Group launches campaign to mobilize young voters in East San Jose
An East San Jose non-profit is working to mobilize young voters in underrepresented communities.
On Thursday, Somos Mayfair kicked off their "No Decision About Us, Without Us" Campaign.
Coordinator of the campaign, Fabiola Rubero, told CBS News Bay Area that it aims to let young people know they have a voice.
"These youth tell us, 'We don't feel like we're being heard'," said Rubero, regarding why they started the campaign. "I think just having that power to say for the next four years I get to choose what this is going to look like and I have a say."
Rubero believes it's important for young people to realize that. In November of 2022, 18-24 voter turnout in the county was less than 10 percent.
She started digging to find out why.
"We came to the conclusion that a lot of these youth grew up with parents who could not vote and families who haven't been voting for generations, so they are not educated on the subject," she said.
For Rubero, who will be turning 22 later this month, voting didn't come up much in her household. Some of her loved ones couldn't vote, which gave her even more reason to head to the polls for the first time in 2020.
"My voice and my vote spoke for a lot of my loved ones," said Rubero.
Rubero tries to explain to the kids and young people she works with that their votes can be for more than just themselves.
"Something amazing and something that we celebrate is that we have so many youth that will be the first to vote in their family," said Rubero about the community Somos Mayfair serves. "And we think that's powerful in itself."
Rubero also works with younger kids who can't vote yet.
"Ages 12-18 can go really underrepresented and that's what we want to do, to represent them, to uplift them, put them at the front," said Rubero. "Making sure that they know their voice matters."
She still involves them in the election cycle, they can pre-register to vote in the future, as well as campaign for candidates that they support and want to see in office.
Rubero says no matter what age you are, you can still have influence.
"If you can't vote, educate those around you to vote for you, to use their vote as your voice," she said.
The "No Decision About Us, Without Us" campaign will also involve young people trying to encourage others their age to vote as well, by using social media.