“One must take action if one wants to make a difference.”
One of the greatest examples of taking action in order to make a difference is the American Revolution in 1776. As a country, Americans worked together to fight for independence from oppressive British rule and influence. Since then, civic engagement has become as just as important and worth fighting for as independence. It is more than the promotion of voting and participation in the government with a set of actions and efforts, but a feeling of belonging, an experience of a local, regional, national, and/or international scale. According to the New York Times, “Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.” The importance of civic engagement has increased with the recent economic turbulence because many citizens have begun to rely more and more on their representatives, congressmen, and senators to make sure their issues are accounted for. It is evident that civic engagement has been significant and even necessary, but how is the government taking action to promote civic engagement?
In 1999, MassVOTE was founded as a non-partisan voting rights organization. It is an organized effort to connect with all local community-based non-profit organizations to increase voter education and turnout across Massachusetts. MassVOTE works to eliminate barriers and encourage voting, especially among communities of color, language minorities, low income communities, youth, new American citizens, and the disabled. This historic election year resulted in a record breaking voter turnout. MassVOTE was an unstoppable force of nature as it strived diligently to reach throughout Massachusetts. It began a youth program to engage youth civic leaders and hired city high school students for paid internships under the name Young Civic Leader. This was revolutionary. The YCL interns worked on providing trainings which sent the youth of Massachusetts the simple, straight forward message that it is important to get involved with civic engagement regardless of race, gender, or age. Never before have the youth been inspired and encouraged to vote in such a phenomenal way. As the result of the Youth Leadership Forum in 2007 sponsored by MassVOTE and planned by the YCL interns, many youth attendees were encouraged to join one of the many Democracy for Nonprofits organizations. When I heard about the YCL program and the wonderful things that MassVOTE accomplished for the community, I knew I had to get involved.
It has only been eight years since MassVOTE was founded by already it has firmly rooted itself in its work. Civic engagement has high importance but what is even more important it is educate the community about the importance of voting and getting involved in the decision-making process. A desire to make the difference founded MassVOTE and a motivation to not only change, but to educate has kept it one of the success stories of the nonprofit sector.