At this week’s Round Table, Inica, Kenisha, andMadeline spoke withthe energizing Ave Mateo, Executive Director of 18byVote. Ava believes deeply in the power of youth and works to spread opportunity for meaningful engagement among teens and young adults. In addition to her work leading 18by, Ava recently completed a Sociology and Education Masters degree at Columbia University, Teachers College, where her research focused on the influence of youth-led organizations and youth-led educational programs on young people’s sociopolitical identity development. Needless to say, we were THRILLED to speak with her and to learn more about what she’s done and what she’s cooking up with 18byVote. We talked extensively about what it takes to get young people ready, excited, and prepared to vote–especially those who haven’t historically been politically engaged. We explored what Ava thinks are the most impactful things young people can do BEYOND voting, the power of nonpartisan approaches, how to channel disagreement into productive discourse, and the core values that draw us to and ground us in this work. We also talked about where work like this should be rooted: Ava shared her belief that public schools should be stimulants for democracy, providing access and education to create informed engaged citizens, BUT schools have instead strayed to be more focused on workforce development. She encouraged as, as young people, to advocate for more civics in and out of the classroom to be active participants in democracy. We will, Ava, we will–and we hope you will too. Thank you for listening!
