Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.    JOIN/RENEWGIVE
Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.    JOIN/RENEWGIVE

Youth Engagement

At all levels — local, state, and national — the League of Women Voters believes maintaining a healthy democracy requires educating and empowering youth. We offer programs to inform and motivate young voters about how our democracy works — initiatives designed to encourage young people to make their voices heard, to engage their peers, and to increase turnout among citizens in their first decade of eligibility to vote, and thereafter..

Students Inside Albany Conference (SIA)

This Conference is an intensive four-day training experience. Held in the spring, it immerses students in how public policy is proposed, enacted and changed in New York State, educating them in how they can influence and affect this process. Albany insiders discuss the operations of New York State government, focused on the disparate forces that shape policy as it is enacted. Students also observe Assembly and Senate sessions and shadow their Assembly Members and Senators.

The LWVNYS not only administers this program but also pays the entire cost of the four-day program for one student from each League, and LWV PWM covers travel costs to and from Albany. PWM often chooses to send a 2nd student, paying the $700-plus cost for the second student.

2024 Brochure

What SIA alums say about this program

Video by one SIA alum from PWM  2023

What one SIA wrote, 2023

What one SIA wrote, 2023

Video by SIA alum 2021

What Video by SIA alum  2021

Sample Schedule for the Conference

Application form for 2024 SIA

 

Membership is free for full-time students aged 16-24

If you want to be engaged in voter registration, education, civic actions — or, perhaps, working on a volunteer project — please email President@lwvofpwm.org  We’ll be delighted to discuss your ideas and get you engaged.

ASK US, JOIN US

Whether you have a couple hours a month (or much more), whether you know engaging our youth in Making Democracy Work is something you care about, or whether there is some other aspect of youth engagement you want to spend time on — we’d love to hear from you.

GDPR