Voto Latino

Today VotoLatino launched its PSA for its BeCounted Campaign on getting more young people to take part in the census!

A few weeks ago we posted a piece from Mike Hais and Morley Winograd - Authors of Millennial Makeover. They urged Millennials to be a part of the Census because a Pew survey shows that the Millennial Generation, this country's largest generation in history, are less likely to participate.

"This lack of knowledge translated directly into this key demographic segment’s unwillingness to participate, with only 36 percent of 18-29 year olds indicating that they “definitely” would respond to the form when it arrives, compared to large majorities in all other age segments who said they would do so."

Future Majority is participating in the launch of Voto Latino's Count Me In 2010 campaign asking young voters to pledge to participate in the Census.

Users Can Take the ‘Census Pledge’ and receive 25 free songs from artists like Pitbull, Mos Def, Morrissey & Rodrigo y Gabriela by going to BeCountedRepresent.com/FutureMajority

According to the release:

"Be Counted, Represent! is comprised of multi-platform web, mobile, direct and traditional media initiatives that will elevate the census in the minds of millennials, who are historically undercounted in the Census.

In the United States, census data affects everything from the allocation of federal budgets for education, health care and transportation to the drawing of Congressional districts. This year’s 2010 census is of critical importance to all Americans because it allocates $400 billion in federal funds and determines congressional representation.

“Our work with the census is to both educate Latinos about the importance of taking it and re-imaging it as a means of personal empowerment and taking ownership of one’s future and one’s family’s,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, co-founder and executive director of Voto Latino, an official US Census partner.

“With 80 million young people in the Millennial Generation, the Census is a critical in determining exactly where we are, who is unemployed or underemployed, who has started a family, and other important information that can serve as indicators to policy makers on the unique needs of our nation’s youth,” said Sarah Burris, managing editor of Future Majority.

In speaking to their target effectively and leveraging drive-to-web and SMS campaigns from their 2008 presidential election work as well as the best practices utilized by President Obama’s campaign, Voto Latino’s “Be Counted, Represent!” campaign is comprised of the following initiatives:

“Be Counted, Represent!” Local 
- On-the-ground Events : Voto Latino (VL) will be organizing on-the-ground events and census outreach operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Upstate New York, Long Island and San Francisco.


- Collateral and Direct Mail Pieces : Voto Latino will distribute iTunes cards, t-shirts and other collateral materials, including direct mailers to aforementioned markets.

“Be Counted, Represent!” On the Web & Mobile
- “BeCountedRepresent.com” – A dedicated URL, which goes live 2/2, will serve as the campaign’s hub, featuring easy-to-digest US Census information, and prompting viewers to “Take the Pledge” to participate in the census. Anyone who takes the pledge will also receive a free 25-song soundtrack courtesy of iTunes (as per below).


- “Be Counted” Viral Video PSAs – Executive produced by Voto Latino, who were acknowledged last year with a Webby award for their “La Pasión de la Decisión” get-out-the-vote PSAs, this three-part series of Internet shorts, feature a group of friends who, one night over a festive party, launch into a heated argument about whether to participate in the census. An all-star ensemble cast, featuring Rosario Dawson, Luis Guzman, Demi Lovato (Disney’s Camp Rock franchise), Ana Ortiz (“Ugly Betty”), Wilmer Valderrama (“That Seventies Show”), Jorge Garcia (“Lost”) and more, comprise of characters with opposing viewpoints. The first short will launch in February on BeCountedRepresent.com with subsequent shorts to follow through the end of May.


- Free Digital Downloads – Apple will provide Voto Latino with 100,000 census-themed iTunes cards that will be distributed to community organizations, universities and radio stations. The cards allow recipients to download 25 free songs from major artists across a wide range of relevant musical genres, who have donated their tracks to the campaign.


- Text2Represent SMS campaign – Voto Latino will send targeted text messages to tens of thousands of U.S. Latinos to ensure that they and their families understand the importance of the Census and being counted."

I just want to take a moment here and highlight a blog post and a press release that hit my inbox in the last 24 hours. Taken together, they paint a frightening picture of the current economic environment for youth of all races and education levels.

From 80 Million Strong and Voto Latino:

80 Million Strong and its coalition partner Voto Latino today announced that Hispanic youth are being disproportionately affected by the economic crisis. The statement was released on the heels of a new Employment Situation Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that Hispanic unemployment for 20-24 year olds was at 16.5% for May 2009, a nearly 3% increase from last month’s figures. In the 16-19 year old bracket, the numbers are even more alarming, with Hispanic unemployment reaching 31% in May 2009, almost 4% higher than April’s numbers. [...]

According to other statistics, the unemployment rate for young people aged 20-24 increased from 10.3% to 15% since May 2008 - a rate that is higher than the national average. In addition, since April, the unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds increased from 16.7% to 17.3%, while the national unemployment rate increased from 8.9% to 9.4%.

From Seth Godin's blog:

Fewer college grads have jobs than at any other time in recent memory—a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers annual student survey said that 20 percent of 2009 college graduates who applied for a job actually have one.

I was at a townhall hosted by A New Way Forward earlier this week where Leo Hindery made much the same point about unemployment among recent college grads. I know that coalitions like 80 Million Strong are working to make sure that young people benefit from the economic stimulus package, and times are tough for everybody, not just youth, but these numbers are shocking. Why aren't more people talking about this?

• At Pushback, Kay Steiger identifies a huge problem with how a part of the College Cost Reduction Act is being administered. Under current administration, students who opt to go into public service won't be informed that they are eligible to receive debt relief on their loans until 10 years after they begin making payments, effectively nullifying the program and its incentive to provoke public service. The Project on Student Debt is running a petition here.
• US News has an interesting piece analyzing the wisdom of McCain and Obama's respective strategies of targeting the elderly and youth in swing states. More on this later but wanted to call it to your attention.
• I'm super skeptical of celebrity spokespeople, but Rosario Dawson (a founder of Voto Latino) did a good job today on "Morning Joe," an MSNBC program that has been about telling an accurate story about the youth vote this cycle.
• The Hip Hop Caucus reports that Nas, MoveOn, and Color of Change are outside Fox News today protesting racism in the network's coverage.
• Daniel Klein recaps our panel at Netroots Nation over at the YP4 blog.
• Some humor for you.

I'm in Denver today. Tonight at 7:30 I'll be doing a book event at the Tattered Cover (Historic LoDo). Stop by if you are around. Later today I'll have a review up of Millennial Makeover: YouTube, MySpace, and the Future of American Politics. In the meantime, here's what's interesting today on the youthy side of the interwebs:

• Voto Latino jumps on the CD-fundraiser bandwagon. For $3.99 on iTunes you can download an album featuring tracks by Ozomatli and a number of other bands. Proceeds will benefit Voto Latino, a mostly volunteer nonpartisan voter registration outfit.
• Fred Stutzman of Unit Structures wonders about the role of "curation" in an age of mashups and social software.
• John McCain does not support the troops. ABC News has him on-record opposing the new GI Bill I wrote about yesterday.
• At WireTap, Karlo Barrios Marcelo explains how the popular vote could help enfranchise more young african american and latino voters.
• On April 20th in Philadelphia, the Hip Hop Summit action Network, Voto Latino, PowerPAC and the Hip Hop Research and Action Fund will team up with rappers and hip hop stars to launch The National Hip Hop Team Vote 2008 campaign. The campaign will seek to turn out young people for the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.
• Joe Garofoli at the San Francisco Chronicle has a great piece about the competition in California for delegate slots to the convention, and how some people ran mini campaigns on the ground and on the web to rustle up support. FM friend and former USSA president Jenn Pae was quoted in the article.
• Kay Steiger of Campus Progress points us to an interesting article about the differing views of younger and older feminists about Sen. Clinton's campaign and the state of the movement.
• Ending on a high-note, young Oklahoma senate candidate Andrew Rice raised almost half a million dollars this quarter, and has passed the 1 million mark for the campaign. Rice is seeking to unseat global warming denier Jim Inhofe. Congrats to Andrew and his staff, and good luck.
  

I don't know what's in the air or water today, but my inbox is piled high with news from nonpartisan, "c3" youth organizations: Rock the Vote, Voto Latino, HeadCount, and WireTap. It seems like they all decided that today was the day for product launches.

Here's a rundown:

• Rock the Vote is following in the footsteps of MTV's Street Team '08 project and is looking to hire a few citizen journalists. The program is called "Rock the Trail," and it is being conducted in partnership with WireTap Magazine and BET, all of which will cross post journalist submissions. AT&T is the mobile partner for the project. A panel of expert judges will determine who the lucky winners are. The pay is a very small $500 per month stipend, but they hook you up with a lot of gear. Applications are due by May 7th.
• Voto Latino is making a similar play. They've partnered with SiTV and CNN to find two aspiring journalists to cover the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. They're project, dubbed Crash the Parties is a little more participatory. Applicants must sign up for a profile on the Crash the Parties website and submit a video explaining why they deserve to cover the two party conventions. Other applicants and registered users can vote on the contestants. The winners are determined by a combination of votes and the input of a judges panel that includes Rosario Dawson, Craig Newmark and Steve Grove. Applications are due by May 6th.
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) just launched a new site, GI Bill 2008, in support of the bill of the same name. I noticed that my congressperson has not yet signed on in support of the bill and just sent her a message.
• The full version of A Call To Action, the documentary about HeadCount (which we've blogged about numerous times in the past) was released on iClips today. It's a little confusing, but the links on the right sidebar a "chapter" titles that let you skip around within the documentary.

In other news:

• The American Prospect is looking for a few good writing fellows. The pay is low(ish), but alumns have gone on to bigger and better things at the Washington Post, Salon, The Nation and more. Applications are due May 1st.
• Some old Dodd folks sent me this:
  

  WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee Banking Committee and senior Democrat on the Senate Education Committee, will hold a hearing tomorrow to examine how the recent turmoil in U.S. credit markets is affecting the cost and availability of student loans. Witnesses will testify on how the tightening of credit, a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, may make it more difficult for some student lenders to provide educational loans for students and their families.

Something I've been meaning to highlight further is Voto Latino, a non-partisn voter registration outfit targeting Latino voters. They are one of a number of organizations targeting Latino voters this election cycle.

In the 2006 midterms, young Latino voters were one of the least likely ethnic groups to go to the polls (along with Asian-Pacific Islanders). Yet they are also one of the fastest growing groups in the youth demographic, and thanks to the GOP's handling of immigration, they are increasingly leaning democratic.

Voto Latino has a fairly novel approach to reaching young Latinos. They are using a combination of MySpace outreach, and targeted PSAs satirizing the popular "telenovelas" that so many 1st and 2nd generation latinos grew up watching. Here's one staring Wilmer Valderama and Rosario Dawson:

This is actually a great segway to a post I read earlier this week about best practices for creating successful advertisements to reach young voters. A study by Survey U asked students to rate what they look for in an advertisement and these were their responses (h/t Ypulse):

Be truthful
60 percent said extremely important
30 percent said somewhat important
7 percent said important nor unimportant
2 percent said not very important
2 percent said not important at all

Show the functionality
41 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
11 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
2 percent said not important at all

Show me the value
38 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
13 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Be current
30 percent said extremely important
49 percent said somewhat important
14 percent said important nor unimportant
4 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Be funny
32 percent said extremely important
46 percent said somewhat important
16 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Speak to me in my own language
35 percent said extremely important
38 percent said somewhat important
19 percent said important nor unimportant
5 percent said not very important
4 percent said not important at all

Be cutting edge
20 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
26 percent said important nor unimportant
6 percent said not very important
5 percent said not important at all

Be stylish
15 percent said extremely important
42 percent said somewhat important
27 percent said important nor unimportant
10 percent said not very important
6 percent said not important at all

Exude cool
8 percent said extremely important
26 percent said somewhat important
42 percent said important nor unimportant
15 percent said not very important
8 percent said not important at all

This seems like best practices for any advertising, not just youth targeted, but after this debacle of a PSA from Pizza Hut, I figure it is good advice for any organization looking to target young people. Applying it to Voto Latino, I can't say that the mock-telenovela really speaks to me (it feels super long), but I'm clearly not the target demographic, and I'd say it hits at least half of the guidelines above.