One Youth Votes -Week Three: Skin in the Game: Turning Engagement into Votes

Gen-Z’s civic engagement is loud, visible on the streets, and viral on social media. They are engaged, worried about big issues, and increasingly discontent with incremental or no progress in addressing them. The question is whether this energy will translate into votes? How do advocacy groups and political parties recruit young people? Some use aggressive tactics and build on anger. Some tap into the passion for an issue or partisan identity. Others stay above the fray, appeal to a sense of civic responsibility, and extol the power of voting. Who’s listening to all these different messages and why? No matter the rate at which young people turn out to the polls, they will play a pivotal role in the outcome of midterms just a few short days away, play a pivotal role in the outcome of midterms just a few short days away.

This evening’s panelists are Hannah Joy Gebresilassie, award-winning journalist, media personality, and entrepreneur, Adam Gismondi, Ph.D., director of impact, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, Eric Gordon, professor, Emerson College, director of the Engagement Lab, and assistant dean of civic partnerships, Ben Holden, a data science graduate student at the University of Colorado – Boulder and a Suffolk University alumnus, Serena Saunders, communications & program coordinator, Running Start, and Clarissa Unger, co-founder and executive director, Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. The evening’s moderator is Katie Lannan, State House Reporter, GBH News.