Power California

Results: Since 2016, PowerCA has strengthened the civic engagement infrastructure and organizing capacity statewide through training, engaging, organizing, and activating youth leaders building a base of supporters with 100,000+ young voters of color across California. Our approach and model-- bolstered with integrated voter engagement, deep relationship building, and priority investment in under-represented regions-- is shifting the electorate and has established PowerCA as the leading youth vote resource for young people of color. During California midterm elections in 2018, PowerCA mobilized 180,598 young voters statewide during the 2018 midterm elections increasing turnout rates of young voters of color across every demographic (63% Black turnout, 60% API turnout, 55% Latinx turnout). Through targeted social media we contacted 400,000 young voters of color to educate them about the election, ballot propositions, and voting by mail. We trained over 10 youth leaders to be spokespeople and placed over 5 op-eds and blogs with young people of color centering their voices in California’s elections and the decisions that shape our state. The young people that we contacted in 2018 turned out to vote over 600% higher compared to the 2014 Mid-Term elections. Our Power Summer Campaign in 2019 helped us scale up our voter engagement and contact. We contacted over 100,000 young voters across the state with over 84,000 of the young voters of color we contacted ready to take-action in 2020 building on our model to engage young voters year-round during on and off election years. Our collective efforts of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of young voters played a major role in the historic 2020 election’s turnout of young voters in California. Our 2020 Census campaign, contacting over 15,000 young residents and families expanded and deepened our connections with San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles young people building a stronger presence in key regions of Southern California furthering our power building efforts. Our 2020 voter contact programs mobilized over 40,000 young voters in Los Angeles County, expanded and deepened our connections with San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles young people building a stronger presence in key regions of Southern California furthering our power building efforts. In the Central Valley, PowerCA continues to lead as a youth organizing hub throughout the region. In the Fall of 2020 PowerCA, along with four of our Central Valley based PowerCA youth organizing partners, ran our largest voter outreach program contacting 20,000+ young voters across six Central Valley counties. Additionally, through targeted social media, earned media, and virtual voter education events PowerCA engaged over 100,000 young voters of color throughout the Central Valley to educate them about the election and voting by mail.

Target demographics: build the voting power of young people of color and position young people of color as decision makers to shift power to our communities

Direct beneficiaries per year: 200,000 young people of color and 20 grassroots youth organizations

Geographic areas served: Urban, suburban, and rural communities statewide throughout California across 29 counties

Programs: Integrated Voter Engagement, Cultural Strategy and Narrative Change, Leadership Development, Capacity Building