“Vote Your Power” Challenge is Launched

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Black Youth Vote! Network has launched its 2016 HBCU/Community “Vote Your Power” Challenge (BYV! ’16 Challenge) across the country.  The BYV! ’16 Challenge is a key component of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s (NCBCP) Unity ’16 Black Voter Empowerment Campaign. (www.unitycampaign.org).

“The BYV! ’16 Challenge is an organizing strategy developed by and for Black millennial leaders and activists to engage young people in getting their friends educated, motivated and  energized to register to vote, verify their registration, vote in the 2016 election; and encourage their peers to vote as well,” said Deven Anderson, Unity ’16 Campaign Senior Advisor and BYV! Lead Organizer, NCBCP. “These elections are critical and we found through our interactions & research, that millennials tend to respond better to other young people,” Anderson added.

The BYV! ’16 Challenge has already partnered with millennials leaders on over 30 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), other colleges/universities, churches and community-based organizations in several battleground and southern states.** The challenge’s ultimate goal is to maximize the collective voting power of the Black youth vote to ensure national, state and local candidates are held accountable to address key issues they care about including criminal justice & policing reform, living wage jobs and college affordability.

“The National Coalition is committed to lifting up and supporting a new generation of civil rights and social leaders through our Black Youth Vote! Network, as well as our Black Women’s Roundtable Intergenerational Network.”  Black millennials are key to leveraging Black power for our communities to achieve civil rights, economic and social justice victories now and into the future.”

**Participating campuses include: North Carolina:  Winston-Salem  State University, Elizabeth City State University, Saint Augustine’s College, Shaw University,  Johnson C. Smith,  Bennett College, NC A&T, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University; Washington, DC: Howard University, University of the District of Columbia; MD: Prince George’s Community College; AL: Birmingham Residential, Lawson State University, Alabama A & M University, Tuskegee University; FL: FAMU, Bethune-Cookman University, University of Central Florida, Florida Memorial University, University of Florida; GA: Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University. MD Community-Based Organizations and Churches: Community of Hope AME, Temple of Praise, Embry A.M.E. Church, Hunter Memorial AME, Jack-n-Jill.

Challenge National & State-Based Partners include: Alabama Coalition on Black Civic Participation/AL BYV!, Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation/FL BYV!, Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda/GA BYV!, National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame, National Pan-Hellenic Council, North Carolina Black Youth Vote!, Rising Sons/Philadelphia Black Youth Vote, and SEIU

Black Youth Vote! was founded in 1996 by The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.  The National Coalition creates and enlightens communities by building institutional capacity that provides and develops leadership. By educating, motivating, organizing, and mobilizing Black communities, the National Coalition seeks to encourage full participation in a barrier-free democratic process. The National Coalition works to expand, strengthen, and empower communities to make voting and civic participation a cultural responsibility and tradition.