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News and Upcoming Events

 

2008 Voting Results

 

Kids Can Vote Too Press Release - Oct. 31

 

Durham Students on National Nickelodeon Broadcast Oct. 12

 

Teaching Kids to Vote - Durham Herald Sun - Oct. 3

 

Civics Lesson - Durham Herald Sun - Oct. 2

 

2007 Voting Results

 

Youth Action Training a Success!

 

Kids Voting Durham awarded a Triangle Community Foundation Grant

 

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For Immediate Release                                                                                 November 4, 2008

 

 

THE KIDS HAVE SPOKEN
Barack Obama is Durham’s Kids Next President

Durham NC—Durham’s young people came out in force today to voice their opinion on our future leaders in local, state, and national elections.  Nearly 4500 Durham youth cast a ballot in today’s Kids Voting Durham elections, giving 81% of their votes to Barack Obama and 18% to John McCain.  Children & youth from ages 2 to 17 voted in person with their parents at adult precincts or online on the Kids Voting Durham website.

In North Carolina races, the kids favored Kay Hagan, Bev Purdue and David Price.  Students overwhelmingly voted against the Prepared Food Tax with 2025 votes against and 791 for.

 

Why did Durham’s kids take the time to vote?  “I think it is important that people know what the kids think too,” said one Central Park School for Children 3rd grader.  “And plus it teaches us how to vote so we are ready to do it when we are adults!” chimed in her friend.

 

More than 450 volunteers from organizations all across Durham assisted children in casting their votes at polling sites throughout Durham.  75% of the precincts were run by youth from local youth groups, Boy & Girl Scouts; local elementary, middle, and high schools; YO! Durham;  4H Junior Leadership Durham; and many others.  Local Neighborhood Associations also contributed volunteers.

 

Measurement Incorporated printed and tabulated the Kids Voting ballots.  Volunteers worked through the evening to make sure every vote counts. 

 

Kids Voting is a program of Durham County Cooperative Extension and an affiliate of Kids Voting NC and Kids Voting USA.

 

The full results of the Kids Voting Durham poll are attached.

 

Attached:  Full Kids Voting Durham Results
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KIDS CAN VOTE TOO!
Children and Youth can cast a ballot at Durham precincts on Election Day

Durham NC—Durham’s young people can make their opinion heard by casting a ballot on the same issues and candidates as adults at a Kids Voting booth at Durham polling sites on Election Day.  Even if their families have early voted, students can visit a precinct and cast their own ballot on November 4. 

 

Middle- and high-school students can vote online at www.kidsvotingdurham.org now through 7:30 pm on Election Day, November 4.  Any young person under age 18 can vote at a Kids Voting booth or online.

Mike Ruffin, Durham County Manager, will be present at 10:00 am at the Kids Voting polling site at the main branch of the Durham County Library to help children cast their ballots on Election Day.  Heidi Carter, Vice-Chair of the DPS Board of Education, will assist students at the Forest View Elementary site at 10:30 am.

 

This year more than three quarters of the Kids Voting Durham polling sites are being run by young people—representing groups such as Yo!Durham, 4-H Leadership Durham, Jordan, Southern, and Hillside High Schools, Shepard Middle School, and Girl and Boy Scouts.  In total more than 40 Durham organizations and 500 volunteers will help Durham’s students cast their ballot on Tuesday.

 

“We think about the issues and we have our own opinions about the candidates”, says student leader Nina Bryce from NCSSM.   “Volunteering to help other kids cast their ballot makes me feel like I am really a part of this exciting election.  Kids Voting is a great way for us to make our voices heard on Election Day.”

“Kids Voting offers an opportunity for young people to get involved in the voting process early on so they stayed engaged as adults,” says Kids Voting Durham co-chair Donna Rewalt.  “We hope for the kids’ turnout to be as remarkable as the adult voting is this year.”

 

Thanks to the partnership of Measurement, Inc. Kids Voting results will be tallied on Election Night and will be publicized the day after Elections just like the adult vote.  Individuals, families and groups still have a chance to volunteer.  Call 560-7321 or email carolyn@kidsvotingdurham.org by Noon on Monday, November 3 to volunteer.

 

Kids Voting Durham is a program of Durham County Cooperative Extension and an affiliate of Kids Voting North Carolina and USA.

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Durham Kids Voting Students to Appear on National Nickelodeon Broadcast Sunday, October 12   

 

Senators McCain and Obama answer middle school students’ questions on Kids Pick the President

 

Durham (NC) — Three students involved with Kids Voting Durham were selected to appear in Kids Pick the President, a national Nickelodeon Broadcast airing at 9:00PM on Sunday, October 12.  These students are three of several selected nationally from Durham and three other US cities. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama answer the kids’ questions directly.  The kids also vote on who they think should be the next President of the United States.

 

In May, Nick News with Linda Ellerbee interviewed four students from Shepard IB Middle School—Kedric Wright, Kelvin Wright, Vanessa Canuto, and Ericka Gorham.   Kedric and Kelvin are now 9th graders at Hillside High School.  The Kids Pick the President program is special edition of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, produced by Lucky Duck Productions.  Well-known news personality Linda Ellerbee hosts the program.  Kedric, Vanessa, and Ericka appear in the final broadcast.  Kedric Wright, also a member of the Kids Voting Youth Council, says “I think kids have a voice even though we’re not old enough to vote.  There are some things out there that are important to us that we want to be expressed.”

 

Please Contact Carolyn Kreuger at Kids Voting Durham, 560-7321, for more information.  All of the participating Durham students are available for interviews.

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Teaching kids to vote

Herald Sun

Oct 3, 2008

 

Voting is one of the simplest civic duties a citizen can perform, and at the same time perhaps the most important.

 

That is why it surprises, not to mention troubles us, each election cycle when so many eligible voters stay home rather than take the opportunity to help choose those who will lead our governments at the local, state and federal levels.

 

Undoubtedly many people sit out Election Day because they have become cynical about whether it makes any difference who is elected. Those folks may think all candidates are rascals, incompetents or self-serving egotists, and they don't want to cast a vote for any of them.

 

That's unfortunate, but at least it is a stance.

 

Others may simply be indifferent, or they may never have acquired the habit of voting.

 

Educating youngsters about the importance of voting and ingraining them early with the expectation that when Election Day rolls around, they'll turn out, is one way to help ward off later indifference or absent-mindedness about voting.

 

Kids Voting Durham aims to do just that.

 

"We really try to help kids understand and believe in the power they can have as active citizens," says Carolyn Kreuger, who coordinates the project at the Durham Cooperative Extension office.

 

The program gives teenagers a chance for civic engagement and sets up ballot boxes at voting precincts where students can cast mock ballots on Election Day.

 

The Election-Day activity can do more than just give kids a sense of participation. Ideally, parents may be encouraged -- or shamed! -- to show up for the real balloting when their son or daughter goes to cast a vote.

It's a valuable program to help ensure the next generation will be active participants in the political process.

 

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Civics lesson: Young voters sought

By Laura Collins : The Herald-Sun
lcollins@heraldsun.com
Oct 2, 2008

 

DURHAM -- Durham is growing voters.

A local program is starting early to educate youth on their civic duty.

 

Kids Voting Durham is a project of the Durham Cooperative Extension and an affiliate of Kids Voting North Carolina and Kids Voting USA. It provides area students with opportunities for civic education and engagement well as an opportunity to vote on the same issues and candidates as adults on Election Day.

 

"We really try to help kids understand and believe in the power they can have as active citizens," said Carolyn Kreuger, coordinator. "They can be engaged and informed in the electoral process ever though they can't vote.
There are ways to make their voice heard in decision making and beyond."

 

The program is looking for children ages 12-18 who are interested in being part of the Kids Voting Durham Youth Council.

 

"They should have a real desire to be engaged in our civic community and to be active, positive citizens," Kreuger said.

 

Kedric Wright, 14, is a member of the youth council.

 

"I think kids have a voice even though we're not old enough to vote," he said. "There are some things out there that are important to us that we want to be expressed."

 

Wright said adults are making decisions on many issues without the input of children.

 

"Like things that happen in schools," he said. "Adults want to give their opinions on how things should happen in school, but they're not there to experience it firsthand."

 

The program also assists children in writing to candidates and will run Kids Voting at all Durham polling precincts on Election Day.

 

"One of our goals is if we get kids active and engaged now, they will grow up to be active and engaged," Kreuger said. "Also they can get their parents excited about voting."

 

Mike Ashe, Durham Board of Elections director, said the program is "wonderful."

 

"When kids and their families get involved in the process, that's just good for everybody," he said. "It's just a win-win. I think if people get turned on by the voting process early on, they will continue to be strong voters their whole life."

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THE RESULTS ARE IN

Durham’s youth have spoken, and results of Kids Voting 2007 Elections show they tend to favor the same leaders as our community’s adult voters. Read the full press release.

 

 

YOUTH ACTION TRAINING A SUCCESS!

Kids Voting Durham and Durham CAN hosted a Youth Action Training on August 3rd at El Centro Hispano.  The event was featured on the front page of the Herald Sun (see below).

 

 

KV-D WINS TRIANGLE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION GRANT

Kids Voting Durham is pleased to announce that KV-D, along with KV-Wake, has received a grant from the Triangle Community Foundation’s Community Grantmaking Program to support in-school voting and civic education programs this November.

 

Support for this project has been provided by the Goodmon Fund of Triangle Community Foundation; the Peoples Security Insurance Endowment Fund of Triangle Community Foundation; the Central Carolina Bank Fund of Triangle Community Foundation; and Alice F. Eure Charitable Endowment Fund of Triangle Community Foundation.

 

Founded in 1983, Triangle Community Foundation connects philanthropic resources with community needs, creates opportunity for enlightened change and encourages philanthropy as a way of life. The Foundation manages nearly 600 funds, ranging in size from $10,000 to $10 million, primarily for the benefit of Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties in North Carolina. With $120 million in assets, Triangle Community Foundation gave more than $11.3 million in grants to nonprofits, schools and community efforts last year, raising the total value of grants made since the Foundation’s inception to nearly $100 million. Additional information about Triangle Community Foundation and can be found at www.trianglecf.org.

 

 

Youths ready to effect change

By Carolyn Rickard, The Herald-Sun
August 3, 2007   11:14 pm

When 12-year-old William Lopez and his mom walked into El Centro Hispano on Friday, all they intended to do was register William for school.
But William ended up staying at the center all day -- and came out knowing precisely how to be a community activist.

He was one of about 50 young people attending Youth Action Training, an afternoon-long workshop on creating change in the community.

"I said right away when I heard about it I'd go," William said. "I wanted to get some experience before I go to school."

Sponsored by Durham Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods, or CAN, and Kids Voting Durham, the training gathered students from various churches and youth groups, of all races and from various schools.

After an introduction, they gathered in groups of five or six, working with a facilitator to study various community problems.

Bob Pleasants sat with a group of five teens. They talked about teens in Los Angeles who successfully persuaded school district officials to build a new high school to ease overcrowding.

"The more you talk about an issue and raise awareness, the more people you might get to support you," Pleasants said. "If you have a problem in the community, the best thing you can do is let people know about it..."

Organizers hope the event seeds a group of local youths to work with CAN, said Nadeen Bir, director of the Youth in Action program at El Centro.

While CAN -- a local offshoot of a national movement -- draws many adults to work on issues that affect them, few teens are involved, she said.

"We really hope to get some kids fired up about issues in the community," Bir said. "We need more youth involvement."

Earlier, Bir had facilitated a group of participants as they discussed students in Oakland, Calif., who worked on ending racism in their school. They surveyed students and found that 16 percent experienced racism in the Oakland schools. Nearly half of all black students experienced racism.

"They weren't surprised," Bir noted to her group. "They had experienced the racism. They had seen the police officers in their schools."

While Friday's event was the first such training, organizers said they hoped to make it an ongoing event.

Charquita Parker said she chose to attend after learning about the training through YO: Durham, a program for at-risk teens she is involved in. She said she initially came hoping to meet new people, but ended up learning a lot.

"Working with a group will get something done," Parker, 15, said. "It works better than working alone."

URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-870503.cfm

© Copyright 2007. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is copyrighted by The Durham Herald Company and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.

 

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Kids Voting Durham is a project of the Durham Cooperative Extension
and an affiliate of [Kids Voting North Carolina] and [Kids Voting USA]