Civic Participation Rates Climb for Latino Youth

*800,000 Latinos turn 18 and become eligible voters every year. That’s a wonderful potential, but nothing more than that if they don’t register, vote, participate. Nothing beats a one-on-one ask to get people involved – a conversation with your family, friends, neighbors. Facebook “likes” are good if followed by action to register at least one new voter. Rants in the comment box are the same, unproductive if not turned into real-world energy. VL

By Nicole Akoukou Thompson, Latin Post

Civic participation rates may be lower for Latinos than other ethnic/racial groups, but it’s higher than ever for the population. Improved educational opportunities, unparalleled social media engagement and community involvement demonstrates Latinos’ aptitude for greater civic involvement.

The National Conference on Citizenship prepared a report showing that Latino youth, also known as the ‘Sleeping Giant’ of the U.S. Latino population, show the promise of increased civic engagement, as they’re increasingly participating in improved educational opportunities, English language proficiency and higher than average rates of social media usage, creating increased walks for youth engagement.

Examples of overdue Latino civic health can be found when looking at the 2012 Presidential election. While there was a 48 percent of eligible Latino voters turned out to vote (compared to 67 percent of African Americans and 64 percent of non-Latino whites), however that was a tremendous increase since the 2008 election.

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