Young Montanans make up 28% of Montana’s electorate, but turn out at lower rates than older voters. In 2024, Forward Montana Foundation will engage in robust civic education and registration programs to ensure that our youngest voters are informed and excited. We’re ready to meet this moment with expanded staff and programming reaching more rural communities than ever.
We will collect 10,000 voter registration forms in the 2024 cycle. Our organizers meet young people where they are, literally, by registering voters on campus, at home, at community events, and online. We will engage in door-to-door canvassing in neighborhoods with a high density of frequent movers. Layered with these direct voter contact methods will be mail & digital, especially to young voters who have become inactive or who are not registered to vote by mail.
An estimated 60% of rural youth live in a “civic desert,” meaning they lack adequate opportunities for civic education, engagement, and community-building. We fill this gap with our immersive democracy program that includes a high school specific voter registration drive (Democracy Days) and in-classroom civic lessons for teachers. These programs lay the foundation for young rural Montanans to be the leaders our state needs.
Check out the links below to learn more about our partner organization Civics Under the Big Sky, sign up for Democracy Days, and access civic templates for educators.
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE:
If we deepen young Montanan’s’ culture of civic engagement and build the knowledge, skills, and leadership of young Montanans who reflect the diversity of our state to create change in their communities, more young people will become lifetime voters and activists, run for and win public office, and advance issues and conversations that address the complex challenges facing young Montanans today and tomorrow.
HOW WE GOT OUR START
HOMEGROWN & GRASSROOTS
Forward Montana Foundation was founded in 2004 by a group of passionate students at the University of Montana who felt there were a lot of barriers getting young people involved in politics. Their first fights were at the university and the local level and focused on recycling, renewable energy, sexual assault and tenant rights. We’ve now grown into the largest youth civic engagement organization in Montana, with year-round staff in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Glendive, Missoula and the Flathead.
