Front cover of report featuring black and white panoramic photo of group of diverse, young voters.
Social Movements and Governing Power

Organizational Capacity Building and the Mobilization of Young Voters: Results from the Power California Partner Survey

From 2008 to 2019, the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) published reports under our previous name, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE). 

Fall 2019

By Dr. Veronica Terriquez and Jennifer Soto

Power California is a nonprofit organization that coordinates and offers technical assistance to a network of youth organizing and civic engagement groups committed to increasing the representation of young voters of color in low-income communities. Originally called YVote, a project initiated in 2016 by the Movement Strategy Center and Mobilize the Immigrant Vote with support from the Irvine Foundation, Power California became its own 501(c)3 organization in the spring of 2018. Power California and its partner organizations played an important role in increasing turnout among young voters during the 2018 November election. These gains in young voter engagement can in part be attributed to investments in civic infrastructure that supports training and coordination among groups. This report documents Power California partners’ growing capacity to engage young voters in government elections. Overall, it demonstrates that partners gained important experience across a range of indicators related to engaging young voters in government elections, and it suggests that Power California’s technical assistance and coordination efforts played a role in the network’s success.

Download report

Organizational Capacity Building and the Mobilization of Young Voters: Results from the Power California Partner Survey

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

    a view of the Los Angeles skyline