The Youth in Local Progressive Politics Club is a recent addition to East High School’s clubs! It was founded by EHS junior Saanvi Bhatia, who created this club as a way for high schoolers who are interested in politics to become involved. The Youth in Local Progressive Politics (YILPP) club focuses on different political projects within our area; for example, this past election cycle has been spent encouraging voter participation. In this interview with Saanvi Bhatia, she tells all there is to know about YILPP.

Who are you, what is your political background?

My name is Saanvi, and I’m a junior. After my freshman year, I began working on a state representative campaign, and I was fascinated by the world of political activism. I kept finding work in those spaces to learn more — earlier this year I co-managed a school board campaign.

Simultaneously, I noticed how much young people like me cared about politics and social justice, but how unaware they were that this political world existed and that they could make a difference in their communities. I created Youth in Local Progressive Politics to bridge the gap between the political world and young people and mutually benefit both — young people by creating pathways for them to take action and local campaigns by providing much needed volunteer support.

What is the Youth in Local Progressive Politics club?

The mission of Youth in Local Progressive Politics is to change the role of young people in state and local progressive politics. This past election cycle, our project Let’s Win Locally accomplished this goal by organizing young people to phonebank (explained later) for local progressive candidates.

In this club, the Operations Team establishes and supports our projects, providing outreach, social media, and other help as more needs come up.

Why do you feel like it’s important to have a club like this?

I am a firm believer that democracy works better when more voices are involved. Especially on the local level, it’s often only older folk who decide and endorse candidates, volunteer for those they like, and end up eventually voting for them. Because we’re not paying attention, elected officials can often ignore youth issues. It happens with every constituency group. When we volunteer and when we vote, people are forced to pay attention to us and the things we care about.

Another reason this is so important is because it provides young people with a

lifelong understanding of political activism. Yes, we’re currently advocating for certain local campaigns, but as we young people grow up and move away, we will bring our understanding of local political systems and our ability to politically activate with us, which means we will stay involved no matter where we go. Youth voting statistics show that when young people vote, it becomes a lifelong habit. It can be that way with political activism too.

What kind of an impact/change are you hoping to create?

We are hoping to quite literally change the role of young people in state and local politics. We want to make it easy for all young people to understand and take action

in their communities. Geographically, we’re starting locally with hope to grow.

In this past project, we hoped to make an impact that lasts by electing local progressive leaders. We made over one thousand calls to voters advocating for Democratic candidates, hopefully changing the landscape of Chester County government.

The most important impact that we’ve made is engaging young people in the Operations Team and as phonebankers who are proud to be working to elect progressive candidates. Showing others the political world has been a personal joy of mine, and I hope that impact continues and lasts more than anything else.

How do you intend to get more students involved?

We intend to get more students involved by more widespread marketing, such as advertising from big groups and at different schools. Our goal is for our message to reach every young person who wants to be engaged in politics. For example, the High School Democrats of Pennsylvania has promoted YILPP through social media and

their email channels. We also have Operations Team members in two high schools other than East.

How do you think high school students now differ from even students from a few years ago when it comes to politics and involvement in politics?

I think high school students now have more of an understanding of social justice and politics and a greater desire to get involved. I also think we have more emotion

tied to social justice issues than previous generations. The presence of social media has intensified our interest and outrage by exposing us to new hardships in the world every day. We are drawn in and inspired to make a difference.

How do you go about your phone banking?

After canvassing (knocking on voters’ doors), phonebanking is the most eff

ective method of voter contact. You can phonebank with many goals, but ours was to drive voter turnout in strong Democrats who don’t typically vote in local elections.

We worked with the Chester County Democratic Committee, who provided us with the online platform to phonebank. We logged into the platform, which gave us a phone number and a script to read and input answers into. The voters we called were decided by the Chester County Democratic Committee field strategy, and through the c

ourse of this month, we called strong Democrats aged 18-20, mail-in voters who had not yet submitted their ballots, potential volunteers, and everyday voters reminding them to vote on Election Day. Because there are so many local candidates, our script discussed Democrats broadly rather than addressing specific names as they might do in bigger campaigns.

After finishing your call, you hit “Next call” and move on to the next voter the platform gives you.

What are some of your plans for the future?

Our future plans are currently not finalized, though we are hoping to de

cide within the next two weeks. We might pursue an educational path with the goal to teach as many young people as possible about state and local politics. We might also decide to turn to issue advocacy of some sort. We might even decide to stay on this candidate advocacy path. Keep your eyes posted on East’s Schoology page for our plan once we have decided!

Other than phone banking, what sort of activities would someone coming into the club expect to participate in?

Besides phonebanking, individuals can join the Operations Team (apply here!) where they help create and support YILPP’s projects. For Let’s Win Locally — this past phonebanking initiative — the Operations Team helped by outreach, social media help, and more.

My personal hope is that this club provides young people with the agency to create their own projects within the greater project. For example, one of our Operations Team members created Instagram stories featuring certain candidates. The series was promoted by the High School Democrats of Pennsylvania!

For more information, you can visit YILPP’s website here, and apply for their Operations Team here. You can also reach out directly to Saanvi at saanvibhatia1@gmail.com. Saanvi hopes that anyone interested will consider joining and supporting the effort, and that you are able to experience the fascinating world of politics!