Powering the Youth Vote

The panel Powering the Youth Vote will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21st, in Hemisphere B.

Description
Time Magazine declared 2008 the year of the youth vote. 3.4 million more young people turned out the polls than the last election cycle, and youth turnout has risen steadily over the past three election cycles. What is working to turn out young voters? How will they impact politics? How can we sustain this trend? Join leaders of the youth vote movement to examine these questions and more.

Speakers

 * Karlo Marcelo - Karlo Marcelo is a public policy researcher, writer and blogger. As Research Associate for CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), he analyzed youth civic engagement, especially trends in youth voting and volunteering, aiding partisan and non-partisan GOTV and voter registration campaigns during the 2006 and 2008 elections.  As a youth vote expert, he interviews regularly with broadcast, print and online journalists.  He covered the youth vote in the 2008 elections as a blogger and writer for WireTap Magazine.  He's also worked or consulted for The Aspen Institute, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and APCO Worldwide.  Currently, he serves as a consultant to CIRCLE and InterAction, the largest coalition of humanitarian NGO's; he also blogs on the topic of progressive youth politics at FutureMajority.com.  He holds a BA from the University of Maryland and a MPP from the University of Michigan.  Originally from Glen Ellyn, IL, he now lives in Washington, DC.


 * Tobin Van Ostern - Tobin Van Ostern is presently a student at The George Washington University where he is majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict and Security and a Minor in Political Science. Tobin served as the National Co-Director and Acting Director of Students for Barack Obama (SFBO) for the General Election Campaign after serving as the National Deputy Director of SFBO during the primaries.


 * Anna Lefer (Moderator) - A recognized leader in philanthropy and the progressive movement, Anna Lefer Kuhn was recently appointed the Executive Director of the Arca Foundation. Arca supports innovative and strategic efforts that advance equity, accountability, social justice and participatory democracy in the US and abroad. Prior to her appointment, Anna dedicated her career to centralizing the role of diverse young people in social change movements. As a Program Officer at the Open Society Institute (OSI), Anna conceived of and led a multi-year, $8 million initiative that helped to build a movement of progressive young activists leading change on critical issues. In addition, Anna coordinated OSI's Youth Media Program, a six-year, $12 million initiative that provided low-income youth with opportunities to affect public debate and to develop critical thinking and communication skills. A committed activist, Anna has served on boards of a number of organizations, including the White House Project, the Urban Justice Center and the League of Young Voters; and she is on the advisory boards of the Drum Major Institute Scholars Program and Generation Change, a project of the Center for Community Change. Anna is a graduate of Wesleyan University, and was a member of the 2004-2005 class of Coro Leadership New York. A born and raised New Yorker and Yankees fan, Anna lives in Washington DC with her husband Jonathan, an architect and Red Sox fan. They spend their free time gardening, cooking and rooting for the Washington Nationals.


 * Sujatha Jahagirdar - Sujatha Jahagirdar is the Student PIRGs' Political Director. Prior to this position, Ms. Jahagirdar served as the Program Director for the Student PIRGs New Voters Project, spearheading communications strategy for the project during the 2008 election cycle. Prior to this role, she served as the Clean Water Advocate for Environment California, a statewide environmental organization. In this role, she authored and generated media coverage for several reports that documented pressing pollution issues facing California water supplies, including A Clean Water Future for California; Lakes and Bays and Down the Drain: The Impact of Groundwater Contamination in Six Communities. Ms. Jahagirdar also coordinated CALPIRG's Water Watch Community Organizing Program and served as a campus organizer at the University of California Los Angeles. Ms. Jahagirdar graduated with distinction from Yale University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science.


 * John Della Volpe - John Della Volpe is Director of Polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics and has been affiliated with the IOP since the late 1990's. Each semester, John leads a public opinion survey group of students who develop, field and report on the attitudes of young Americans (Millennial Generation) toward politics and public service. Since 2000, the IOP survey has tracked pre- and post-9/11 attitudes; accurately predicted the spikes in youth turnout in 2004 and 2006; addressed the growing importance of religion in the lives of young people; marked the generational shift in attitudes toward foreign policy; and provided insight into the ways in which Millennials communicate and form opinions. As an Eisenhower Fellow, he recently traveled through Chin and Korea studying the interaction of millennials and technology. John is a veteran of four presidential campaigns and dozens of other high-profile campaigns in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, John is a member of the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative Board of Advisors and is Founder of SocialSphere Strategies, a Web 2.0 strategy company located in Harvard Square, Cambridge.


 * Brand Kroeger - Brand Kroeger is the current Chair for the DC Federation of College Republicans and the George Washington University College Republicans. During the 08 election cycle Brand led the DC Federation in making more than 110,000 voter contacts in PA, VA, OH, and MD. During his involvement the DC Federation was recognized as the 'Best State Federation' in America and the GW Chapter was named 'Best Chapter' in America.  Brand is a veteran of the campaign trail having worked on the Mel Martinez for US Senate campaign as well as serving as Chairman of Youth for Bush in Northwest Florida in 2004. He has worked for Florida House of Representatives Speaker Ray Sansom, and interned for U.S. Senator Jim Bunning R-KY and Congressman Vern Buchanan R-FL. Brand also served as a Yitzhak Rabin Fellow at the Israeli Embassy in 2007.  Brand is a Senior double-majoring in Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University.

From Karlo

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From Tobin

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From Anna

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From Sujatha

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From John

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From Brand

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General/from discussion

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