Young voter registration competition winners announced

Recently we wrote here about an innovative grant competition being initiated by the Pew Charitable Trusts, working with George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. Recently they announced the winners of the competition. Here’s a sampling quoted from the announcement:

Mobile Voter and Music for America will register 18- to 29-year-olds nationwide using creative text-messaging and Internet technology in conjunction with concerts and celebrity outreach.

Redeem the Vote and the Center for Civic Participation will register religious youth in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Michigan using both peer outreach and innovative email and Internet strategies.

The Close Up Foundation will partner with high school teachers to register seniors in class.

The American Association of State College and Universities, the state Public Interest Research Groups, and Allegheny College’s Center for Political Participation will register college students through peer-to-peer outreach at state colleges, private universities and community colleges.

The National Council of La Raza will register young Latinos through its network of community-based organizations and service centers in 10 states.

Black Youth Vote will register young African-Americans, focusing on those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Registration will occur in six southern states and at historically black colleges and universities.

The League of Young Voters will register young voters in four states, including two with election day registration, where the League will hold “parties at the polls” to register youth on Election Day.

Women’s Voices, Women Vote will register single women through a direct marketing campaign.

Building Blocks, Building Votes will register young renters by recruiting apartment and block captains to register their neighbors in Oregon’s densest, youngest neighborhoods.

My understanding was that they received many dozens of proposals as part of this innovative competition, and that there will be some effort to undertake a meta-analysis of the effects of the various projects upon completion. This will be a very interesting initiative to follow.