PHILADELPHIA, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced a program for public high school students throughout Pennsylvania to encourage young people to participate in the electoral process by registering to vote and exercising their rights at the polls.
Education Secretary Vicki Phillips and Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes joined Governor Rendell and members of the Student Voices project from the University of Pennsylvania at the National Constitution Center during the unveiling of the program. Governor Rendell said that Student Voices will help spearhead this spring's voter education program and will introduce the full-scale Student Voices project to Pennsylvania during 2004-05 through a $500,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Students from several Philadelphia public high schools asked questions regarding the importance of voting and why young people should register and be active voters during a town hall meeting with the Governor and secretaries.
"Voting is an essential part of being a responsible citizen in the United States and should be fostered in every high school throughout Pennsylvania," Governor Rendell said. "This program will teach students why civic engagement is important and how voting will affect them not only in the future, but right now as students who are immeasurably important to the electoral process."
The Department of Education worked with Student Voices, a national civic education initiative of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, to create education materials, including a Pennsylvania Student Voices Web site (www.student-voices.org/pennsylvania) for the young voter initiative. Student Voices was created to address problems of declining political participation and non-voting by young people in America.
Governor Rendell said the 2004-05 Pennsylvania Student Voices project is being funded through a $500,000 grant from Carnegie Corp. of New York.
Secretary Phillips said a packet of four mini-lessons developed by Student Voices will be distributed to high schools throughout Pennsylvania today, and called on schools to insert materials into their planned instruction for 11th and 12th graders this month.
"The Department of Education will be helping Student Voices recruit 100 teachers to be Student Voices instructors next year and to participate in a professional development workshop in June," Secretary Phillips said. "Workshop participants will learn the Student Voices civics education model and how to integrate it into existing social studies, history, government and other relevant curricula for the 2004-05 school year."
Teachers, upon completion of the training, will have the opportunity to receive a $1,000 Learn and Serve grant for field expenses as students study civic problems in their communities. In addition, ongoing assistance will be provided throughout the year to teachers to help students apply what they learn in their communities.
"Governor Rendell launched the RSVP to Vote! program knowing that very few students participate in the electoral process and should be exposed to this crucial responsibility," said Secretary Cortes. "Young people care about educational opportunities, job opportunities and many other issues that are relevant to their parents and other adults."
CONTACT: Abraham Amoros, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, +1-717-783-1116.