FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Office of Juvenile Affairs (OJA) has been assisting age eligible youth who are involved with OJA to educate and support their efforts to register to vote in the November election. This process has been underway since June of this year and OJA staff within community supervision, residential teams and partnering community group homes worked with over 30 youth across the state to assist in their efforts to have a voice and cast their vote in the election process.
"Educating residents about voter registration will be added to the "Develop U" curriculum (which helps in their development), residents will be given an opportunity to register to vote," stated Kimberly Russell, OJA Juvenile Justice Specialist (JJS). "Moving forward, when residents reach the age of seventeen (17) years and ten (10) months, they will be educated about the voter registration process and given an opportunity to register to vote".
As a continuing part of OJA's CORE4, our goal is to ensure our youth are prepared with the necessary tools needed to help them transition back to their communities and become thriving citizens. That preparation includes learning about the responsibility to take an active role in expressing preferences for representation and law changes at the ballot box.
“In addition to our role in protecting public safety, OJA has a responsibility to help young people succeed in their communities. We are an education provider and facilitator and, consistent with civics courses taught throughout the state, it was important that we do our part to educate young people on how to express their opinions in a manner consistent with our country’s history to discuss, debate, and cast a vote for a chosen candidate.” Buck continued, “We congratulate our young people who took the time to register and for those who followed through from registration to becoming a first time voter.”
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