Take Your Power Back Weekend

Tia Alexander is a student at Xavier University of Louisiana pursuing a Political Science Pre-Law major with a minor in Philosophy. A native New Orleanian, she enjoys attending college in her city and remaining close to its culture and her family. In her free time, Tia enjoys running her Pre-Law Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta as its President, participating in AGF voter engagement efforts with her peers, and volunteering with CourtWatch NOLA. In the future, she hopes to attend law school.

Sophie Bertrand is a student leader taking action addressing the issues of civic engagement and democratic participation. In the past two years, she has utilized campus resources to educate the student body about the significance of their roles in the community, especially in the democratic system. She has actively registered students to vote, hoping to increase overall political engagement on campus and playing a significant role in making Towson University recognized by TurboVote and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as a "Silver Seal Campus" with a voting rate of 60.7% - one of TurboVote's top 40 campuses for voter engagement in 2017. In addition to her efforts with the campus student government on an initiative to make voting easier and more convenient for students, she is currently working in concordance with several local universities to host a conference pertaining to the state of democratic participation and civic engagement in the hopes of directly engaging with students and officials to discover what needs to be done and follow through to increase voter turnout, especially pertaining to the rapidly growing population of youth voters.

Yael Bromberg is a constitutional rights attorney with over twenty years of experience in community organizing, advocacy, and campaigns. She is Of Counsel for The Andrew Goodman Foundation, having served in various roles for the organization over the last five years, including as Chief Counsel for Voting Rights, and Special Counsel & Strategic Advisor to the CEO/President.

Yael is Principal of Bromberg Law LLC where she primarily practices democracy law, and Of Counsel for a labor and employment firm. Yael is one of the nation's foremost legal experts on the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18 and outlaws age discrimination in access to the ballot. Her legal scholarship, Youth Voting Rights & the Unfulfilled Promise of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, has been heralded as a “groundbreaking study” and “legal and organizing call for action” of this unexamined and under-appreciated area of constitutional rights.

A Lecturer at Rutgers School of Law, Yael teaches Election Law & the Political Process, has taught students in the Rutgers Law Clinic, and served as Faculty Advisor for the Rutgers University Law Review's 2023 symposium which resulted in the first-ever legal volume on the subject of youth voting rights, bringing together new and diverse voices to the topic. Yael is a visiting associate with the Eagleton Institute of Politics, and has worked with the Harvard Kennedy School’s William Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice. She serves on the cross-partisan national advisory council of American Promise, an organization dedicated to eradicating the outsized role of money in politics through constitutional ratification. She is also a member of the Election Law Committee of the NJ State Bar Association.

Yael is the recipient of multiple awards and recognitions, and received an LLM in Advocacy with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center where she served as a supervising attorney and teaching fellow in the Civil Rights Clinic and Voting Rights Institute. She previously worked in the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Common Cause, and clerked for nearly three years with the Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Yael speaks at conferences and events nationwide on a variety of democracy law topics, and is a frequent commentator for national news publications.

Andrew Devedjian grew up in Deerfield, IL and is now a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio studying Political Science, Global & Intercultural Studies, with minors in Middle Eastern, Jewish, & Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion. Besides being an Andrew Goodman Ambassador at Miami, he is an Off-Campus Senator for Miami's Associated Student Government, a Board Member for Miami's Student Center, and a member of the Beta Theta Phi Fraternity. Outside of Miami, Andrew is a member of the Armenian Youth Federation along with being the Co-Founder and Board President of an international nonprofit called Project Global Story.

Tamia Fowlkes is a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin – Madison majoring in Journalism and Political Science with certificates in Gender and Women’s Studies and Leadership. On campus, she serves as the Big 10 Voting Challenge Intern for the Morgridge Center of Public Service, as an Andrew Goodman Ambassador for The Andrew Goodman Foundation. Tamia serves as an Investigative Reporting Intern for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and has written for The Wisconsin State Journal, Isthmus, and The Madison Commons. Driven by her passions for politics, education, and youth activism, Tamia co-created The Student Civic Immersion Program which aids high school students in crafting service projects centered around civic engagement and policy issues like environmental justice, racial equity, and voter suppression. She also co-hosts a podcast called Pod-Cast Your Vote which aims to mobilize and empower youth voters. All of her experiences have heightened her passions for politics, journalistic writing, and activism.

Mr. Glover is a critically acclaimed actor and film director. For decades he has also been on the front lines of civil rights and workers’ rights campaigns both in the United States and around the world. While attending San Francisco State University, Glover was a member of the Black Students Union, which not only created the first Department of Black Studies but also the first School of Ethnic Studies in the United States. Mr. Glover champions causes that span from anemia awareness to the AIDS crisis in Africa to mathematics education in the United States. Both the United Nations Development Program and UNICEF have appointed him as a goodwill ambassador. He is a major supporter of the Algebra Project—a math empowerment program developed by civil rights veteran Bob Moses.

Usjid Hameed works as the Public Affairs Coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Columbus, Ohio Chapter (CAIR-Columbus) where he is tasked with advocating for American-Muslims, monitoring legislation, conducting outreach, organizing civic engagement activities with the Central Ohio American-Muslim community, and much more. Usjid was born in York, Pennsylvania and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland. His passion for service was kindled at a young age thanks to his parents, Pakistani immigrants, frequently drawing attention to his many privileges, such as growing up in a two-parent home in America. Usjid credits the public school system in Baltimore County for providing him with a profound interest in history and government. Usjid attended Towson University for his undergraduate studies where he served as a Vote Everywhere Ambassador for The Andrew Goodman Foundation and as an editor for the Towson University Journal of International Affairs. In addition, Usjid was the field director for a state delegate campaign during the 2014 election cycle and interned in Congressman John Delaney’s (MD-06) D.C. office. In his junior year, Usjid was awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for his Summer 2016 study abroad experience in Jordan. He graduated from Towson University with honors in May 2017 after earning a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and was the Spring 2017 Undergraduate Commencement Speaker for the College of Liberal Arts. Upon graduating, Usjid moved to Columbus in June 2017 to begin work with CAIR.

Project Summary:

Expanding the Ballot: Providing Election Assistance to Non-Native English Speakers

Central Ohio is an incredibly diverse region. The city of Columbus alone is home to the country’s largest Bhutanese population, 2nd largest Somali population and 8th largest Arab population. Given this diversity, it is necessary that voters of these populations be given the necessary support to participate fully in the democratic process. Unfortunately, the Franklin County Board of Elections currently has no formal mechanisms in place to assist these non-native speakers on election day.

Expanding the Ballot utilizes on-site and off-site interpreters to ensure that voters who are not proficient in English have the resources necessary to cast their ballot. Through this multi-pronged approach, thousands of voters will more easily be able to be active citizens and have their voice heard.

Project Page

Alexandria “Alex” Harris is the President of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. In her role, she is responsible for activating the Foundation's goals and vision through the strategic and sustainable growth of the organization. Alexandria first became passionate about voting when she was in elementary school. She participated in many local and national campaigns, organized and registered students to vote on campus, and successfully lobbied the Georgia State Legislature to enact a law that allowed a voter to cast a provisional ballot if they believed they were entitled to vote. The law was the precursor to the Provisional Vote Law enjoyed across the United States today. Alexandria practiced corporate law for nearly a decade. She left the law to become a social entrepreneur, opened a school, and has since helped nonprofits around the world scale. She earned a B.A. from Spelman College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Alex typically spends her free time playing outside with her husband, two small boys, and Mini Schnauzer, Langston Hughes.

Zack Johnson is a student at Iowa State University majoring in Political Science and Data Science and minoring in Economics. He is involved on campus in research within the Political Science Department, as a Community Advisor within the residence halls, plays tuba in Iowa State's tuba/euphonium studio as well as sousaphone and bass guitar in ISU's marching band and pep band. Zack is passionate about seeking out the answers to why STEM students vote at such a low rate and doing things that will help to buck this trend.

Evan Malbrough is a student at Georgia State University where he majors in Public Policy with a focus in Governance and a minor in Cello Performance. Evan started his work in government as an intern for the Cobb County District Attorney's Office during the summer of 2015. In the summer of 2016, he interned for the Smyrna Office of David Scott where he did constituent services. In Spring 2017 he interned under Jim Stokes at the Public Defender's Council and did public research. In the summer of 2017, Evan became a Research Fellow for the Department of Defense under the Assistant Secretary of Defense for readiness. He plans to return to the Pentagon to continue his legislative affairs research. Evan was the 2017-2018 President of the Young Democrats of Georgia State University. He also works as a professional Cellist in the Atlanta area.

Sierra Marty is a student studying social work, criminology and political science. She enjoys volunteering to register people to vote and is an avid enthusiast of the outdoors. She hopes to use her legislative, federal court, and campaign experience to prepare her for a future career in public service.

Megan Newsome obtained a B.S. in Astrophysics from the University of Florida in 2017, where she also spent three years as The Andrew Goodman Foundation's Vote Everywhere Team Leader. Her Vote Everywhere team's accomplishments included registering over 2,000 students to vote, providing shuttles to early voting locations, and publicizing voting accessibility issues via local media. Her goal as a Puffin Democracy Fellow is to see Florida lead the South in taking down voting barriers by advocating for college campuses to serve as early voting locations, improving transportation networks to and from polling sites, and strengthening comprehensive civics education. Her work aims to prioritize science and evidence in policy-making. On a clear night, though, don't be surprised if Megan can't be reached - sometimes she just needs a little space. (Get it?)

Project Summary:

STEMocracy: Bridging Civics and Science

Data shows that college students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields vote at lower rates than their peers. At the same time, phrases like “evidence-based” have become controversial in political circles, and legislators, like Governor Rick Scott of Florida, have refused to discuss the gravity of scientifically-backed issues, such as climate change.

This is why we are launching STEMocracy- to ensure science is accounted for in legislation by bringing the ballot to tomorrow’s scientists. By thoroughly researching STEM students’ low voting rate, we will develop and implement the most effective methods that will transform these students into civic leaders. STEMocracy aims to make facts a priority so that policies are made in the best interest of all Americans.

Project Page

Valencia Richardson is a recent graduate of Georgetown Law School. She is also a certified Distinguished Communicator, recipient of Upper Division Honors from the LSU Honors College, and a Fulbright Scholar.

Valencia graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana State University in 2016, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, with a concentration in Political Communication and a minor in Spanish. In 2014, Valencia became an Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Ambassador at LSU. She also co-founded Geaux Vote LSU, an on-campus student organization aimed at assisting LSU students with registering to vote, voting, and staying up-to-date on upcoming elections. Under her leadership as a Vote Everywhere Team Leader and Geaux Vote LSU President, her team was instrumental in registering hundreds of students to vote, advocating for higher education funding, as well as increasing voter accessibility for college students by leading the charge to change Louisiana’s state law to allow student IDs to become eligible voter IDs.

Valencia continues her research to expand voter accessibility in the South as a Puffin Democracy Fellow. She is also the author of Young and Disaffected, publishing December 2019 by New Degree Press.

Project Summary:

A New Southern Strategy for College Voter Engagement

Access to the polls for young people (18-34) is particularly suppressed in the Southeastern United States. We know that voter suppression, through efforts to prevent access to registration and
voting, depresses overall turnout. Studies show that among other barriers, stricter voter ID laws can depress registration and turnout.

In 2016, Louisiana passed an ID law that will help thousands of college students in Louisiana be able to use their student IDs to vote. Now it is time to look ahead into other states to see how legislation can be created to increase accessibility to college students across the South. Beginning in Fall 2018, we will build a movement around increasing accessibility on college campuses. The first step will be voter ID, where we will aim to promote and promulgate a policy that allows students to use their student ID as voter ID, starting with schools already partnering with AGF in the Southeast.

Project Page

Jaleel Ross is a Political Science major from Lafayette, Louisiana. As an advocate for social justice both on his campus and in his community, Jaleel has served as the Vice President of his university's chapter of The College Democrats. While holding this position, Jaleel was able to engage, educate, and mobilize student voters in elections both on and off campus. Additionally, Jaleel has also been a part of various organizations geared toward service, leadership, and social justice on his campus.

Zoë Williamson graduated from Louisiana State University(LSU), where she majored in Political Communication with a minor in Political Science. During her time at LSU, she served as a Governor’s Fellow in Louisiana Government and worked in the governor’s communication office. In addition, Zoey served as LSU Student Government’s Director of Communications. As an Andrew Goodman Student Ambassador, Williamson helped lead Geaux Vote in expanding the organization’s structure, social media presence, and volunteer program. During her tenure, Geaux Vote registered 2,500 students to vote and successfully created one centralized polling place on LSU’s campus to make casting a ballot more accessible for all of LSU’s students.

The SLSV Coalition is made up of campus, nonprofit, community, student, and philanthropic leaders, all working together to grow the student vote. We lead collaborations between these organizations, coordinate national programs and campaigns, and distribute resources to organizers on the ground, all to advance our shared goal of helping students take part in our democracy. Website: slsvcoalition.org