration-lesson
Host a Voter Registration Drive
Download a free copy of the League of Women Voters’ comprehensive High School Voter Registration Training Manual. League volunteers may be able to assist in setting up a voter registration program in your school.
The Inspire2Vote Action Kit is designed to share tips and tools that will help maximize efforts to register eligible students at your school to vote and assist them in preparing for their first vote.
Choose one of these activities from the Campus Election Engagement Project:
- Register Students To Vote
- Online Voter Tools
- Academic Credit
- Athletic Department Resource
- Orientation
- Campus-Community Partnerships
- Dorm Storm
- Effective Tabling
Activity 2
Voter Education
This is a call for all educators, parents, and community leaders to bring Democracy Class into classrooms and community centers across the country. Join us and sign up to receive the curriculum and training materials!
Democracy Class is a free, nonpartisan curriculum that educates high school students about the importance and history of voting and pre-registers and registers them to vote. Educators will have access to additional lesson plans featuring:
- The history and importance of voting
- Modern-day voting rights
- The importance of local elections
- How voting impacts issues
- The 2020 Censu
https://www.rockthevote.org/programs-and-partner-resources/democracy-class/
Young adults will be our nation’s largest eligible voting block in the 2020 election. This generation of new voters is enthusiastic about civic participation and eager to make their voices heard. National Voter Education Week is a campaign that will equip voters with the tools, information, and confidence they need to cast their ballots this fall.
New and young voters often point to systemic barriers or lack of knowledge as key factors that keep them out of the voting booth. National Voter Education Week will help voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters will learn to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW will help voters overcome common barriers to become a confident voter and ambassadors of voting in their own communities this November and beyond.
Choose one of these voter education activities from the Campus Election Engagement Project:
- Educate Students
- Talking About Elections In Your Classrooms
- Incorporating Election Engagement into Your Courses
- Living Room Conversations
- Candidate & Issue Guides
- Debate Watch Guide
- Local Office Descriptions
- Combatting Cynicism
- Student Newspapers
A “dialogue” is a community conversation that can take many forms. It can involve five people around a kitchen table, five hundred people in a large civic setting, or anything in between.
Ask Big Questions: We hear it all the time: the idea that people are struggling to talk and listen to each other. But what if we could shift from debates to conversations that help us connect? College is the perfect place to start, to bring the energy of students to a new kind of conversation about life’s Big Questions. No matter our background or views, we need opportunities to see and hear each other more deeply. When we share our stories and listen to others, we find connections and discover new perspectives about ourselves, each other and the world. https://www.askbigquestions.org/resources
You can start small… have a dialogue at home! Host a Living Room Conversation. Join an event, host a conversation, or introduce Living Room Conversation into your community or organization.
Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision that people of diverse backgrounds would come together to discuss injustices of the day and create a plan for action, Sunday Suppers call people to engage in dialogue about issues affecting their communities. Pledge to host a Sunday Supper and receive a facilitator guide, full of tips and recommendations for how to bring friends and neighbors together to share a meal and conversation.
Everyday Democracy has tools and resources that can help foster community dialogues. We especially recommend:
- A Guide for Training Public Dialogue Facilitators – This guide includes advice for creating a training program for both youth and adults, with expanded facilitator training, plus suggestions for ongoing support and evaluation of dialogue facilitators.
- Organizing Study Circles with Young People – Hands on guide for youth and adults who are dedicated to finding ways for all kinds of people to engage in dialogue and problem solving on critical social and political issues.
The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation outlines the steps to organize a typical deliberative dialogue program and links to the best step-by-step guides.
The Community Toolbox provides a step-by-step guide to organizing a community dialogue.
At The Civics Center, you can find a guide for young people to use in structuring and building a Future Voters Club at your school.
https://thecivicscenter.org/resources/#clubs
https://thecivicscenter.org/s/Sample-High-School-Vote-Club-Constitution-and-Bylaws.pdf
BallotReady has a great tool to research your ballot, find your polling place, send reminders to vote, and other tools and nudges to encourage informed participation. Vote Smart and Ballotpedia have additional resources to research candidates and your ballot.
Listen to “A Soon To Be Voters Guide” Podcast
“A Soon-to-be Voter’s Guide” analyzes pressing issues that all citizens should know before jumping headfirst into the sea of politics. In this podcast, we speak to experts in the field and create an educational environment where all soon-to-be voters can make their own informed decisions. New episodes every week!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-soon-to-be-voters-guide-to-politics/id1508817227
Join a community of leaders working to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country. Become a Voting Squad Captain and build your team to take action together! When We All Vote will provide you with the tools, training, and resources you need to make your voter registration and education efforts a success.
Teaching Tolerance Future Voters Project
This lesson bank includes some of our favorite resources for teaching about voting rights and voter suppression. Our growing collection of “Teach This” discussion guides can help you introduce current events into your election teaching. And our professional development and K-8 resources can support you as you engage students of all ages in this election season.
https://www.tolerance.org/future-voters-project
Teaching for Democracy Alliance Resource Collection
Teaching about elections & voting just got easier. The Teaching For Democracy Alliance now has more than 150 educator resources newly reorganized with the end user in mind. Explore our free educator civic education resources.
http://www.teachingfordemocracy.org/dont-know-where-to-start.html
iCivics Election Headquarters
The time is now for students to learn about the election process, understand the power of their vote, and become active participants in our constitutional democracy. We encourage teachers, administrators, and families to help facilitate learning with these curated, non-partisan resources.
Put your students into the action with these election-focused civics games.
- Win the White House Run your own presidential campaign!
- Cast Your Vote Election Day is coming, are you prepared to vote?
- Executive Command Being the president is no easy task. Are you up to the challenge?
- NewsFeed Defenders Fight hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting as a NewsFeed Defender!
https://www.icivics.org/election
Learning to Give: Your Voice, Your Vote Lessons
Teach one of the following lessons in your classroom.
Elementary
- We Have Rights (Grade K, 1, 2) The language in the Bill of Rights is difficult for primary students, so this lesson introduces some simple rights and expectations of all Americans.
- We the People (Grade 3, 4, 5) Students will learn that in the US, the people hold the power.
- To Vote or Not to Vote: That is the Question (Grade 3, 4, 5) Students discuss the important of voting and encourage voters to go to the polls.
Middle School
- Making Our Voices Heard (Grade 6, 7, 8): Raise students’ awareness of the importance of freedom of speech and the opportunity to voice one’s opinion without fear of reprisal, as principles basic to a democracy. The learners investigate ways to have a positive influence in encouraging eligible voters to make their voices heard at the polls during elections and/or referendums.
High School
- Voting and the Common Good Students examine voter turnout statistics and demographic breakdowns, speculate about the reasons for demographic differences and propose messaging to stimulate better turnout.
- Launching Your Ship with Citizenship (Grade 9, 10, 11, 12): In this 4-lesson unit, students describe the characteristics of a good citizen relative to democracy and become familiar with the fundamental principles of American society, including rights and responsibilities.
Presidential Debates are scheduled for September 29, October 7 (VP Debate), October 15, and October 22.
Help your peers and the people in your community hear from the candidates themselves by hosting a debate watch in a local community center or a room on your school’s campus. You can also keep it small and just organize one among your friends. Follow up the debate watch with a discussion that includes information about how those present can mobilize around their preferred candidates and issues.
- Here is a Debate Watch guide from the Campus Election Engagement Project with some useful approaches for getting students to watch key debates and for helping them reflect and discuss.
- Check out the League of Women Voters’ Debate Watching Kit. This kit walks you through every part of setting up a debate watch party from advertising to discussion and candidate evaluation!
- The Commission on Presidential Debates has a How to Host a Debate Watch guide which outlines what to do before and after the debate and sample questions to discuss.
- Can’t have everyone come to one meeting place? Consider creating a personalized online forum to discuss the debates/conventions. To learn more about online forums, or to create one check out this link about forums in the classroom.
Your local TV and radio stations will often air U.S. Senate, U.S. House, or Governor debates. Public access stations might air debates with candidates for city, county, school district, or state legislature offices. These moments “when everybody is watching” are great opportunities to organize a discussion with others about the issues important to you. A debate watch can be a small gathering of people in a living room, library, community center, school, or other venue where the debate is watched and is discussed.
Working with a campaign is a great way to make sure your voice is heard while getting a first-hand look at the political process. Campaigns are always in need of help in the form of supporters, volunteers, and interns, and there are jobs for everyone. No experience is necessary, since training will be provided on the job. Volunteering positions might come in the form of phone calling, canvassing, lit drops, working at events, mailings and/or data entry. No worries if you have no experience, there will be on site training. There are so many different types of campaigns to get involved in throughout the year at the community, state and federal level. Sometimes campaigning for state and local candidates might bring you a more first hand look at the campaign!
- Find out how to volunteer with a campaign the Young Democrats, the Young Republicans, the College Democrats, or the College Republicans. (There are lots of other political parties too. Find out more about them and how you can get involved at Project Vote Smart.)
- Don’t forget to check into your local mayoral or city council races too!
- Don’t have the time to volunteer? Donating (or getting other people to donate) to a candidate you support, showing your support (with a button, lawn sign, bumper sticker, etc), or just telling other people about the candidates you support and why are great ways to help support campaigns!
Activity 3
Get out the vote
Grab your friends and help your community by organizing or going to a VoteFest!
VoteFests can be big or small, during early voting or on Election Day.
https://www.rockthevote.org/get-involved/help-get-out-the-vote/
MTV has teamed up with the Alliance for Youth Organizing, Campus Vote Project, and the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition to help you protect existing polling places or bring a new polling place to your campus.
- Learn the basics
- Download the Toolkit
- Seek Funding by Becoming a Poll Defender
VoteTogether is a national, nonpartisan initiative to increase voter participation by making voting fun and celebratory. Young people, communities of color, and low-income citizens are often among the underrepresented electorate. However, #VoteTogether research shows that voting celebrations are a powerful tool for increasing voter participation. We want to make sure you have the resources you need to make your own party a success, and to help close the gap among eligible voters.
Did you know most voters can cast their ballot prior to Election Day? We’re here to make it easier for Americans to learn about their options to vote early. Here’s how you can celebrate Vote Early Day:
- Encourage ballot research and plan making
- Throw a party or parade
- Spread the word
- Host an event
- Recruit poll workers
America is facing a record shortage of poll workers. As coronavirus continues to impact Americans across the country, we are also seeing a staggering decrease in poll workers — which could mean closed polling places and long delays for elections in 2020. You can help make sure we have a safe, fair, efficient election for all voters, and potentially get paid to do it. Help democracy in your community. Sign up to Power the Polls.
https://www.powerthepolls.org/
National Poll Worker Recruitment Day – September 1
National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is a national awareness day established by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to encourage people to help America vote by serving as poll workers.
By encouraging more people to become poll workers in their communities, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day aims to address the critical shortage of poll workers, strengthen our democracy, inspire greater civic engagement and volunteerism, and help ensure free and fair elections in November and beyond.
Choose one of these get out the vote activities from the Campus Election Engagement Project:
- Build Momentum
- Get Out The Vote
- Social Media and Memes
- Dorm Storm
- Election Law Posters
- Study Abroad and Voting Overseas
Students will dive deep into the history of voting rights in the U.S. and think about why voting matters to them and how we can all work together to remove barriers to civic participation.
Use this printable checklist from The Civics Center to design a personalized plan to vote, and to encourage two friends to do the same.
https://thecivicscenter.org/resources/#voteplan
my.VoteEverywhere Portal
my.VoteEverywhere is a one-stop-shop online portal where students can find relevant election information. They can register to vote, check their voter registration status, learn about the candidates, find their polling site, learn about voter ID and other requirements, and sign up to receive text message reminders, with information tailored to their campus.
Find your local Kids Voting USA Affiliate today to gain access to the electronic voting tool, DoubleClick Democracy, which is customizable to your educational needs and adaptable to both computer and mobile usage. Also, gain online access to our multiple curricula and educational activities designed for grades K-12.
The Election Protection Coalition is mobilizing thousands of volunteers to help our fellow Americans navigate the voting process and cast their votes without obstruction, confusion, or intimidation. Will you sign up to be one of them?
Activity 4
Issue Advocacy
Learn how to identify elected representatives and help students contact them about an issue they care about.
Help students develop empathy, in addition to critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and put them to use.
Are you an American teen between the ages of 13-18? Are you interested in:
- learning how to plan a protest, rally, town hall, or any kind of large-scale activist event
- getting involved with lobbying and policy advocacy OR
- just generally learning about what it takes to become an activist without committing to something just yet?
Join their Activation Hub and take the YOUth ACTivism Guide to Change online course.
https://youthactivismproject.org/get-involved/learn-activism/
https://youth-activism-project.teachable.com/p/social-change
Most major issues already have organizations leading advocacy campaigns that you can join as a supporter. They’ll often have materials you can share, calls-to-action that you can recruit others to do, and sometimes even events you can attend.
We recommend that you use a search engine to find local organizations who are working at the local, state, or national level. Here are a few of our partners who have campaigns.
Student Activism in School: Getting Your Voice Heard – Today’s student activists are bringing activism to the web and social media. This guide explains what it means to be a student activist and where to find support for certain causes. It also provides tools and guidance on how to create goal-oriented, effective rallies for change.
One of the first steps to engage other people in your cause is raising public awareness about the issue. An easy way to start doing this is by creating and sharing an issue guide.
Most issue guides compare the pros and cons of specific policy proposals or compare where elected/public officials or candidates stand on the issue.
Bolder Advocacy’s voter resource guide walks you through creating questions to distribute to candidates and how they can be important to a voter guide. This resource can also be used for policymakers currently in office.
The Campus Election Engagement Project provides advice to create your own nonpartisan guides.
NonProfit Vote has resources on different forms of nonpartisan issue guides.
Long-term change in communities often requires a change in policy that address the root cause of the problem you’re trying to solve. Before you advocate for a policy change, you need to develop a proposal for the policy you want to see created.
What is an Ordinance? Learn how to help students understand and create their own ordinances. https://generationcitizen.org/democracy-doesnt-pause/
Check out sections 4 and 5 of Pathways to Policy: A Step-by-Step Playbook for Young People Who Want to Change the World.
The Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen resource outlines a process for teaching young people how to monitor and influence public policy in their communities.
The Citizen Advocacy Center’s “How to Draft A Bill” lesson plan provides an opportunity for students to brainstorm ideas for good laws, individually draft a bill from one of those ideas, and as a group vote on which bills should be passed into law.
The Community Toolbox has a few sections that provide detailed, step-by-step instructions for creating a policy proposal:
Connect with your local YMCA Youth and Government program. 37 states have these programs, and they have state-specific guides and templates for how to write proposed legislation.
When you know what policy change you want to make and have started to raise public awareness, it’s time to organize your community to demand change. This can take many forms, from petitions and letter writing campaigns to protests and marches to boycotts and lobbying policymakers.
Youth in Front: Advice on Leading Change – All around the country, inspired by activists from Ferguson to Parkland, a generation of young people are considering participating in their first political action or protest. They have questions. What’s the point of a walkout? Will I get in trouble? What happens after a march? YouthInFront is a community-created online learning resource that collects answers from experienced youth activists and allies.
Core Principles for Engaging Young People in Community Change from the Forum for Youth Investment shares important but simple principles for putting the idea of youth engagement into practice. They can be implemented in a wide range of organizations, including schools, youth organizations or community centers that want to strengthen their commitment to youth leadership.
Use the power of the media to share your perspectives on the issues you care about, and what you want policymakers to do to help. Write letters to the editor, post blogs, create videos, share on social media, and spread your message!
Youth Media-Making Toolkit for Educators
The Youth Media-Making Toolkit promotes youth voice, voting, and democratic participation through media creation. Lessons guide teens to plan, make, and share diverse media about voting and civic engagement: short videos, photos, internet memes, animated GIFs, and persuasive images for social media. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WG2DSln0d7iqZFTYx16ooJFWC7neQYIj
Check out Rock Your World’s dynamic, project-based curriculum to engage students in the use of creative media to take informed action toward issues they care about.
Check out the Global Action Project’s Media in Action Curriculum. This guide is a great resource in incorporating different media forms into the classroom.
PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs
Traditional local news is disappearing, but teenagers across America are keeping journalism alive in their communities in new and innovative ways. From interviews with local representatives to conversations with peers who are grappling with top-of-mind issues such as gun violence and climate change, student journalists are filling critical information gaps.
https://sites.google.com/view/srlelection2020toolkit
Find Student Journalism Resources from the American Press Institute – including a guide to creating student newspapers, information about the rights of student journalists, and a social media toolkit.
Write an Op-Ed
Guide students through selecting an issue, writing their perspective, and pitching an op-ed. https://generationcitizen.org/democracy-doesnt-pause/
The IRS clearly states that “501(c)(3) organizations may take positions on public policy issues, including issues that divide candidates in an election for public office.” This could include everything from normal lobbying and public education activities to correcting the record when a candidate misrepresents facts related to your issues. Communications on issues during an election could be considered partisan if they appear to be an effort to support or oppose a candidate and mention the names of candidates or upcoming elections in a communication.
https://www.nonprofitvote.org/npv-resource-library/advocating-on-issues/
Whether your nonprofit is sophisticated or small, whether you’re focused on health, education, immigration, criminal justice, the environment, or another important issue, Bolder Advocacy’s online resource center has tools that can help you build your advocacy capacity.
Our suite of organizational capacity assessment tools can help you evaluate the advocacy and organizing you’re doing now, so that you can become more nimble, strategic, and resilient.
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/everyday-advocacy-resources
From advocacy toolkits and informative “how to” sheets to recent opinion pieces and material about federal, state, and local lobbying laws, this section of our website provides resources to nonprofit leaders about ways to advance their missions through everyday advocacy.
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/everyday-advocacy-resources
Activity 5
Youth voice & Leadership in decision making
Every 10 years, the United States government conducts the census — a national accounting of everyone living in every state, D.C. & 5 U.S. Territories. This crucial exercise not only helps to create accurate population numbers, but determines the allocation of hundreds of billions of federal dollars, where new infrastructure is built, the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the census results are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts. In short, it’s vital to ensuring a representational democracy is exactly that — representational.
Nonprofits of every size and type have and can play a crucial role in making sure the communities they serve ARE properly represented in the census by “getting out the count” and, most importantly, reaching into what is known as “hard to count” or “traditionally undercounted” communities. Like the electoral process, those experiencing homelessness, non-English speakers, LGBTQ+, racial minorities and many more are often not fully engaged in the process — which can set up a vicious cycle of exclusion for another decade.
Even as entire industries shut down their operations, the 2020 Census continues. Recognizing the need for an accurate count, we’ve modified our Talking About Cens-US unit for teachers to lead virtually. In addition, we’re leading virtual trainings for teachers to deliver these culturally responsive lessons effectively. Check out a recent webinar our New York team presented on to help you get started. While you’re here, respond to the 2020 Census yourself! https://generationcitizen.org/democracy-doesnt-pause/
Need help finishing a Census campus action plan? Our partners at Democracy Works developed a game of team-wide strategy that takes the guesswork out of on-campus democratic engagement called Votes & Ballots. You can find more information on the original edition here. With their permission, the SLSV Coalition created an adapted version: Votes and Ballots – Census.
Edition:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVZU9O9DS1fF9Ix9V87UZoRRPcNOFo1opdpDtSVY1WzYvokg/viewform
Become an advocate for a lower voting age with Vote16USA. Vote16USA is a national campaign, organized by Generation Citizen, that supports efforts to extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-old on the local and state levels, help start new local campaigns, and elevate the issue’s prominence on a national level.
Automatic voter registration (AVR) is sweeping the nation, and helping to enfranchise new voters by the thousands (and soon to be millions) – especially young people, people of color, and rural communities. But this progress does not happen on its own. It requires the passionate and dogged advocacy of Americans like you.
- This quick toolkit will give the directions in how to start and build a campaign for automatic voter registration in your state.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a_L4uM1ILAvPmQAs9BsDJVa1ubUPJdOEzufvkvDyREU/edit
Learn how to amplify students’ civic power to create change in our communities.
Learn how to engage students in analyzing their communities’ responses to COVID-19.
Access a framework and checklist for holistically integrating teaching about elections and voting into their classroom, school, or district. Then, join a nationwide network of administrators making a public commitment to this work.
http://www.teachingfordemocracy.org/schooldistrict-checklist.html
http://www.teachingfordemocracy.org/growing-voters-commitment.html
Democracy Works presents… Votes & Ballots! A suite of team-wide strategic activities that take the guesswork out of on-campus democratic engagement.
You’ll find information on all three versions of Votes & Ballots, along with all of the materials you need to start playing!
Campus Election Engagement Project works with campus administrators, faculty, staff, and student leaders, helping them engage their students in local, state and federal elections. 7 Key Ways is our master roadmap for how to navigate students through the ever-changing barriers to voting. We’ve summarized our major engagement areas below and you can download a PDF of the full Seven Key Ways resource here
https://leadasap.ysa.org/share_story/everyday-young-hero-dhruv-pai/
To create and sustain authentic youth civic engagement, we encourage local leaders to engage youth as active citizens in the policymaking process, especially on the issues that most affect them. Here are a few resources to share with your local leaders to help them partner with you to engage young people.
- The Youth Engagement Resources for Cities Toolkit from the National League of Cities includes resources on authentic youth engagement; hosting a youth summit; starting a youth council; participatory budgeting; lowering the voting age for municipal elections; and a self-perception inventory designed to help cities identify their strengths in this arena.
- Check out the National League of Cities’ Authentic Youth Civic Engagement: A Guide for Municipal Leaders. Additional resources from the NLC are available here.
- The Youth Involvement Best Practices Report from the US Conference of Mayors details the results of the 2018 Youth Involvement Task Force Survey, which includes responses from 54 cities. The report also includes in-depth highlights of 12 cities with exceptional youth involvement initiatives.
- Interested in creating a youth council? Check out the Forum for Youth Investment’s Building Effective Youth Councils: A Practical Guide to Engaging Youth in Policy Making to learn more about youth councils and policymaking!
- The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge’s “All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement” report proposes recommendations for policymakers, educators, and families can come together to have a significant effect on youth voting and civic knowledge.
The CU Fellowship is an entirely free, entirely virtual leadership program for America’s next “Civic Superheroes.” Beginning in January 2021, the Fellowship brings exceptional high school-aged leaders from across the nation into a digital-first community, and empowers them with the tools, training, and support to build the future of American democracy. The ’21 Fellowship applications opens in September 2020.
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