Our age doesn’t determine our influence. Even if some of us are not old enough to vote yet, the Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement (OYE) with the support of the Philadelphia Youth Commission (PYC) is going to spend the next two months convincing individuals why voting is so important.
With the support of Freedom Credit Union, a local Philadelphia institution, the aim of First Vote 2020 is to engage young people around all the ways to exercise civic participation leading up to Election Day.
Originally the plan was to bring a wide range of civics trainings directly to high school students, but due to COVID-19, OYE had to find creative ways to continue to engage students as the City developed a response to the pandemic. Despite the pandemic, First Vote 2020 was able to support the work of Philly Counts, and the voter registration efforts of existing programs like Vote that Jawn.
With COVID-19 and all the difficulties this pandemic has brought, traditional voter registration efforts have become challenging. However, OYE developed an innovative way for young people to keep engaging and registering friends, family, and neighbors while still being socially responsible—and distant!.
With the help of our newly designed VRTees (Voter Registration T-shirts), First Vote 2020 Ambassadors will be able to guide people to both the PA voter registration and mail-in ballot applications using QR codes on the back of the VRTees. This will reduce the need for close contact, and First Vote 2020 ambassadors won’t have to handle any paper forms. Best of all, voter registration can occur whenever and wherever the shirt is worn.
The Philadelphia Youth Commission, which advises the Mayor, City Council, Philadelphia Schools, and other decision-makers on issues relating to young people, will act as senior ambassadors for the program by supporting citywide weekly voter registration drives with other First Vote 2020 ambassadors throughout the fall.
Young people interested in supporting First Vote 2020 can sign-up to volunteer by filling out this form: bit.ly/FirstVotePHLAmbassador. Shirts are in limited supply so first come, first served. Volunteers will be notified via email about when and where to pick up their shirts.
For more information about how to get involved with First Vote 2020, please email the OYE at youthengagement@phila.gov.