More Voters in 2010!

This year, two million more young voters showed up at the polls than in 2004. According to CIRCLE, turnout rose to 51% -- the third highest youth voter turnout in history.

These numbers are encouraging. Young people across the nation are taking an interest in national politics in unprecedented numbers! However, the same statistic also indicates that 48.9 % of young Americans did not show up. 

Think about it like the glass half-full, glass half-empty conundrum… everyone's happier when the glass is just plain full!

CIRCLE’s research shows hat one of the determining factors in youth voter turnout was level of education. Typically, college enrolled voters turned out at a higher rate (62%) than those who aren’t enrolled (32%). This is likely due to last election’s large-scale campus organizing movements.

Looking towards 2010, Declare Yourself wants to find new ways to get young people to REGISTER AND VOTE – regardless of whether or not they’re in college. How do you think we should do it? Leave us a comment!

Serve.gov & the Civic Generation

Yesterday, Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Learn and Serve America Act - sweeping reform that will triple the size of Americorps, strengthen existing nonprofits, and give educational grants to students who serve their country. Sweeping reform like this has not been seen since the creation of the Peace Corps by JFK in 1961. Alongside this new legislation, the White House also introduced Serve.gov, a new platform for volunteerism and national service.

And the timing could not be better: young Americans are clamoring for new, exciting ways to take part in their community. A recent USA Today article calls Millennials "the Civic Generation," whose philanthropic spirit echoes the Greatest Generation of the 1930's and 40's. Michael Brown, founder and CEO of City Year, says, “Community service is part of [the Millennials’] DNA.”

I couldn’t agree more. Working at a nonprofit does require passionate dedication to our jobs (and sometimes a bit of personal sacrifice!) Ultimately, we rarely make as much money as classmates who took corporate jobs, we’re often understaffed, and we routinely work long hours to get the job done… But, in the end, its rewarding to know that the work that we do every day will have an effect--even in some small way--on the lives of Americans across the country.

Want to give back? Check out these great resources:

National Service Hub: http://serve.gov

Peace Corps: http://peacecorps.gov

Teach for America: http://teachforamerica.org

City Year: http://cityyear.org

The United Way: http://liveunited.org

Habitat for Humanity: http://habitat.org

The Red Cross: http://redcross.org

Nonprofit Job Postings / Volunteer Opportunities: http://idealist.org

Volunteer Opportunities: http://declareyourself.com

We're a Webby Honoree!

Back before the election, Declare Yourself partnered up with VotoLatino to bring you "La Pasion de la Decision," a series of voter registration telenovelas/PSAs starring Wilmer Valderrama, Rosario Dawson, and Tony Plana.

We’re proud to announce that “La Pasion de la Decision” was honored with a Webby Honoree Recognition for Public Service and Activism in online video!

Check out the first telenovela in the series…

What will happen next? Will Rodrigo register to vote? Will he and Carmen ever marry? And why is Lola so evil? Check out the next three telenovelas at DeclareYourself.com!