I’m so proud of all the work students did this year promoting civic engagement, protecting the environment, and alleviating local food and housing insecurity!
For our New Voters Project in the fall, we encouraged students to vote in the 2020 election. We made over 80 class announcements to teach students about how and when to vote. Leading up to the election we celebrated democracy with the Party at the Polls, hearing from the ASUO Vice President, and enjoying performances from Divisi, the UO Dance Team and more.
Thanks to the work of student clubs, athletics, and staff across campus, the University of Oregon won the PAC-12 voting challenge! Shoutout to our friends in the Keep It 100 initiative and Ducks Vote coalition for all the work they did.
After the election, we shifted our focus to tackling climate change, alleviating hunger and homelessness and making textbooks more affordable, and over 100 students turned out to our winter Kick Off Meeting to learn more about getting involved.
Our lead campaign focused on committing Oregon to 100% clean electricity by 2040. We participated in dozens of lobby meetings with our state representatives to advocate for the issues we care about!
To show overwhelming support for a 100% clean energy commitment in Oregon, we collected over 1,000 petitions and held a week’s worth of Earth Week events. On Earth Day, we were excited to work with NAACP Eugene Springfield and Youth v. Gov to host the Youth Climate Summit. Over 50 attendees learned more about climate action from various local groups like Beyond Toxics, BRING Recycling and more.
To assist with local food insecurity, we raised over $4,000 for local organizations like Huerto de la Familia and Food For Lane County, which supplies local food pantries and aids food insecure folks.
Student’s work across the state to make textbook prices transparent when registering for classes is nearing success! Our campaign helped raise the voices of the over 80 supportive professors on campus, and the UO committed to textbook price transparency.
This year we had over 150 students volunteer with us. Thanks to everyone who volunteered, signed a petition, or helped out! I’m excited we were able to make social change and engage with passionate students, even while remote!
I can’t wait to keep making a difference in the fall.