Creating Your Vision

What is your vision for the campus and/or community?

My vision for my campus is to have each Barnard College student engaged in and informed about electoral politics. This election year is pivotal on both a local, national, and international scale, and I want to encourage Barnard students to increase their civic involvement to include at least voting in the November election. While Barnard students are for the most part well-informed, their awareness doesn't always translate into engagement. I want to facilitate voter registration by each Barnard student, which in turn will result in increased student activism.

Assessing Your Campus and Community

What campus/community problem does your blueprint address? What structures, practices and policies institutionalize the problem?

My Blueprint addresses the lack of civic engagement on campus and the lack of accessible information about voter registration that is available to students. Lack of time and the stresses of college life help to institutionalize the problem.

What communities will you work with?

• Campus community

Setting Goals and Deliverables

• Goal 1: Register to vote every eligible Barnard student in the fall of 2008 and provide accurate information about absentee voting requirements.
• Verify registrations against New York State Voter Registration on-line records.
• Keep track of voter registration forms completed by eligible Barnard students.
• Keep track of Barnard students registered to vote in states other than New York and provide them with absentee ballot information
• Goal 2: Contact each Barnard registered voter and encourage her to vote in the November 2008 election.
• 100 leaflets posted in strategic locations with information about polling locations near campus.
• Goal 3: Build awareness of state and national office seekers' platforms.
• Number of distributed containing candidate information
• Number of students attending campus events relating to candidate positions.
• Number of newspaper articles describing candidate positions.

What is your primary approach? Advocacy and Activism

Why did you choose this approach?

I want to get people hooked on voting while they're in school so that voting will become second nature.

Did you have secondary approaches? What are they?

No

What will your tactics and activities be?

I will need to enlist some volunteers and delegate responsibilities, request space and tables for campus events, dorm storm and make announcements publicizing my voter registration drive. I will also need to attend club meetings to make my pitch and to recruit volunteers. I will need to work closely with both the Columbia Spectator and the Barnard Bulletin to encourage publicity about voter registration.

Connecting Back to Vision

How does your strategy contribute to your vision for your campus and/or your community?

My strategy is to increase student political activism which ultimately makes for a more politically active community.

Resources and skills you will need

What skills do you need for this approach?

I will have to be strategic, I will need to be organized and will need to network. I hope to improve my organizational skills, my networking skills, and my communication skills.