Chicago Votes

Chicago Votes is a civic organization created for and by leaders from the city's Millennial and Hip Hop Generation (think people born after Elvis died in 1977 and before Facebook was born in 2004), which aims to engage young Chicagoans in the political process.

Chicago is the focus of tremendous national attention. It is the hometown of President Obama and the testing ground for many policies of urban school reform, urban neighborhood redevelopment, and economic regroupment.

Despite being in the limelight, we have a serious problem when it comes to elections. If our reputation is to be believed, we vote early and often, and continue to do so long after we're dead. But the truth is, Chicago's Millennials don't vote "early and often"–in fact, they rarely vote at all

To date, efforts to remedy that problem on a local level have been few and far between. Until now.

We believe in the potential of our generation to change politics. We have a deep sense of community and have a higher rate of volunteerism than any generation before us. Chicago Votes aims to channel these fundamental qualities into the local electoral process.