Plus1Vote

In the last two weeks, I have spoken at Ohio State University, lectured at Harvard, was invited to speak on a panel at Instagram, was profiled by Business insider and was invited to be memorialized at the Southern Poverty Law Center on a renovation of their Civil Rights Memorial Museum in Montgomery.

Our work at Plus1Vote is quickly scaling. Our voting activist crash courses have resulted in over 2000+ voting activists across the country mobilizing to get out the vote. Our work is quickly scaling up. The Elevate Prize would allow us to scale up our core team of 6 and continue to develop our voting activism on the ground across the US and work with leading LGBTQ, BIPOC and youth led organizations.

Specifically, we will use this prize to further our Voting activist fellowships. Our fellows organize on the ground on local issues to push underrepresented communities to vote, and to become voting activists themselves.

https://www.businessinsider.com/day-in-the-life-of-nonprofit-founder-activist-saad-amer-2021-4

I created Plus1Vote because I never saw myself reflected in the political space. Existing at the intersection of being a queer, first generation, Muslim, Asian American, there were few advocating for the social justice, economic equity and climate action that impact my community the most.

I have been a climate activist since I was 13 when my High school created a 100-acre land preserve in NY. Now with Plus1Vote, we have reached over a billion people online, organize rallies on issues like climate change, social justice and voting rights and have even worked with the likes of Al Gore, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Taylor Swift.

I went to Harvard University, have written climate policy at the UN, worked on the ground in the Himalayas on climate research, and was a producer at PBS. My work has appeared in Business Insider, National Geographic, NBC, CNN and more.

Plus1Vote is an organization dedicated to improving the representation of youth, people of color and the LGBTQ in our democracy. Only about half of youth vote in presidential elections, and only about a third in midterm elections. The result is policy that does not reflect the needs of young people on climate change, social justice, health care and more.

Our fight is about representative democracy. We launched Early Voting in NY state in 2019, and helped pass Automatic Voter Registration in 2020 in NY. Over 3.7 million people early voted in 2020, and over 2 million will become registered to vote as a result of AVR. Our fight for HR1 will ensure all Americans have access to the ballot to vote on crucial issues like climate change and social justice.

This fight for voting rights is nonpartisan. If we truly desire to be for the people, by the people, we must ensure all Americans have access to the ballot, and that young people are equipped with the tools and knowledge to vote. Our campaigns have directly engaged over 300,000 on Instagram alone, trained over 2000 voting activists and reached over 1 billion people online.

Our work has mobilized on digital platforms in unique ways. We are known for our consistently viral campaigns that have included the likes of congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Taylor Swift, former Vice President Al Gore and our partnerships with the likes of the Women's March, Youth Climate Strike Movement and V Magazine.

Our approach to digital utilizes influencers, digital tools like Instragram filters and more. We work directly with young people and bring them into the same spaces as major politicians to make change in civic engagement. 

Our world crumbles without representative democracy. This year alone we have seen over 360 pieces of legislation designed to suppress the votes of young people and people of color in over 40 states in the US. It is clear that our individual voices are under attack, and we collectively lose as a society when our right to vote is silences.

As a member of the United Nations Frame Work Convention on Climate Change’s Youth Constituency, I have spoken at UNEP, UNDP, UNFCCC, UNDGC and more about the need to improve civic engagement of youth to address the economic inequities and climate justice across the world.

Our strategies have led to hundreds of thousands of youth showing up to the polls, thousands advocating to get out the vote, and resulted in policies that are enabling more people to vote in the US.