Mobilizing Young Voters

We believe democracy and college affordability go hand in hand.

We get young people to RISE to the occasion of becoming active participants in the public policy arena by teaching them how to exercise their political power to co-create the change they want to see. If candidates want to get young people tapped into voting, then they must tap into the issues we want to vote for.

Alleviating the college affordability crisis is one crucial way to begin to dismantle systemic inequity. Making higher education more accessible has the potential to improve nearly every issue in our country. Whether directly impacted or not, its long-term repercussions will touch every single American at some point in their lives.

UNLEASHING THE YOUth WAVE:
Reaching historic Youth Voter Turnout in 2024

40 Million Gen-Z'ers will be eligible to vote in the 2024 election. Breaking youth voting records is a crucial part of building an enduring democracy and fighting the real and imminent efforts to erode it. That’s why Rise is launching a new effort to achieve historic youth voter participation in 2024 and unleash the youth wave.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Anti-student voting rights legislation is being passed across the country because the power of the student vote is a threat. Rise sees this as the clearest sign that investing in youth vote is not just an opportunity, but a necessity.

Why Are We Unleashing the Youth Wave?

Over the past two presidential election cycles, youth voter turnout jumped significantly from 39% in 2016 to 50% in 2020. We've set a goal of reaching historic youth voter turnout in 2024 to ensure we are continuing to build a lasting foundation of students' political power and solidifying a generation of lifelong voters.

In both 2020 and 2022, CIRCLE at Tufts University estimates that approximately half of young people did not hear from a campaign or civic organization. Rise will concentrate our efforts on eligible young voters who otherwise are not likely to be reached.

How will we do it?

1. Train 5,000 Youth Organizers through Rise University

2. Unleash the Youth Wave to have 1 Million Youth Voter Touchpoints

3. Build the Capacity of the Youth-Organizing Sector

Through our paid student organizing fellowships and civic engagement program, Rise University, held on college campuses across the country, we will train 5,000 young organizers who will reach 1 million young voters by November 2024, simultaneously building the capacity of the youth organizing sector as we go.

The core Rise audience is college students and youth ages 18-29, with an emphasis on organizing young voters of color and multiracial organizing. Rise will continue to reach young voters where they are at: community colleges, large open enrollment public universities, Historically Black Colleges and other Minority Serving Institutions and non-college enrolled youth in the community. Our 2024 program builds on Rise’s work contacting over half a million young voters and collecting over 150,000 youth plans to vote through relational organizing over the past two cycles.