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More than 300 East Palo Altans, costumed and candy-in-hand, showed out Wednesday night to meet their local city council candidates for office at youth-led community outreach event Nightmare on Vote Street – Youth Community Service hosted the event at Bloomhouse in hopes to inspire civil engagement from young people ahead of election day.
Youth Community Service, a nonprofit that works to promote local youth action, partnered with ‘Anamatangi Polynesian Voices and 15 other organizations to host trunk or treats, a best trunk decor contest, games and voter engagement activities like community debates and a youth-led forum.
“East Palo Alto is predominantly made up of people of color, and our voter turnout has been low for decades,” wrote Tiffany ‘Uhilamoelangi-Hautau, Executive Director ‘Anamatangi Polynesian Voices, in a statement. “In some precincts, only about 34% of registered voters cast their ballots.”
So the event hoped to inspire Black, Pacific Islander and Latino voters by bringing local politicians directly to them.
East Palo Alto City Council candidates Webster Lincoln, Deborah Lewis-Virges, Maria Rocha, Carlos Romero, Mark Dinan, Gail WIlkerson and Ravneel Chaudhary, participated in the youth-led forum, which was live streamed on Facebook.
Youth facilitators asked questions about how each candidate has directly served the community and what establishment they would like to see replace Target, among others.
For Cañada College student Jessica Santillan, the best part of volunteering for the event was watching people’s attitudes change about voting.
“I believe that having an informed and active group of voters is key to a strong democracy,” she wrote in an email. “By being part of this program, I feel like I’m helping to empower my community.”
Through direct engagement with voters, she feels hopeful that people “are starting to take responsibility for their future,” Santillan wrote.
Executive Director of Youth Community Service Mora Oommen thanked Lorraine Hancock for her generous seed grant to kick off the initiative, which was matched by the Atkinson Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the San Mateo County Voter Engagement General Election Grant.
