PA Youth Vote Spearheads Youth Civic Engagement through Coalition, Advocacy, and Mobilization

PA Youth Vote is a nonpartisan, youth-led, and community-rooted coalition in Pennsylvania. It works to amplify youth voices through education and engagement to empower youth as civic actors. Together, this collaboration includes youth educators, organizations, and youth voices looking to build youth political power by changing the policy and culture around youth voting statewide.

To carry out its work, PA Youth Vote grounds itself in several key values. They prioritize antiracism and a student-first, community-based approach, centering those most impacted by disenfranchisement and marginalization – BIPOC, gender nonconforming, and low-income youth. PA Youth Vote also targets Pennsylvania public schools in its initiatives. Through a combination of youth and educator resources, outreach initiatives, and strategic advocacy, PA Youth Vote advances civic engagement with these values at the center of its work.

At the core of the Pennsylvania movement for youth political participation, PA Youth Vote has been a leading voice in organizing programming and events across the state. This past April, PA Youth Vote presented the “Philly Rises Youth Civic Engagement School Tour.” Hosted in collaboration with the Urban League of Philadelphia, the NAACP’s Philadelphia Branch, the Committee of Seventy, and NExT Philadelphia, this interactive youth voter empowerment event provided high school students with informational resources about increasing voter turnout in marginalized communities and combating misinformation around voting.

Providing the space for youth input and education, this event represents one of the many ways in which PA Youth Vote mobilizes youth and community members to ensure that their voices are centered in electoral politics. Its variety of programming touches on all aspects of political participation and education to curb disempowerment and equip youth to take space at the polls and in the movement.

In May of this year, PA Youth Vote was invited to the “Montgomery County Youth Summit”, an event that gives youth the opportunity to speak directly to county leadership about the issues that are most important to them. PA Youth Vote ensured that Black and brown voices were adequately represented in these conversations, and the event drew more than 100 students. Furthermore, Montgomery County has committed to supporting a future listening session with PA Youth Vote specifically for the county’s most vulnerable youth to address challenges they face, including profound and widespread health inequities.

PA Youth Vote seeks to remain a pace-setting presence in Pennsylvania’s youth voter engagement movement. In addition to providing youth with opportunities to be engaged legislatively and hold elected officials accountable, PA Youth Votes makes voter resources kits and educational materials readily available on their website. Their “Voter Champion” civic engagement partnership with the Philadelphia School District created a 93% net increase in voter registration by public high school students this school year, raising the number registered from 15% to 29%. In the future, PA Youth Vote plans to further expand its impact on new areas and radically increase youth voter engagement, empowerment, and education in Pennsylvania.