Over the weekends of January 25-26 and February 2-3, over 170 youth leaders from PICO affiliates in Sacramento and San Bernardino went knocking on the doors of infrequent voters urging them to vote in the California presidential primary. Youth leaders from Area Congregations Together (ACT) in Sacramento and Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC) in San Bernardino knocked on the doors of more than 3,000 California voters. The majority of youth who participated were under the voting age of 18.

In Sacramento, over 100 youth gathered at 9:00 a.m. in groups around the city to receive training in door-to-door GOTV techniques. Then, for the next four hours, the youth went to different neighborhoods, targeting voters who were registered to vote in the last elections but didn't.

Lisa Sydnor, youth organizer for ACT, took 35 youth from Luther Burbank High School out knocking on doors in the Meadowview section of the city. "Many of the youth didn't know anything about politics – they didn't know who the mayor was, who was on city council, what a proposition was," said Sydnor. "But after knocking on five doors, they knew exactly what they were doing."

Many of the Sacramento youth who participated are involved in planning ACT's Youth Leadership Conference scheduled for late April. The conference, which is expected to involve over 300 youth from across the city, will give youth a chance to talk about many of the issues affecting them –including gang violence, jobs, and college preparation – and provide training in effective techniques for taking action on these issues.

In San Bernardino, more than 70 youth went knocking on doors in the impoverished west side of the city as part of a larger campaign to address youth issues in the city. For more than two years, ICUC youth leaders have been pressuring city leadership to address the high rate of violence against youth in San Bernardino. They have won $250,000 for youth programming, the establishment of a youth commission, and recognition as a powerful voice in the city.

Despite these impressive accomplishments, ICUC youth leaders could see how their inability to vote has limited their effectiveness with elected officials. In February 2007, youth leaders tried to urge San Bernardino city council members to spend a portion of $1.6 million in new tax money for youth programming. Despite packing the council chambers with over 300 ICUC leaders, and giving over 60 personal testimonies, the council eventually voted to put most of the new tax money towards police-related spending. 

At the meeting, council member Neil Derry defended his vote by saying that most of the ICUC youth were too young to vote, and that those old enough to vote often didn't. This remark ignited the youth. In response, they decided to wage a campaign to register new voters in San Bernardino. The youth are currently focusing on registering students in the city's seven high schools who will turn 18 before the November presidential election, as well as making phone-bank calls to voters between 19 and 25 years old.

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