Civic engagement beyond the ballot
Philadelphia organizations PA Youth Vote and Vote That Jawn are also finding creative ways to engage young people in civic life.
Maya Izzard, a junior at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, became involved with PA Youth Vote in January after learning about the organization through her family. Although she found it hard to be as involved as she had hoped this year, Izzard found another outlet for civic engagement by starting conversations in her AP classes.
“We are learning from each other and we have conversations because as teenagers, we all care about what’s going on in our world, but we never really have the opportunity to talk about it,” Izzard said. “I feel like in certain classrooms where it’s like teachers don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of it all. But I feel like … especially when you talk to your friends, it’s a very open and free space.”
PA Youth Vote has also held in-person meetings at CAPA, using programs such as civic arts to engage students.
“CAPA is very free. It’s not an argument about anything, we are just kind of sharing our opinions and having a very comfortable [conversation],” Izzard said.
Izzard said art and conversations with her peers have given her another way to think about young people’s role in civic life, including those who are not yet old enough to vote.
“I think it is important for us to really have that voice,” she said. “Even though we’re not exactly there yet, we still get affected by the world. There’s still things happening to me and the youth that I’m going to have a voice [in] at some point, and that I need a voice in now to be able to prevent some things.”
PA Youth Vote ambassadors Vincent Nguyen and Jordan Savage have also worked to help young people take their first steps into civic engagement.
“Civic literacy isn’t something that everyone is required to know,” Nguyen said. “I have as much to learn as someone who isn’t as involved as I am.”
Savage said his work focused on giving high school students a stepping stone into politics. The experience also required him to examine his own understanding of civic engagement.
“I had to really dig deep and understand myself, so I can help everybody else,” Savage said.
Other organizations are giving young people ways to engage outside of traditional political activities. Kayuga Jade deGuzman and Vismita Holavanahalli participated in spoken-word events organized by Vote That Jawn, using poetry to explore issues important to them.
“I was thinking about all the sacrifices that my grandparents made … coming here and being here, and how easy it is to forget that something as simple as voting was something that was really hard,” deGuzman.
For Holavanahalli, poetry became a way to address immigration as a community issue.
“I think writing the poem and being able to perform really showed me that I can make a change, and I can get involved in these ways,” Holavanahalli said. “It doesn’t have to just be through voting.”