Initiate Operation Youth Voter! #SVRDNYC
Students in 25 New York City public high schools are getting their very own voter registration day on Friday! The first annual Student Voter Registration Day (SVRD), spearheaded by City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, will help young people register to vote and learn about the important role that voting and elections play in their lives.
NYC Votes’ own Chyann Sapp developed the curriculum for the day-long SVRD program to help increase youth voter registration and turnout. Chyann modeled her SVRD program as a complement to the NYC Department of Education’s civic engagement curriculum for high school students. A team of trained, volunteer facilitators will lead students through the program in classrooms across the five boroughs. SVRD volunteers include teachers, CFB staff, elected officials from the City Council and their staff, and various partner organizations.
The SVRD curriculum demystifies the political process by offering issue-based discussion modules and action plans, as well as breakdowns of fundamental dates, vocabulary and processes. Most importantly, it’s designed to help young voters explore issues that are most important to them, challenge them to think critically about how these issues are handled as public policy, and how they, as voters, can influence the process.
Student Voter Registration Day is launching at a critical time. Just 11% of registered youth voters (18 to 29 year olds) cast a ballot to choose the current mayor in November 2013. Turnout in last year’s mid-term elections was the lowest in 72 years. Only 36% of eligible voters cast ballots nationwide, and just 29% in New York State. These numbers demonstrate the importance of initiatives like SVRD in getting the next generation of voters on the rolls and committed to casting their ballots on Election Day.
Check out the curriculum here, and register to vote while you’re at it! Complete this voter registration form and send it to the New York City Board of Elections by April 10th, the next voter registration deadline for special elections in Brooklyn and Staten Island taking place May 5th.
If you are an educator who would like to bring an NYC Votes Youth Voting Workshop to your school or group of students, contact Chyann at csapp@nyccfb.info.