High School Outreach-- CLASSROOM Presentations

From February through April, 2023, 50 classroom presentations reached 1042 Allegheny and Westmoreland County high school students resulting in over 400 student voter registrations.  The newest nonpartisan, 40-minute presentation, "Why Vote", combines civic education with voter registration. 

In total, over 4000 high school students have been reached by High School Outreach over six years,  with about 2500 new voter registrations completed. 

Moving to online registration through trackable QR codes (Turbovote.org, and then Rockthevote.org) we currently track "probable voter registrations". The advantage of these voter registration platforms is that multiple and ongoing reminder text messages about voter registration status and each current election are sent to the students who sign up.

For the second year in August, "Happy 18th Birthday" posters with trackable QR codes (see panel below) were distributed to all public high schools and CTE schools in five counties:  Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington, and Westmoreland. This project empowers students to complete voter registration just as soon as they become eligible and has been duplicated by Leagues across the US.  Monthly emails to high school staff share resources and current voter and election information.     

Please contact us for more information and to schedule a visit at: civic.education@lwvpgh.org

"The Youth Vote" WQED Video

In February 2020, High School Voter Outreach volunteers visited Brentwood High School to present their voter registration/civic education program. 

Brentwood won the 2020 GOLD Governor's Civic Engagement Award, and along with the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, was featured in a PA Department of State webinar on August 20, which promoted best practices in youth voter outreach.

Are you a Teacher, School Counselor, Parent or Grandparent?  
Do you have an 18- to 24-year-old in your life?  Give them the gift of democracy! 

Young people want to be seen and heard.  
     Help young people take ownership of the power that comes from the rights and responsibilities of turning eighteen.   Share the 18th Birthday card with QR CODE or these other graphics with the young people in your lives!

The link for the Claim Your Power poster geared to College-University students is below (C-U). 
There is also a poster geared to senior citizens here.

 18th Birthday Card PA       18th Birthday Card US      Claim Your Power- C-U    

If you will be 18 years old on or by the NEXT Election you can register to vote NOW!

If you have a Pennsylvania Driver's License or PennDOT ID, you can register online at vote.pa.gov. You may also use the last 4 digits of your Social Security # if you upload your signature. 

REGISTER NOW!

Much more information can be found on "Voting" web pages in the Menu.

The Civic Education team shares the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh's digital resources with College and University staff to amplify our reach to students through campus social media, websites and email to students.

An example is "Teasers 3.22" which provides short social media messages with links to relevant infographics and other documents.  Getting these resources directly to college and university students helps them to find reliable and trustworthy election, voting and government information.

Two graphics help college-university students understand the ways they can register to vote.

                                                           3 Choices                      Out-of-State Students        

Not to Be Missed for Students and Life-long Learners

Find informative web pages, all in one place, about LOCAL GOVERNMENT  

and PA STATE GOVERNMENT on the LWVPGH website. See the Menus for more.

Junior Achievement's Biz Town experience is a national project for 4th-5th-6th graders that requires 9-hours of instruction from their own teachers, including a new Civic Education module. Students spend four hours at the impressive BizTown installation in Bridgeville, PA. Students demonstrate problem-solving, creative thinking, collaboration, and team-building skills--and they have a great time doing it!  

Not only do students choose to vote for the “Quality Business” or “Best Citizen” in the new Voting Booth provided by the Pittsburgh YWCA, but for the second year, they receive a swag bag which includes LWVPGH-created materials (for 4000 students).  Students manage business and personal finances; they apply for and receive a business loan from Clearview Credit Union, they receive two paychecks, write checks that are cashed, and use their debits cards when they shop. Teams repay their business loans and show a profit are celebrated!

LWVPGH members can look to sign up to volunteer now through June (eBlast). Don’t miss this opportunity to see the best part of our country—our youth in action!

The Director of the Civic Education team and the Civic Outreach Coordinator from the Committee of Seventy have been collaborating to facilitate communication and to share resources among the community partners engaged in the youth voter empowerment mission in the Pittsburgh area.

Hosted by educators at the Heinz History Center on January 17, 2023, participants met to discuss how to share and support the expansion of voter empowerment and civic education to youth.

Cohosts:   Justin Villere (Committee of Seventy) and Amy Kleissas (LWVPGH)

Members from these community partners participated:

• League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh
• Heinz History Center
• Pittsburgh Public Schools Administration
• YWCA
• National Council of Negro Women
• Voter Empowerment Education & Enrichment Movement (VEEEM)
• National Council of Jewish Women

Additional meetings are planned to expand participation to more community partners and to develop resources that may be shared among all who are engaged in this important mission.

View the rich civic education resources that have been developed by the Committee of Seventy, here.

Do you need PRINTED VOTER MATERIALS?
      Contact us at civic.education@lwvpgh.org

Did you know that over 20% of under resourced communities may not have access to reliable internet?  

READY-SET-VOTE DOOR HANGER BAGS
To respond to this need over six elections, our team has created, packed, and distributed 22,000 door hanger bags to high schools and community partners:  B-PEP (Black-Political Empowerment Project), VEEEM (Voter Empowerment Education & Enrichment Movement), AKA ( Alpha Kappa Alpha  Sorority), JCC ( Jewish Community Center), West End P.O.W.E.R., and high schools like (PPS) Pittsburgh Public Schools. These grant-funded bags contain voter registration materials and our unique civic education infographics, plus more.

--Over 2000 bags:  In 2020 resulted in new voter registrations--like the 187 student registrations at Pittsburgh Public Schools. 

--3000 bags for the 2021 Municipal Elections to PPS high schools and community partners
--9000 bags for the 2022 Primary Federal and State Election--4000 for the Primary and 5000
for the 2022 General Election to PPS high schools, Westmoreland high schools, and community partners.
--8000 bags for the 2023 Primary and General Municipal Elections--for PPS and other high schools, and community partners including 700 bags for ex-incarcerated citizens in halfway houses.

Do you need DIGITAL RESOURCES?
During each election season, digital resources found on the

EXPLAINERS AND GRAPHICS web page are shared with broad coalitions of community partners.  

Explainers and Graphics