1. Bridging the Opportunity Divide:
Get Out the Vote
Year Up Puget Sound’s 2012 Walk for Opportunity
2. 2
Agree/Disagree
• I believe that voting benefits both me individually and
my community.
• I believe that politicians in my city, state, and country
understand and represent my own and my community’s
interests.
• I believe that my level of education should determine
whether I am heard and understood by my government.
• I believe that young adults should be a primary concern
for politicians.
• I believe that, if I am eligible and don’t have religious
objections to voting, then it is my civic duty to do so.
3. 3
Who Votes in America?
Politics is as much about
those who do vote as it is
about those who don’t.
US politics is dominated by
the wealthy, the old, and
the educated.
4. 4
Why does civic disengagement matter?
Civic
disconnection
Low voter
turnout and
limited self-
advocacy
Political
priorities are
placed
elsewhere
Public funding
follows political
priorities
elsewhere
Low wages and
limited career
prospects
7. 7
More than 4 in 5 Eligible Year Up Students Voted
in 2012
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BAL BOS CHI NCR NYC PVD Total
% voted
(of all
L&D
students)
voter
turnout %
(of
eligible
students)
8. 8
Year Up Students Turned Out at Far Higher Rates
than Other Millennials
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2012 2008 2010
Midterms
Year Up Students
18-29 Year Olds
Nationally
9. 9
Civic Engagement and Social Movement Building
Looks Different In Different Cities
Year Up Atlanta, 2011
10. 10
Civic Engagement and Social Movement Building
Looks Different In Different Cities
Year Up Boston, 2011
11. 11
Civic Engagement and Social Movement Building
Looks Different In Different Cities
Year Up National Capital Region, 2011
12. 12
Civic Engagement & Social Movement Building
What does civic engagement
look like:
For you?
For us?
How do we make sure that we
are no longer bystanders?
Register to vote
Talk to our networks
What else?
Editor's Notes
Agree/Disagree
Space permitting, have one side of the room be “agree” and the other side be “disagree.” Students (and participating staff) should move to the side that best matches their answer to each statement.
I believe that voting benefits both me individually and my community.
I believe that politicians in my city, state, and country understand and represent my own and my community’s interests. Representation is determined by who wins elections.
I believe that my level of education should determine whether I am heard and understood by my government.
I believe that young adults should be a primary concern for politicians. Politicians overwhelmingly campaign to older Americans, who vote in higher numbers. That’s one reason why funding for education and workforce training has fallen so much over the last thirty years.
I believe that, if I am eligible and don’t have religious objections to voting, then it is my civic duty to do so.
Data from this article: Who doesn’t care about politics? People who would otherwise vote for Democrats (Washington Post)
Bystanders are not registered to vote, say seldom or never note, and do not follow government and public affairs most of the time.
Ask students: how many of you are bystanders? Why?
It’s no laughing matter. Since 1980, investments in education and youth workforce training have plummeted, even as the budget has grown (often fueled by debt that Millennials will pay off).
The United States is less socially mobile today than in 1980. The average person born into poverty today faces worse prospects.
In part, and at heart, our social movement building builds on top of the program’s improved outcomes to disrupt this cycle and magnify the impact of Year Up
Even if we look at great youth advocacy organizations today – think of things like the Roosevelt Institute, Young Invincibles, etc. – they do their recruiting in universities, and overwhelmingly represent the minority of young Americans who are full-time B.A. students. Current and former Opportunity Youth are an extremely marginalized political constituency.
Sometimes cartoons can say it best…
Source: 1 in 13 African-American Adults Prohibited From Voting in the United States (Bill Moyers)
Data from ACLU.
Evaluation Survey Participation Surpassed 65% at Six Participating Sites
Results from Puget Sound, YUBA, and Atlanta were discounted, as survey participation did not pass 30%.
National totals were impacted less than 2% for each question by their removal, implying that results held true throughout all sites.
Among six sites that surpassed 30% threshold, survey participation was 76% (defined by total surveys completed/# of enrolled L&D students as of 11/29).
Limited Inputs Produced an Incredible Return on Investment Last Fall
This matters…we can put this front and center when inviting policymakers and staffers to our site in the future, especially from local offices
More importantly: 80% of our eligible L&D students now have the EXPERIENCE of voting. Still more were exposed to civics and felt their community empowered, sometimes for the first time.
Direct students to TurboVote for help registering to vote, updating registration, and to get alerts on upcoming elections: https://yearup.turbovote.org/register.
