Construct Impactful Civic Engagement Messaging

We would like to address the challenge of developing impactful and engaging messaging to encourage the local community to engage in civic engagement opportunities this fall. Some of the language typically used and thought of is dated and doesn't capture the attention of the community anymore. We are seeing that many voters are young and don't feel connected with the voting process, like it's their parents or grandparents issue to deal with while there are others who are discouraged about voting and seeing little to know change in their circumstances, leading to folks becoming disengaged and discouraged about the importance of their vote. The people we see consistently engaging are the 50-55+ age group, they've been voting since they could and potentially lived through some of the remnants of the Civil Rights Movement and see how not voting is negatively impacting their local communities. Using lingo like "people died for your right to vote" and "being our ancestors wildest dreams" are dated and not striking people like it used to. Also "fight the power" extremely revolutionary speech isn't helping either. People are seeking practical reasons and engagement opportunities that they believe will create change now.

Our engagement opportunities include nonpartisan phone banking, a happy hour and block activation where neighborhood locals can come chat, check their registration status, polling location, and register if they need to, and the opportunity to join a Halloween canvasing event where we pass out candy and voting information prior to the election in areas that have low voter turnout in the state.