Support Youth And Student Organizers Today

• We were confident it would happen, and now it has been confirmed. Youth voters made their voices heard loud and clear in the 2022 Midterm Elections! According to CIRCLE, “27% of youth (ages 18-29) cast a ballot in 2022, making this the midterm election with the second-highest youth voter turnout in almost three decades.” (Source)

• Last year, we witnessed states enact more anti-voter laws than in at least a decade. In 2022, voting rights are still under attack. During the 2022 legislative session to date, seven states have enacted 10 anti-voter laws, and seven states have enacted 12 election interference laws. Worse yet, 21 states have passed a total of 42 anti-voter laws since the beginning of 2021, and many of them are in effect for the 2022 Midterm Elections. (Source)
• Our work is just as important now as it ever was, especially in historically disenfranchised areas of the country. In a recent report, thirty-two states received a score of Restrictive or Most Restrictive for voting. There is a lot of room for improvement across the nation in making the right to vote truly accessible. (Source)

• The Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program is our ground game. Our network of student organizers are registering, informing, and mobilizing their peers to vote, as well as removing voting barriers and increasing access to the ballot.
  • The Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program has a presence on 81 campuses in 26 states and Washington, D.C. with a total student enrollment of 1M.
  • Our 2022 Campaign to the Polls is designed to activate young voters to make their voices heard.
    • Just this fall, Georgia’s Fulton County elections officials signaled the elimination of on-campus early voting locations for the General Election in the Midterms. This harmful overture would have affected nearly 90,000 students, approximately 30% of which are Black students, across seven colleges and universities in Fulton County, including Georgia State University, a Predominantly Black Institution, and four Historically Black Colleges & Universities (Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College). Young people organized and testified, and The Andrew Goodman Foundation and other partner organizations offered support. Fortunately, the Fulton County Board of Elections listened. They decided to restore the polling locations on campus during the early voting period.
    • At Iowa State University, Andrew Goodman Campus Champion Dr. Karen Kedrowski organizes the Big 12 Votes initiative, with a goal to increase student voter turnout by advancing nonpartisan civic learning and political engagement on each of the Big 12’s 10 member campuses. At the first in-conference football game, the Preamble was posted on the scoreboard during the national anthem and alongside a message to get out to vote from the Big 12 and the Cyclones Vote Coalition.
    • The Andrew Goodman Campus Team at Towson University celebrated the first day of early voting in Maryland by helping other young people make their voices heard in the 2022 Midterm Elections. At their Party at the Polls, Andrew Goodman Ambassadors offered voter education resources to their peers, as well as directed them toward their on-campus early voting location.
• Through the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program’s new Digital Track, AGF is reaching more young people than ever before to help them exercise their power.
  • The Digital Track of the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program is the twin of the program’s traditional on-the-ground model.
  • In 2022, AGF is launching the Digital Track of the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program on 10 campuses with 30 Ambassadors, with plans to expand to 150 campuses by the end of 2023 and 500 by the end of 2024.
  • Through digital outreach, AGF is reaching young people on and beyond university campuses. We have the potential to reach the 4,400 campuses and 52,500,000 18-29 year olds in the United States, and we have already contacted 1,400,000 young people so far.
  • We are applying the lessons and promising practices that we have developed over the past eight years of the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program to a digital relational organizing model that will enable us to increase the speed, scale, and scope at which we achieve our goals.

• AGF is developing pivotal interventions to increase campus democratic engagement and student voting access.
  • The Andrew Goodman Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League, Deliver My Vote, Hillel International, the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, and the National Vote At Home Institute launched Student Vote Choice, a national campaign to promote student voter accessibility to vote in person or by mail and to ensure that these ballots are counted. AGF and its partners are making a joint commitment to bring polling places, as well as educational resources about voting by mail, to campuses ahead of the 2022 and 2024 elections. (Source)
  • Data demonstrates that young people prefer to vote on campus or by mail.
    • In 2019, Yael Bromberg, Esq. conducted a student of the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program’s then-59 campuses in 24 states and Washington, D.C. and found that campuses with polling stations on Election Day in 2018 correlated with a voting rate increase of 5.3 percentage points, and those with them during both Election Day and the early voting period correlated with an increase of 7.39 percentage points. Bromberg’s research demonstrates that greater access to on-campus polling locations correlates with increased student voter turnout.
    • The research in AGF’s report, On-Campus Early In-Person Voting in Florida in the 2018 General Election, indicates that turnout — especially among young registered voters — in the counties that introduced on-campus early voting locations, was higher in 2018 compared to 2016. Additionally, Hispanic and Black voters used the on-campus locations at a higher rate than their peers, and voters of a variety of age groups availed themselves of the new mechanism. (Source)
    • In the 2020 Presidential Election, 70% of young voters cast their ballots early or by mail. (Source)
    • Research in Vote-By-Mail: Modeling Voter Participation in the 2018 Midterm Election demonstrates that more expansive vote-by-mail policies lead to increased voter turnout, particularly among young voters and consequently voters of color who are often the most impacted by voter suppression tactics and restrictive vote-by-mail policies. For this reason, vote-by-mail is also a proven strategy towards building a stronger and more representative democracy. (Source)
    • States that adopt an inclusive vote-by-mail policy could boost turnout by as much as 5.1%. (Source)
      

Our legacy story makes us unique. The Andrew Goodman Foundation is rooted in the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, 20-year-old Andrew Goodman joined the Freedom Summer Project of 1964 to register Black Americans to vote. On his first day in Mississippi, the Ku Klux Klan murdered Andy and two other civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney and Michael Schwerner. 

Their murders struck a public chord throughout the United States and contributed to the eventual passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The story of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner has since become one of the most well-known examples of the Black-Jewish coalition. 

In 1966, Robert and Carolyn Goodman created The Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF), a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit organization, to carry on the spirit and the purpose of their son Andrew’s life. Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner were posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States by President Barack Obama in 2014.

Today, AGF is living the legacy of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner.

The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in our democracy. Our vision is that young people will become active, engaged citizens who ensure a just democracy and sustainable future.

The Andrew Goodman Foundation works to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws.

We uplift a national network of college students, recent graduates, and young people who engage in advocacy, organizing, and litigation to increase youth civic power and voting rates.

The Foundation’s Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program — including the Andrew Goodman HBCU Cohort and the Andrew Goodman Digital Track — partners with America’s colleges and universities and young people beyond campus to provide resources, visibility, and mentoring to a national network of student leaders who involve their peers in participatory democracy through long-term voter engagement and public policy initiatives.

We’re experts in the field of campus voter engagement and organizing, and we use time-tested and research-backed structures to develop and administer the program. We work hands-on with college students and higher education professionals to develop powerful relationships, and we utilize their feedback to constantly improve the program. Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere is unique because we are, by design, best able to promote long-term change on campuses. This is our platform: [1]

Official Home on Campus: With every election cycle, voter registration and engagement organizations appear and disappear on campus. This does not result in a sustainable model of voter engagement. In contrast, AGF enters into a contractual agreement with each university, thereby creating an enduring partnership. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to fostering civic and political engagement. That is why Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere is designed to meet each campus community’s unique needs, perspectives, and cultures.

Leadership Pipeline: Students typically enter the program early in their college career and are encouraged to continue throughout their time on campus, building strategic organizing skills while advocating for their community’s voting and civil rights. Andrew Goodman Ambassadors receive training on leadership, voter engagement, community organizing, and campaigning for the purpose of influencing the larger community on their respective campuses. Once Andrew Goodman Ambassadors enter their final year in the program, they train their replacements to continue the leadership pipeline and preserve institutional memory.

Voting is Just the Beginning: Because voting is seen as the first step in the civic engagement process, many organizations seek to register voters. But Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere goes beyond voter registration. Our students become campus organizers who form coalitions with other campus groups and take action alongside their peers to awaken and deepen a lifelong commitment to participatory democracy.

Centralization of Campus Efforts: Our partners recognize the power of our program model. At most campuses, the institution tasks our Andrew Goodman Ambassadors and staff advisor with organizing and coordinating all voter engagement groups and committees on campus. Andrew Goodman Ambassadors ensure an effective use of resources because they’re trained, experienced, and tactical.

[1] In 2015, the Tufts University Institute for Higher Education and Democracy released an action guide reiterating the importance of a programmatic structure like that used by AGF. We unite key stakeholders and maintain a constant relationship with students.

We update AGF’s Press Kit regularly, so check back often for more. Below, you can find a recent sample of our content.

• AGF’s Press Releases, Statements, and Stories
  • Press Releases and Statements
    • The Andrew Goodman Foundation, The League Of Women Voters Of Mid-Hudson Region & New York State, The New York Civil Liberties Union, And Dutchess Student Voting Coalition Celebrate On-Campus Polling Place For Vassar College Students Ahead of Midterms
    • The Andrew Goodman Foundation And Five Partner Organizations Launch National “Student Vote Choice” Campaign To Promote Student Voting Rights Ahead Of 2022 And 2024 Elections
    • Deliver My Vote Education Fund, National Vote At Home Institute, And The Andrew Goodman Foundation Announce New Research Publication Vote-By-Mail: Modeling Voter Participation In The 2018 Midterm Election
    • The Andrew Goodman Foundation Commends The Fulton County, Georgia Board Of Elections For Restoring On-Campus Early Voting Polling Locations For 2022
    • The Andrew Goodman Foundation Reacts To Proposed Elimination Of On-Campus Early Voting Locations In Fulton County, Georgia
  • Stories
    • Penciled In: Pace University Makes Election Day A Holiday For Student Voters
    • Campaign To The Polls: Our Plan To Mobilize The Youth Vote In The 2022 Midterm Elections
    • A New Chapter In The Fight: Xavier University Of Louisiana Ambassadors Continue Voter ID Work Started At Louisiana State University
    • Civics For Change: Reforming The Electoral Count Act
    • Civics For Change: The Aftermath Of Roe V. Wade
• Media Mentions and Placements
  • The Daily Freeman, Vassar To Get Polling Place After Judge Rules Dutchess Board Of Elections Violated Law
  • Salon, “Young People Are Fed Up”: Inside The Fight To Defend Young Voters
  • Cornell Chronicle, Students Get Out The Vote, On Campus And Across The State
  • MSNBC, The Power Of The Black Vote: Creating A New South
  • Bard College, Bard College Secures Fully Functioning On-Campus Polling Site For 2022 General Election

AGF shares its Publications & Financials transparently.

• 2021
• 2019-2020
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

• Civics For Change: Freedom Summer 1964
• Civics For Change: Andrew Goodman
• Civics For Change: James Earl Chaney
• Civics For Change: Michael Schwerner

• Student Stories
• Program Achievement Highlights (2022)
• Program Achievement Highlights (2021)
• Program Achievement Highlights (2019)
• Program Achievement Highlights (2018)

Visit our full Resource Center for more guides, reports, and toolkits.

• 2020 Election Victory Report
• Expanding The Ballot: Providing Language Assistance To Non-English Proficient Voters Through Multilingual Poll Workers
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Building A Youth Poll Worker Project
• On-Campus Early In-Person Voting In Florida In The 2018 General Election Report
• For Young and Student Leaders
  • Ambassador Handbook
  • Digital Organizing Toolkit
  • my.VoteEverywhere Election And Voter Information Portal
  • Writing Op-Eds Toolkit
  • Securing On-Campus Polling Places Toolkit
  • Securing On-Campus Polling Places Case Studies

• Legacy Summer (2022)
• Rise Up Weekend (2021)
• Take Your Power Back Weekend (2020)

Listen to Seasons 1 and 2 of the Live the Legacy Podcast, and check back in early 2023 for Season 3!