Helping Youth Find Their Voice in Politics
Jahnavi Rao is the President and Founder of New Voters, a youth-led national nonprofit that engages high school students in over 500 high schools across the country through nonpartisan near-peer mentorship to make their voices heard in politics. Jahnavi is a 2024 L’ORÉAL PARIS Women of Worth Honoree for her work with getting youth involved in political discussions and helping them understand their opportunities for the future.
Jahnavi Rao, Founder and President, New Voters
Meet L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Honoree Jahnavi Rao, New Voters
Meet L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Honoree Jahnavi Rao, New Voters
Kids Discover had a chance to talk with Jahnavi about her work and what inspires her to want to help others be a part of the political process.
Jahnavi says that during the 2016 election she felt voiceless. She was not able to vote yet due to her age and realized decisions were being made that would have lasting effects on her and her generation.
At age 16, Jahnavi began her work to transform New Voters, a school club registering eligible students at her school to vote into a nonprofit organization. Jahnavi is now a recent Harvard College graduate and motivated by the idea that one day high school students will also have a voice in decisions and that all 4 million students who become eligible each year will turn out to vote and find their voice in politics.
Jahnavi has served as the youth head of Youth Engagement and Millennial Voter Participation at the DNC, as an intern in the White House Office of Public Engagement and is the founder of High School Engagement at the Harvard Votes Challenge.
How did you become interested in the political process?
My entire life I wanted to be a musician – I had recorded conservatory tapes and planned auditions. But at 16, every issue I cared about was threatened by a President I had no say in electing. After the 2016 election, decisions were made that affected my generation more than any other, and I felt helpless and unheard.
After seeing my peers on both sides frustrated at our apparent lack of importance to politicians, I resolved to get involved. I started a school club called 2018 New Voters, and when I was 17 and unable to vote myself, we registered 85% of our senior class to vote.
Fast forward 7 years, New Voters has grown to a national, youth-led nonpartisan 501(c)3, with 400+ high school chapters and volunteers and 80,000 students activated to vote.
Why do you feel this work is important?
I remember feeling helpless. I remember looking at numbers on the election screen and knowing I was not among them. But each year I see countless students join our internship or run a drive at their school when they can not vote themselves. While their individual number is not on the screen, their influence is, alongside the students they activated to vote.
Our students feel empowered and heard. They do not feel helpless.
That is why I still lead New Voters 7 years later as the full-time President, dedicating my life to activating and empowering the youth.
What is your background/education/interests?
I graduated from Harvard College in 2023 majoring in Government with a minor in Music. My focus was on behavioral economics, and specifically the unintended consequences of behavioral interventions on people (in other words, thinking about how people behave and tweaks you can make to how you present information or options to help people make the most informed decision). I started taking Indian Classical (Carnatic) vocal lessons when I was 4, and Western Classical (Operatic) vocal lessons at 14.
I lived in Italy briefly to perform in the world-premiere of the International Opera Theater’s production of “Il Sogno di Una Notte di Mezza Estate,” an original Italian operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Nights Dream.”
Did you have teachers who inspired you to get involved in the political process? Can you explain?
I had multiple teachers who fundamentally shifted how I thought about being involved. Three who come to mind are Mrs. Walter, Mrs. Ciamacca and Mr. Anderson.
Mrs. Walter and Mrs. Ciamacca were the teacher advisors for New Voters when it began as a high school club and Mrs. Walter every year for the past 7 years has led our efforts at my alma mater of Conestoga High School and regularly advises me on our programming for teachers.
Mrs. Ciamacca took her teachings of “democracy not being a spectator sport” and ran for office my first year of college – I was honored to join as her Deputy Campaign Manager and remain inspired by her passion and dedication to amplifying youth voices and being civically engaged.
Mr. Anderson was my AP Government teacher my junior year of high school, at the same time as the 2016 election, and the same time as my transition from music to organizing.
I remember multiple classroom discussions that inspired my commitment to civil discourse between varying political viewpoints and have a notebook of advice from Mr. Anderson as I delved into research and internships in this area.
“Our curriculum, mentorship and research are led by those as young as 14.”
What do you do now for your work to get young people involved in the voting experience?
New Voters is a youth-led 501(c)3 dedicated to making the youth voice heard through nonpartisan HS voter engagement, that I founded in 2017 as a high school club. New Voters has civically engaged 80,000 HS students, supported 300+ interns, and run 350 HS voting drives across 39 states. We plan to register 40,000 HS students and activate 150,000 community members to vote across 400 HS’s, focused on PA and AZ, states with high youth electoral significance.
New Voters is dedicated to empowering young people, and accordingly, we believe youth must always be in the decision-making room. That is why, at 23, I am the oldest person at New Voters.
Our curriculum, mentorship and research are led by those as young as 14. While older collaborators ensure appropriate levels of rigor and governance, we invest in the agency of our youth leaders, and it has paid off through relatable mentors for our drive leaders, lifelong skills in and passion for public service established, and voter registration drives personalized to the current HS experience.
“I am driven by a future where the four million students who graduate from high school every year vote in their first election and become lifelong civic participants.”
What are your goals for the future and politics?
I am driven by a future where the four million students who graduate from high school every year vote in their first election and become lifelong civic participants, ultimately building a democracy where those in power prioritize youth input.
What is the message you want to share with young people not yet able to vote?
The decisions being made today impact us as young people more than anybody else, and we deserve to have a say. Voting is not the most important problem, but it is one of the first that must be addressed to ensure existential threats are addressed.
If every high school student voted, they would be the deciding voice in every contested election. Mobilizing high school voters, and having students younger than high school learning and ready to vote, will ensure that youth issues that impact our generation more than anyone else, such as school safety and climate change, will be addressed.
