America cherishes democracy, and democracy needs cultivating. It’s up to us, the citizens, to make it work. Making democracy work is to renew the American system of representative government and reinvigorate citizen participation.
As an organization devoted to citizen participation in government, the League of Women Voters of San Antonio believes our youth are critical to the health of our democracy. To safeguard our democracy, it is imperative to reach out to the next generation — our future voters and future leaders.
As anti-democratic forces threaten our democracy and erode public confidence, especially among youth, the League of Women Voters, the most trusted name since 1920 in nonpartisan voter education, is embarking on a strategic, comprehensive youth initiative project, Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote. The initiative advances the league’s core mission of encouraging informed and active participation of citizens in government. It is an attempt to engage the next generation to think about democracy, the role of our leaders, the role of our government and, most important, their role in making democracy work.
Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote strives to engage community youth in imagining the world they want to live in and tracing the necessary steps to help build it. The project fosters a dialogue in a peer setting to help them identify and understand issues that are important to create the future of that world. Exploring ways to increase their awareness and grasp of issues that affect their lives will allow youths to make informed choices at the polls.
This initiative aims to ensure that high school and college students in the San Antonio area have the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate. Young people often lack basic information about how or where to vote. A lack of confidence and preparedness also keeps them from showing up at the polls.
This project empowers youth with nonpartisan tools and resources to help them navigate. Often, people of color experience higher rates of difficulties at the polls than their white counterparts, and the league has excellent resources that can address both statutory and nonstatutory barriers to voting.
The project aspires to educate youth on how to select and elect leaders who share their vision and align with them. The goal is to empower younger citizens to shape better communities, a better state and a better nation through grassroots citizen action.
To kick off Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote, the league organized an essay/poem/rap/spoken word contest. High school, undergraduate and graduate students in Bexar County were invited to respond to the prompt: What is your vision of a democratic society? What is your role within this society?
These inspiring and moving submissions from the contest evoke joy, gratitude and hope for our democracy. Printing of the three winning submissions in the Express-News sends the youth in our community a powerful message that their voices are heard, respected and shared.
As a volunteer, grassroots organization, the League of Women Voters of San Antonio will need the help of our educational institutions, our educators, our elected officials, our community leaders, print and broadcast media outlets, and citizen organizations to spread the word of this initiative and help engage the youth in the community.
To shape the future of our communities, we must engage this important segment of our society. Each of us has a role to play in protecting our democracy and in making it work.
Madhu Sridhar is president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area. Contact her at madhusridhar2012@gmail.com
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