The Youth Government Association (YGA), a nonpartisan group of students looking to empower youth voters, is holding a launch event Thursday in Hunt Library’s auditorium.
YGA, which was created by Mike Occhipinti, 20, and Hans Seebaluck, a junior majoring in international studies, is aimed at creating a fun, college-friendly environment that actively introduces youth to municipal government.
“What I saw was 30,000 State students who municipal government goes right over their heads, but they are directly affected by it,” said Occhipinti. “So, I have implemented YGA as a figurehead and a megaphone for the government locally.”
Thursday’s event will feature food, music and keynote speakers, including City Councilman Bonner Gaylord.
Occhipinti said that throughout the year, YGA members will have the opportunity to learn about city issues in an energized and relatable way.
“We want the issues to be super easy to realize,” Occhipinti said. “It [will] be a lot different than having a 70, 80-year-old guy up there saying the infrastructure of the sewer pipes of Raleigh are 40 inches in diameter too high, and we need to change that.”
During their regular meetings, Occhipinti, Seebaluck and their group of board members, will break down issues discussed amongst the city council and present student members with their options.
“If we say, ‘Look, we’ve got a sewer problem. Here’s the three options: purple, red, blue. What do you think?’ It will make it all more college friendly,” Occhipinti said. “We are not there to form [the student’s] opinions, but to just make sure that they have them.”
The YGA team will also bring in members from the community to talk about the issues they are passionate about first-hand, something Occhipinti said is invaluable.
Since its inception toward the end of the summer, YGA has gained a lot of attention from politicians and political groups in the Raleigh area.
“Everybody and their mother has been talking to us about getting their word out to the youth because [youth voters] are so powerful, and there are so many of us,” Occhipinti said. “Right now we are working on the largest youth registration influx ever in Raleigh’s history, which is pretty cool.”
YGA is racing toward their goal of 5,000 youth voter registrations, with more than 2,500 in the books, according to Seebaluck.
“Each vote counts,” Occhipinti said. “Five thousand votes swings a city council seat, and that could completely change the skyline of Raleigh right there. We have 30,000 kids at State alone.”
Gaylord, who is happy to be a part of YGA’s launch event, said that part of what makes Raleigh so great is that the city encourages young innovators and entrepreneurs to contribute to the city.
“I feel like I owe it to the next generation of leaders to guide them into public service,” Gaylord said.
Seebaluck said that Thursday’s event will be “as college of an event as possible” while also starting to focus on important issues.
“We are just trying to get the word out about some big issues,” Seebaluck said. “One of the biggest things that we are trying to get across is to show our classmates that we are sitting next to in class exactly how much power they really have.”
