In 2018, Western Colorado Alliance hired a summer intern to help develop a pilot program for students to engage their peers in the voting process in high schools across the Western Slope. Having never attempted to run a program based solely around the interest of high school students, we weren’t sure how successful it would be. But in mere months, the program was running across three counties with 36 active interns. And by the end of the year, they had registered over 300 high school students to vote.

This summer, we brought on more interns to help us evaluate and expand the program for the 2019-2020 school year. Over two months, they worked hard to connect with and train our incoming students, as well as develop a report to share with students and legislators alike. Our interns asked the question, “What worked and what didn’t in the prior year?” They determined the program was strong but wanted to update their brand to better appeal to peers their age. After working with our students, the West Slope Youth Voter Initiative has formally changed its name to West Slope Youth Vote, fresh with a new logo and expanded purpose.

So what’s new this year? Last year’s program was a good start, but being new, it took a lot of time to introduce the program to individual school’s staff and administration. Some of our students found immediate success, and others found administrations that were a little more hesitant to help them get started. This year, in Mesa County, we went to the School Board first, and following a presentation from the students, found resounding support with a promise to help the West Slope Youth Vote program make it into every school in the district. Along with Garfield, Mesa, and Montrose, we have now expanded the program into Ouray County, where the students have already registered over 90% of their seniors to vote, and are now eligible to receive the Eliza Pickrell Routt award given by the Secretary of State.

Perhaps the biggest change has been the shift away from solely focusing on voter registration, to an emphasis on voter activation, to encourage students to turn out at the polls. Over the summer, our interns developed a report highlighting bills our legislators voted on during the 2019 session — bills that had a direct impact on high school-aged students living on the Western Slope. The report connects students with their legislators to the votes they cast on these bills and highlights how important their vote can be in local elections. With this report, our West Slope Youth Vote students are in the classrooms this year talking about the importance of voting based on the issues that directly impact youth. They will also be asking their peers what issues are most important to them and gathering this information to take to their legislators at the Capitol during the 2020 legislative session. Beyond the classroom presentations, our interns will hold several community events for their peers to continue identifying issues most important to West Slope youth. And at the end of October, the interns were invited to host a workshop about their program at the Mountain West Youth Diversity Conference, an event that sees hundreds of students from across the Western Slope.

What started as an idea to fill a need in our communities, has become a large part of our everyday work. It’s rewarding to know that through Western Colorado Alliance, hundreds of students are not only registering to vote, but actively participating and contributing to our local democracy. These students are developing into the leaders of the future, and they’re bringing many of their peers with them. We want to thank our members for lending their support to these students. Theirs is a program to keep your eye on this year, because you’ll be seeing them!