Pittsburgh Review

Allegheny Campus Child Development Center issued the following announcement on Sept. 15.

The Community College of Allegheny County is included in Washington Monthly’s 2021 Best Colleges for Student Voting Honor Roll. The honor roll lists “the colleges doing the most to turn their students into citizens,” according to the publication. To make the honor roll, schools must meet multiple criteria. For this year’s iteration, they had to submit action plans to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for 2018 and 2020. Schools needed to have signed up to receive data from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), which calculates college-specific registration and voting rates. (Information for 2020 is not yet available.) 

Previously, CCAC received a Gold Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for achieving a student voting rate between 40% and 49% in the 2018 midterm elections. The achievement was a result of collegewide efforts to promote voter registration and participation at all CCAC campuses and centers. The average for college campuses in Pennsylvania participating in the challenge was 37%. 

CCAC’s Civic Engagement Coordinator and History Professor Dr. Jacqueline Cavalier said CCAC is very fortunate to be affiliated with initiatives such as the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as well as the Campus Vote Project that provide tools and resources to mobilize students and implement activities and events that help to promote student voter registration and student voter education. In addition, local partners such as the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh have been instrumental. 

”We at CCAC are so proud that our students are energized, politically conscientious, and focused on civic and democratic engagement, and we will continue to foster an environment that encourages their ongoing participation in that regard,” said Cavalier.

CCAC’s efforts to increase student voter participation included supporting voter registration events targeted to students, encouraging students to become engaged in the political process through email and social media, and creating a webpage with resources that instructed students on how to register to vote, request a mail-in ballot, find a polling place and learn about the candidates. In addition, a number of collegewide, virtual events were held to enhance student voter registration and student voter education. 

Original source can be found here.