Civic Wisdom Foundation Wants to Register Young Voters Weeks Ahead of U.S. Election

With only a couple of weeks left before the U.S. election, it’s crunch time for making sure that young American voters like Gen Z and millennials get to the polls.

A new nonpartisan campaign from organization Civic Wisdom Foundation and agency David&Goliath called #SpeakYourVote aims to register 50,000 new voters while educating and encouraging young voters to get active. Civic Wisdom Foundation is led by Dr. Shannon Arvizu, a sociologist and educator focused on changing government organizations.

Gen Z and millennials represent 113 million eligible voters and are set to become the largest voting group in history.

The campaign aims to solve a large and concerning problem. A recent report from the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans found that anxiety from issues like economic inequality, climate change, and the future of democracy causes low voter turnout from young Americans.

From an idea to a movement

Arvizu said that the idea for the campaign came from a salon series about civic entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, where she teaches. This led her to ponder the nature of civic education and its accessibility for the younger generation.

“Gen Z and millennials are more than just marketing personas—they are generational cohorts of citizens,” said Arvizu.

She met David Angelo, founder and creative chairman of David&Goliath, this summer at an event in Brooklyn, and they aligned on the importance of empowering youth.

“We were talking about this year’s voter apathy amongst Gen Z and millennials and next thing you know, we’re talking about an idea,” said Angelo.

The #SpeakYourVote campaign launched on Oct. 8 with an event at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York. The event featured creators and poets like Emanuel Xavier and Mathew Marroquín along with local leaders including New York City Councilmember Chi Osse. Attendees participated in discussions about the future of New York. The kickoff event aimed at showing the urgent need for civic engagement.

On Oct. 19 and 20, the campaign will be hosting a pop-up event in Venice, Calif. with Arvizu leading talks. Singer and songwriter Asdru Sierra, co-founder of the band Ozomatli, will perform two songs set to the words of poet and musician Karen Gibson Roc. Gael Aitor, co-host of the GrownKid podcast and Franky Carrillo, a justice advocate and candidate for California State Assembly, will also be at the event.

“Our goal is to help create the largest voting block in history,” said Angelo, referring to Gen Z making up 48% of the U.S. voting population.