Civic Influencers

About the Organization

Civic Influencers, a national nonpartisan nonprofit operating locally across the country, on and off campus, in local communities and states, that empowers young people to build their civic power and increase voting rates amongst their peers. They frame their work through an Organizing, Advocacy and Learning model that equips young people with the skills to dismantle barriers to voting while developing their identities as voters and participants in our democracy.

“These times call for rigorous and data driven work, to effectively mobilize young people both on- and off-campus in strategic districts. We must bridge the town and gown divide, continue to work with two- and four-year college faculty and administrations, partner with community groups, and support young people’s participation in social justice movements.” - Maxim Thorne, Esq., Civic Influencers CEO  

Re-imagining why, how and where we engage youth voters

We are committed to ensuring young voices and votes matter in our democracy. We have reimagined how and where to engage young voters. The data compels us to center racial equity and the enfranchisement of Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color (BIYoC), and to increase our work in key states and at People of Color Serving Institutions (PoCSIs), including Tribal Campuses, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and more. We adopted our Organizing, Advocacy and Learning model to equip young people to dismantle barriers to voting.

How we power young voices and votes

With surgical precision, lawmakers are depriving young people of their right to vote. They have introduced over 400 voting bills in 49 states during 2021 alone, 28 of which have already been signed into law. They are targeting BIYoC populations especially. They are gerrymandering predominantly Black colleges, banning polling sites and prohibiting voter registration on campuses, and rejecting student IDs as voter IDs. The intent is to remove youth and BIYoC voters because of their success in impacting important elections in 2020 and in January 2021.

New data-driven interventions are being deployed to help young people confront the horrifying movement of voter suppression bills across the US, which coincides with a fourth wave of COVID. We have designed three major series of interventions to dismantle new and existing barriers: Youth Civic Power, Campus Civic Power, and Institution Civic Power. We are training and deploying 600 Fellows - called “Civic Influencers” - both on- and off- campus to influence their peers and communities, through on-the-ground and digital organizing, that will lead to increased youth voter turnout and civic power.