SIMVote2009Because Every Election

is a BIG Election

Webinar and Campus Leader Training

What is SIMVote?SIMVote is...

An opportunity for students and teacher to take the academic knowledge and put it into “real-life” practice

Educational:

Students (and sometimes teachers and parents) learn about voting processes, civic engagement opportunities, and local government structures

Empowering:

Students (and sometimes teachers and parents) learn how to take their knowledge and serve their communities, engage in politics, and be overall engaged citizens.

Energizing:

SIMVote keeps students (and sometimes teachers and parents) inspired to continue to be engaged citizens. SIMVote works to build and maintain participatory momentum.

About the Arsalyn Program

Arsalyn Program of Ludwick Family Foundation was Arsalyn Program of Ludwick Family Foundation was created to encourage young Americans to become created to encourage young Americans to become informed and active participants in the electoral informed and active participants in the electoral process. Arsalyn views the civic and political process. Arsalyn views the civic and political engagement of young people as beneficial to the engagement of young people as beneficial to the country, community and character. Arsalyn is firmly country, community and character. Arsalyn is firmly committed to a non-partisan, non-issue-based and committed to a non-partisan, non-issue-based and inclusive approach to ensure that voting becomes a inclusive approach to ensure that voting becomes a lifetime commitment on the part of our nation's young lifetime commitment on the part of our nation's young adults. adults.

For more information: http://www.arsalyn.org/

About Mobilize.org

Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing Millennials to educating, empowering, and energizing Millennials to increase our civic engagement and political participation. increase our civic engagement and political participation. We work to show Millennials how public policy impacts our We work to show Millennials how public policy impacts our lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public policy. policy.

Mobilize.org was founded by David B. Smith in 2002, Mobilize.org was founded by David B. Smith in 2002, whose guidance has enabled Mobilize.org to continue its whose guidance has enabled Mobilize.org to continue its impact and growth over the last seven years.impact and growth over the last seven years.

For more information: For more information: http://www.mobilize.org. .

SIMVote Goals:

Inform young students of their potential impact in American Inform young students of their potential impact in American Public PolicyPublic Policy

Provide students with the tools to participate in traditional Provide students with the tools to participate in traditional politics/votingpolitics/voting

Provide pathways for youth civic engagement

Create a campus-wide awareness for local and federal Create a campus-wide awareness for local and federal issues effecting electionsissues effecting elections

Conduct a campus-wide SIMElectionConduct a campus-wide SIMElection

SIMVote Resources

SIMVote09 Packet

Mobilizer’s GuidebookMobilizer’s Guidebook

Democracy in ActionDemocracy in Action

Democracy 2.0Democracy 2.0

Mobilize.org staffMobilize.org staff

Arsalyn StaffArsalyn Staff

SIMVote 2009 PacketSIMVote 2009 Packet

Overview of the Program

Workshop Outlines/Ideas

Resource Lists

Democracy in Action Resources

Templates for the Media

Follow Up Surveys

Participant Certificates and Business Cards

Workshop OutlineWorkshop OutlineWorkshop 101: How to Give an Effective Workshop

General Workshop Outline

I.Introduction to the Topic – hook your audience!a. Use a “thinking” question or a fun activity designed to start conversation

II.Why this Topic/Area/Idea is important – make this as interactive as possible (have people contribute out loud, vote, write on the board). Let the audience direct the conversation to a certain extent – sometimes you have to relinquish a little control to get great participation.

a. Background information/history of the topicb. Statistics and information: present these as “can you guess how many…”, “what do you

think…” and then share the facts• Why we are talking about it today: relate the topic to your audiences’ lives.

•What can we do about it? – Ask the audience to brainstorm, have examples of what others have done/are doing to solve this problem

I. Have a “walk-away” plan prepared or ask the group to brainstorm a plan and agree to carry it out, either as individuals or as a group. It is important to have action steps in your workshop! The goal of this section of the workshop is to arm your audience with the tools to start solving the problems.

Workshop TopicsWorkshop TopicsDemocracy

Citizenship

Political Parties

Absentee Voting

Civic Engagement

Be a Poll Worker

Civil, Human, and Natural Rights

Media, New Media, and Information for Engagement

The Obama Administration & Issues Affecting Millennials

Engaged Millennials Internationally

Taking the Myth out of Youth Voting

Community Service

Running for Office

Turning Ideas into Action

Policy Workshops: The Environment, Student Debt, Internships, and Entrepreneurship

Mobilizer’s GuidebookThe Mobilizer’s Guidebook is a compilation of Mobilize.org’s lessons learned.

The 10 Steps to Political Advocacy detailed in the Guidebook transcend party lines. We all must go through the same process and learn the same skills to effectively organize and advocate for our causes.

Helpful tips on:

how to choose your issue,

build your staff, form your coalition,

throw events, and

gain media attention.

These are the first steps toward building an activist movement, whatever your cause may be.

Democracy In Action

In a nutshell, the Democracy in Action curriculum entails:In a nutshell, the Democracy in Action curriculum entails:

four 45-minute lessons about democracy and voting for elementary school students, middle school students, and high school students

a fifth session consisting of a voting simulation (with real voting machines) timed to coincide with a “real” election

Excellent worksheets on democracy, citizenship, voting, and rights

For more on DIA: see the SIMVote2009 Participant Packet and the Democracy in Action curriculum books

Democracy 2.0Democracy 2.0Definition: "Young people not only contributing to, but also building the democracy they want to inherit”

Formed through the input of thousands of members of the Millennial Generation that shaped the vision of Democracy 2.0 and created a theory of change through the eyes of a Millennial.

Democracy 2.0: Millennial-Generated Change to American Governance was developed by members of the Millennial Generation in an effort to reflect the six years of Mobilize.org's civic engagement work, focusing on the last eight months of research and experience in the field with fellow members of our generation.

The root of Democracy 2.0:

Individual Millennial identifying problems at the local, state and national levels. Once problems are identified.

Engaging in conversations, searching for innovative solutions to the problems they have identified.

Mobilize.org seeks to empower the individual past the deliberation stage, enabling members of the Millennial Generation to implement their own solutions. Through the success of Millennial-generated initiatives, the goal of Democracy 2.0 is to institutionalize Millennial-generated solutions as a staple of American governance at all levels.

FAQsHow do you implement SIMVote 2009?How do you implement SIMVote 2009?

SIMVote is created to be flexible - each school gets to decide whether to incorporate it into many days of curriculum, just one day centered on the Simulation Election, as an ASB project, as a club on campus, or in any form that fits each school’s needs the best

What is the election simulation?

This is one fun aspect of the SIMVote 2009. Each school will be provided with the necessary resources/materials, information and tools to conduct a fictitious election that will allow students to become familiar with the election process.

How much does the program cost?

With a generous grant from Arsalyn Program, Mobilize.org and the Arsalyn Program are pleased to bring this project to high schools throughout California for free! We can help you raise funds for additional events you would like to hold, help you book speakers you would like to bring, and implement the program YOU want to have at your school.

THE END!

KATIE TAYLOR

Program Director, Mobilize.org

katie@mobilize.org

cell: (925) 788-0438

CHRISTIAN LINDKE

Program Director, Arsalyn Program

lindkec@arsalyn.org

626-914-5404