ABOUT US
Welcome to EYC
OUR ORIGINS
When identifying an issue in her community to address for her Girl Scout Gold Award project, EYC founder Emily thought about her interest in civic engagement, particularly voter participation, and noticed that a lot of her peers weren't aware that they could pre-register to vote at 16 years old. This discovery led her to research the state of civics education and youth voter turnout in the US, and her research resulted in three startling findings:
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1) A 2016 survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center discovered that only 1 in 4 of American citizens can name all three branches of government.
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2) According to a research article by The Civics Center, only 12% of 16 and 17 year olds are pre-registered to vote in California.
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3) Young voters have the lowest voter turnout than any other age group in the US.
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With these findings in mind, Emily launched the initiative Empowering Young Citizens in March of 2022 in an effort to help students foster a love for civics and to strengthen awareness of informed and equitable voting among high school students.