FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Keisha Krumm, Lead Organizer/Executive Director, 414/233-0401
GCC Launches “Voter Virginity” Campaign to Inspire New and Lapsed Voters to Get in The Game
Greater Cleveland Congregations, known for its faith-based community organizing work, is launching a bold, nonpartisan campaign to inspire first-time and lapsed voters with the theme “Voter Virginity” (www.votervirginity.com – to be launched Tuesday). GCC will hold a press conference announcing the campaign on Tuesday, Sept. 17th from 9:30-11 a.m., National Voter Registration Day. The event will be held on the front steps of Shiloh Baptist Church at 5500 Scovill Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44104 on the city’s east side. Media, GCC members and the public are invited to attend.
Click here to view a sample image from the campaign and sign up to attend the press conference.
The advertising, public relations and canvassing campaign will encourage “voting virgins” to “make their first time count” and lapsed voters to “get back in the game.” The “Voter Virginity” ad and canvassing campaign is part of GCC’s larger Battle for Democracy campaign, which seeks to engage low-propensity voters, especially voters of color, in Cleveland neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs.
The “Voter Virginity” campaign is a joyful, nonpartisan way to build energy and excitement around civic engagement — at a time when most political ads are negative and polarizing. GCC is known for its bold, thoughtful organizing work on criminal justice reform, voter engagement, and health care justice, among other issues. This fall, GCC will be engaging voters by educating them on the issues on the ballot, including Issue 1, which seeks to end gerrymandering in Ohio.
“Greater Cleveland Congregations has always been about uniting people to build power and tackle critical issues in our communities,” said the Rev. Dr. Lisa Goods, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church and a member of GCC’s Strategy Team. “Now, we’re launching this bold, nonpartisan campaign as part of our ongoing work to get people excited about voting. Our message is there’s power and joy in voting, and we want to spread that message among young adults and underrepresented voters to get them to vote.”
Why “Voter Virginity,” Why Now
Americans rarely celebrate the ritual of voting like other coming of age milestones: getting a driver’s license, graduating high school, celebrating their 21st birthday. No wonder voter turnout amongst American young adults is so low: According to a study by the Pew Research Center, in the 2022 election, “Voters were much older, on average, than nonvoters. Adults under 50 made up 36% of voters, but 64% of nonvoters.”
According to research, younger voters (under 30) have more influence than ever, but they’re more disillusioned by politics than ever. According to a recent poll released by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, 44% of Black voters and 40% of young voters of all races between the ages of 18 and 29 are likely to stay home on Election Day. A study by the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans states that “many young voters appear to share a belief that fractured, dysfunctional government systems are incapable of addressing critical challenges that fall heavily on their generations. A sense of fatalism extends across the right, center and left, according to the researchers.”
On top of this, many Cleveland neighborhoods such as Central have a high concentration of voting virgins and lapsed voters. In some east side communities, voting turnout in the fall 2023 election was in the single digits or the teens, much lower than other parts of the city and county as a whole.
GCC’s Battle for Democracy campaign, which focuses on the Cleveland neighborhoods of Central, Fairfax, Slavic Village, Lee Harvard, and Mt. Pleasant as well as the suburbs of Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Parma Heights, Warrensville Heights, and Euclid, is working to turn this around. The organization has seen success through building relationships with low-propensity voters in these areas, as evidenced by a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists showing GCC’s campaign has increased voter turnout among voters it has contacted. “In the November 2022 election, overall turnout in Cleveland’s 5th Ward was just 15 percent—half that of the city as a whole,” it stated. “But among those who committed to voting through GCC’s neighborhood captains’ efforts, turnout was 42 percent.”
Inspired by GCC Young Adults
The campaign theme and focus were inspired by GCC’s young adults organizing work, which has engaged more than 30 young adults ages 16-24 in learning grassroots community organizing, canvassing local neighborhoods, and engaging low-propensity voters. GCC’s young adults organizing efforts have been so successful that many people are calling them “hope at the door.”
Campaign Details
GCC and young adult leaders will be spreading the “Voter Virginity” campaign through several methods:
GCC is also launching the VoterVirginity.com website on September 17th, guiding voters to resources for registering, finding their polling stations, and understanding all the races and issues on Ohio ballots in November.
Press Conference
WHAT “Voter Virginity” campaign press conference launched by Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC)
WHEN: Tues. Sept. 17 (National Voter Registration Day) from 9:30-11 am
WHERE: Historic Shiloh Baptist Church, 5500 Scovill Ave., Cleveland
WHO: GCC leaders, young adults organizers and media are invited
WHY: To engage low-propensity voters in Cleveland, especially new and lapsed voters, especially voters of color, in the power and joy of voting in the Nov. 5 election
Find Out More
Greater Cleveland Congregations
3558 Lee Rd.
Shaker Hts. OH 44120
440/799-5037