Supporting the Youth Vote in 2020

The 2020 general election has taken on renewed importance as the twin crises of racial injustice and a global pandemic profoundly change American life. For the generation just now coming of age and finding its voice politically, this year’s election offers an opportunity to shape the country’s future. 

Join the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), part of Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, and Gallup for a discussion on youth participation in the political process this November and beyond. Based on new research, the conversation will focus on:

• The political behaviors and attitudes of younger Millennials and Generation Z, many of whom will be voting in their first presidential election
• Young Americans’ support for different candidates, and whether those candidates are reaching out to them
• Young Americans’ activism and overall civic engagement, and their access to the election process—especially given changes to elections due to COVID-19
• The issues at the core of young people’s interest in casting a ballot in November, with a special attention to the concerns of youth of color 

Speakers

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policy-maker, an activist, and a survivor. On November 6, 2018, Congresswoman Pressley was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts 7th is the most diverse and most unequal district in the state, requiring a representative whose experiences are reflective of the people.

In 2016, Congresswoman Pressley was named one of The New York Times 14 Young Democrats to Watch. In 2014, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce named her as one of their Ten Outstanding Young Leaders, and the Victim Rights Law Center presented her with their Leadership Award. In 2015, she earned the EMILY’s List Rising Star Award and was named one of Boston Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful People. She is also an Aspen-Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership, Class of 2012.

Montserrat Arredondo

Executive Director, One Arizona

Montserrat began her career in advocacy in 2010 when the infamous “show me your papers” bill SB1070 passed in Arizona. The unfortunate acts of discrimination towards her community lead her to social justice work. Since then she has lead substantial campaigns like Prop 206 which passed in 2016, giving 5 million families a living wage. Montserrat is now the Table Director at One Arizona, a coalition of twenty organizations focusing on voter registration and civic engagement. The One Arizona coalition registered has registered close to 500,000 voters since 2010.

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg
 

Director, CIRCLE, Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Ph.D., is the Director of CIRCLE. She oversees CIRCLE’s wide-ranging portfolio of research and impact projects with its diverse partners and for audience groups. Kei has a background in Community Psychology and Social-Emotional Learning, which she applies to various projects at CIRCLE. Kei has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Child and Family subspecialty) from Loyola University Chicago but identifies as a community psychologist. Before coming to CIRCLE, Kei worked with young people and families at a public high school, and at an emergency room and community health center as a therapist in training. Working with people who faced numerous structural challenges made her want to work with systems that created those challenges in the first place, which attracted her to CIRCLE.

Kei serves as a national board member of Generation Citizen and Democracy Works, and lends her expertise as an advisory group member for Nonprofit VOTE, Project Information Literacy, Citizen Z project at Education Week, and the American Bar Association's Division of Public Education. She has been the lead author on landmark papers and reports, such as The Republic is (Still) at Risk – and Civics is Part of the Solution (with Peter Levine); The Future of Civic Education (in NASBE Magazine); Taking the Lead: How Educators Can Help

Mohamed Younis
 

Editor-in-Chief, Gallup News, Gallup

As editor-in-chief, Mohamed leads the Gallup News team. For the past 10 years, Mohamed has led some of Gallup's largest global and regional studies on social, political and economic issues. His research at Gallup has focused on geopolitics and the shifting global order, U.S. foreign policy, state stability, youth employment challenges, and relations between Muslim communities and Western societies.

Mohamed provides briefings to world leaders and institutions on Gallup's research and provides expert insights to television, radio and print media worldwide. Since 2012, Mohamed has led Gallup's initiatives on situational intelligence and open-source monitoring. He leads a team of strategic advisers who monitor and consult on real-time geopolitical shifts around the world. Mohamed is a member of the Virginia State Bar, has studied and worked in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and is fluent in Arabic.