Starting the Summer Strong: Our June Recap
Plus: a welcome to our summer team, Program Manager job announcement, NV on the ground, and more.
Welcome to the New Voters newsletter, where we give you handcrafted monthly updates about our voter registration efforts in our goal to register one million youth voters.
New Voters On The Ground
Summer Team Members Are Here!
This June, we welcomed a remarkable cohort of over 35 summer team members to New Voters, ranging from 14 to 20 years old. Representing a range of academic backgrounds and home states, they join us with a shared belief in the urgency of youth civic engagement. In the few weeks since they started, team members have already created a proposal for government officials, reached out to every superintendent in California, created content for our social media, and more. We’re honored to have them with us!
Boston + New York City Youth Leader Dinners
This month, New Voters convened standout youth organizers from across the country at our Youth Leader Dinners in Boston-Cambridge and New York City. Led by New Voters President Jahnavi Rao, each event brought together students for intimate conversations on civic engagement, community impact, and youth-led change. The dinners served as both a celebration of student leadership and a space for building lasting connections among the next generation of change-makers.
Attendees of the Boston-Cambridge dinner included: Maya Solomon, Rhiannon Esposito of Celebration of Queer Culture, Amani Arunga of FOCUS, Kevin Wu of Harvard University, Caleb Thompson, Jack Sennott, and Ananya Kulkarni.
Attendees of the New York City dinner included: Ava Mateo of Riley’s Way, Catherine Chan, Jessica Rosario of Queens Community Board 3, Alan Beard of OneOne Ventures, Akhila Yalvigi, Emma Sargent, Zayed Kadir, Reem Khalifa, and Liora Petter-Lipstein.
Young Leaders Summer Institute Kickoff Session
We’re proud to highlight our collaboration with Democracy House’s Young Leaders Summer Institute (YLSI), a civic leadership accelerator empowering the next generation of change-makers. This summer, over 170 fellows joined the kickoff session, where Jahnavi Rao and Manu Meel of BridgeUSA shared their experiences as young nonprofit leaders to support youth-led civic innovation and equip students with tools to serve as civic leaders in their communities and beyond.
Harvard’s Alumni for Democracy Luncheon
On June 5th, Jahnavi spoke at the third annual Harvard Alumni for Democracy Luncheon. At this event, she was able to talk and network with fellow alumni, including high-ranking public officials, democracy innovators, and civically engaged executives. The topics of discussion at the luncheon included:
Current threats to democracy in the United States, and what can be learned from overseas.
Success stories from Harvard students and alumni.
The assault on Harvard and higher education — and what alumni leaders are doing about it.
New Voters at Pennsbury High School’s Commencement Ceremony
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro delivered a speech as the commencement keynote speaker at Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, PA.
Zac Hillwig, a student who played a key role in facilitating last year’s Votechella, went to Pennsbury on behalf of the organization and handed out over 2,500 cards containing voter registration information & custom QR codes throughout the course of the ceremony.
Job Alert: New Voters Program Manager!
Join a movement that’s transforming civic engagement in high schools across the country. New Voters is hiring a full-time Program Manager to help us run 250 voter registration drives by December 2025 and lead our cohort of mentors. If you're a people-first leader with a passion for mentorship, operations, and youth empowerment, we want you on our team. …
🤝 Get Involved!
Everyone: Refer a high school student you know to run a registration drive!
High School Students: Sign up to run a drive at your high school!
With important elections coming up in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is now more important than ever to ensure that your voice will be heard! Check out the link below to run a registration drive in your community or at your school to amplify the voices of those around you as well.
Check your voter registration status, register to vote, and more at New Voters’ official Voter Toolkit.
In community,
Jessika, Ava, and the New Voters Team