Grants Empower Students to Strengthen Democracy

Daniel Coxson ’27 spent his summer in Olney, Maryland letter writing, phone banking, and encouraging people to register to vote, among other civic engagement activities. “I made yard signs and a political pumpkin,” he said of the large fruit he painted dark blue with white letters spelling the word v-o-t-e in all caps. “That was my favorite.”

Coxson is one of 24 recipients of the 2023-2024 Student Political Engagement Fund grants, funding administered by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life to support student engagement in the public sphere. With these grants of up to $5,000 during the summer, students like him can directly engage in the electoral process, explore their political interests, and participate in efforts to defend our democracy.

With his $1,710 grant, Coxson interned with TurnUp, a nonprofit that aims to strengthen democracy through high-impact youth civic action. He was drawn to the organization’s focus on voter registration. “I thought this is a really good year to get involved in that,” he said.

Prior to his internship Coxson didn’t have much experience doing either letter writing or phone banking, both tried-and-true strategies to do outreach to potential voters. “Both showed me how important the work is and developed my skills and just interacting with people, telling them how important elections are,” he said. The grant funds covered the costs of supplies such as paper, envelopes, stamps, paint, the pumpkin, as well as living expenses. “It was a really great opportunity.”

The Political Engagement Fund started in late 2019 with support from the President’s Office, said Diana Martinez, associate director at the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, which is housed at Allbritton. “It’s amazing to see what kinds of projects students come up with and how engaged they are,” said Martinez. “Not just here, but also in their home communities and in communities that they have no real connection to other than a real interest in registering people to vote.”

Raising Political Awareness among Peers

Vivian Redmond ’24 was able to use her grant during the summer after she graduated, working on the mayoral campaign of Aaron Peskin, a candidate in San Francisco. She has continued to work for the campaign as a staff member this fall.

“We have a very high-stakes mayoral election where I’m from in San Francisco,” said Redmond. “I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to put my entire time and effort into that, and thankfully, Allbritton supported me with the grant so that I could go into the campaign and not have to worry about money for a while.”

Redmond, who started as an intern over the summer, has an expanded role now that includes field organizing and social media management. Having experience working on local campaigns during high school, she was drawn to politics again because of crises facing her city, including homelessness and opioid addiction, she said.

There is no typical day in the fast-paced world of campaigning, said Redmond, who takes photos and video of the candidate at events, knocks on doors, and canvasses at key transit hubs, to name just a few of her responsibilities. Her proudest moment was when the campaign landed the sole endorsement of the largest union in the city, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU 1021).

“I was there when it happened,” she said of the moment Peskin announced the endorsement. “That just made me really proud and gave me a burst of inspiration.”

Redmond was also heartened when other young people who were tuned out of politics, or didn’t know much about the issues, began to care after hearing from her what was at stake. “Once I tell them, they care. They’re like ‘Oh, wow, this is happening in our city right now? This is happening our world? How can I get involved?’”

Ongoing Efforts to Engage

Applications for the next round of grants are open now; the deadline is September 27. The funding – of up to $500 per student for the fall semester – supports voter registration, issues advocacy, and work on local and national campaigns. The grants help alleviate costs for expenses including rent, utilities, food, travel, supplies, and equipment. Fund grants will also be available during the winter session, spring, and summer.

The Political Engagement Fund grants are a critical part of the ongoing efforts to support civic engagement and pro-democracy work at Wesleyan. “We want to ensure that civic engagement is a lifelong commitment embedded into the fabric of our campus community that persists beyond elections. The Fund allows students to engage in the critical work of building a more durable and inclusive democracy,” said Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and executive director at Allbritton.