For Immediate Release
October 5, 2021
Contact
Allison Abney
Allison@emergeamerica.org
EMERGE PARTNERS WITH SNAPCHAT FOR NEW IN-APP EFFORT TO ACTIVATE GEN-Z AND MILLENNIALS TO RUN FOR OFFICE
Launch partners include Emerge, IGNITE, New American Leaders, New Politics, Run for Something, Run GenZ, Running Start, Victory Institute, Vote Run Lead, and Women’s Public Leadership Network.
Washington, DC — Today, Emerge, the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, and nine additional candidate recruitment organizations have partnered with Snapchat to provide a native-to-mobile tool to help young people run for office.
Despite historic levels of youth civic engagement in recent elections, GenZs and Millennials remain underrepresented in local, state and federal government. Given Snapchat’s 90% reach among 13-24 year olds in the United States, Emerge is teaming up with Snapchat as an inaugural partner for their in-app Run for Office program with the goal of funneling more young people into its extensive candidate recruitment and training programs and help normalize the conversation around running for office among this next generation.
“I am so thrilled to be joining forces with Snapchat to help bring their Run for Office tool to life. It will be transformative in not only bringing more young women into the political fold but also bolstering our efforts to change the face of politics,” said A’shanti F. Gholar, President of Emerge. “Young people will soon make up the majority of this country’s electorate and they are the generation that will lead our nation into the future. They also face greater challenges than their parents, including the dire effects of climate change, less economic opportunity, mounting student debt and so much more. We must begin to empower young people, especially young women, early on so that they are well prepared and positioned to move our democracy in the right direction.”
Through the new in-app program called Run For Office, Snapchat is providing a simple tool for young people and their closest friends to explore more than 75,000 opportunities to run for office on the state and local level – from Water Commissioner and School Board to City Council and State Representative. Once a Snapchatter identifies a certain elected position they want to run for, they are encouraged to connect with Emerge to help them get started with the first steps needed to start a campaign, provide candidate trainings, and support them throughout this experience.
“The civic participation of young Americans is essential, now more than ever. Gen-Z and Millennials didn’t create today’s problems, but they will be the ones in charge to resolve them,” said Sofia Gross, Head of Policy Partnerships and Social Impact at Snap, Inc. “As a platform where young people come to chat with their closest friends, Snapchat has an important role to play in normalizing the conversation around pursuing elected office and in inspiring the next generation of American leaders. We want to help Snapchatters connect with established candidate recruitment organizations to help gain the expertise and tools they need to run for office and help make a difference in their local communities.”
Emerge is excited to offer the only six-month, 70-hour training program to Snapchatters who are interested in running for office at the local, state and federal levels. Emerge gives women the tools they need to run and win and provides an inclusive sisterhood of more than 4,500 alums, as well as a network of alumnae, staff volunteers who are on-the-ground 365 days a year to support women through their candidacies at every level and once they are elected.
For more information, visit emergeamerica.org or contact Allison Abney at allison@emergeamerica.org
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Emerge is the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. Since 2002, Emerge has offered a unique, in-depth training program that provides aspiring women leaders with cutting-edge tools and training to run and win elected office. Emerge has trained over 4,500 Democratic women to run and more than 1,000 Emerge alums serve in elected office today.