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Soundoff! Story Booth Series

Amplifying the voices of students at Union Square Academy

A gradient purple and teal graphic of a young person's hand holding a megaphone, in front of a graphic of a non-descriptive crowd of other young people in the background, with purple and white star stickers.

Gen Z and Millennials already make up 49% of the American electorate, however only 17% of young people feel that lawmakers considered their voices when making national policy according to a DoSomething snap poll.

So, DoSomething launched its Soundoff! StoryBooth Series to amplify the voices of young people ahead of upcoming elections in 2023.

As we scale The Art of Democracy nationwide, we will collect and amplify stories shared by over 10,000 young people to build a National Youth Agenda, ensuring the voices of young voters are heard ahead of the 2024 election.

DoSomething interviewed young people about what they loved about their community, what issues concerned them, and what solutions they wanted to see their elected officials implement.

Here’s what we heard.

Soundoff! Storybooth Series: Students at Union Square Academy record and share stories about their neighborhood.

UNION SQUARE ACADEMY

NEW YORK CITY

At Union Square Academy in New York City, students explored their civic why over the course of four weeks, analyzed other students’ stories, and learned best practices for interviewing and sharing a story, before recording their very own. From safety to education funding, here are the stories they shared.

A Citizens Guide to Preserving Democracy - a PBS broadcast series

During DoSomething's time with the students of Union Square Academy, PBS visited to capture Soundoff! StoryBooth and our Art of Democracy programming in action as part of their series, “A Citizen's Guide to Preserving Democracy.”

The program also included commentary and insights from DoSomething's CEO, DeNora Getachew and Community Outreach Manager, Elena Callahan.

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and WNET

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT

to All the Young People at Union Square Academy

Thank you to all those who participated in the Soundoff! StoryBooth Series and shared personal stories of their experience in their communities.

GUADALUPE · LUCIELLE · MAME DIARRA · SURY · SUFIAN

BRIAN · ESMERELDA · JULIANA · RAYHONA · GABRIELLA

We also warmly thank AP Government, Economics, and US History educator David Edelman for his dedication to fostering a robust civic engagement curriculum for the young people in his classrooms.

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