College Athletes Team Up with NextGen America for 2024 Election
Over 70 athletes will provide voting resources to millions of young voters on social media
Washington, D.C. — This week, NextGen America launched its 2024 athlete influencer program, building on the success of its inaugural launch in 2022. Recognizing that democracy is a team sport, NextGen will collaborate with dozens of college athletes, predominantly Division I, and leverage their impactful social media platforms to promote civic engagement to their audiences.
This campaign highlights an innovative approach to reach young Black and Brown voters through culturally relevant events as NextGen America prepares for the 2024 election cycle. The cohort of 25 collegiate athletes include Arizona State University football defensive end Dashaun Mallory, University of Las Vegas University football wide receiver Ricky White, Elizabeth City State University basketball player Jayden Beloti, and University of Pittsburgh soccer alumni Emily Harrigan, among others.
NextGen America’s field team will also be focusing on connecting with Black and Brown men by holding voter registration events at local barber shops and outside sporting events. Earlier this month at the Super Bowl, NextGen America organizers were onsite during the game engaging with fans around the stadium to educate and register this critical bloc.
“We are so excited to relaunch our historic athlete influencer program for the 2024 cycle,” NextGen America President Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez said. “As NextGen America continues to innovate and expand our work across the country, we are committed to meeting young voters where they are at. This year’s program represents just the beginning of our efforts to mobilize young Black and Brown men, and we are eager to expand our work nationwide through athlete influencers to grow the voices of young people of color in the upcoming election”
Partnerships in NextGen’s athlete influencer program are capitalizing on the recent NIL rules, which allow athletes to profit on their name, image, and likeness. This type of partnership marks a ground-breaking use of NIL to support civic engagement. It is a new frontier for athletes to profit off their public personas and marks a historic shift in the way sports and voting coincide.
NextGen kicks off this campaign as it engages and registers young people across the country before Election Day. NextGen America will be organizing in eight key states; Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia, providing young voters with resources ahead of the 2024 election. Leading up to Election Day in November, NextGen aims to contact millions of young voters to build on the momentum of young people eager to participate in our democracy and build a government that works for all of us.
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About NextGen America
NextGen America is the leading national organization for engaging young people through voter education, registration and mobilization. We invite 18-to-35 year olds — the largest and most diverse generation in American history — into our democracy to ensure our government works for them and to find new solutions to the dire challenges facing our society and the world. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered more than 1.4 million young voters and educated many millions more.