What We Do
With steady and encouraging increases in youth voting participation since 2000, it is crucial we capitalize on the energy from recent election cycles to engage young people in the legislative process and demonstrate that youth leadership is not just instrumental for winning campaigns but is also critical for effective governing. Increasing and sustaining youth civic involvement should, therefore, be a top priority of grassroots organizations, and SAVEhas been a national leader in both creating and sustaining a dialogue with institutions of government.
Locally, each of our chapters engage their student body and broader community in the political process by:
o organizing issue forums and debates,
o hosting elected officials as speakers,
o registering and mobilizing young voters,
o disseminating voting information and resources on voting procedure,
o coordinating grassroots efforts to reform elections, and
o encouraging young adults to propose new solutions to our nation's greatest problems.
At the national level, with the input and support of our members, we:
o identify problems that uniquely impact younger citizens and develop federal and local policy
proposals to address these challenges
o educate elected officials on the unique perspective of young voters and advocate in favor
of progressive policy reform
o hold politicians and the media accountable to their young constituents, who are too
frequently overlooked and undervalued.
By arming young people with the knowledge to navigate the political process via a commitment to dialogue, issue awareness, and interaction with government, we hope to create a foundation forlife-longparticipation in the democratic system. Thus, SAVE is unique not only because it is youth-led, but also because we believe in a combination of civic education and policy reform.