Penn, Phila. community members gather for Vote That Jawn event to promote youth voter turnout

Philadelphia officials, journalists, and youth activists — including several Penn students — gathered at City Hall on Oct. 16 for Trend That Jawn, a press conference dedicated to increasing youth voter participation. 

The event was organized by Vote That Jawn, a nonpartisan initiative started by Penn lecturer Lorene Cary to bring young voters to the polls. It featured three panels of speakers and culminated in an appearance from 6abc News Anchor Rick Williams, who announced the establishment of the Sheno Prize in memory of 2022 Penn graduate Erinda Sheno.

The idea of the conference stemmed from students who worked with Cary under the Bassini Apprenticeship program to curate Vote That Jawn events. 

College senior Isabel Engel, one of Cary’s fellows, served as a key organizer of the conference. 

“I was thinking about how we can get young people, particularly young reporters, incentivized to come together and share the importance of voting with their peers in a totally nonpartisan way,”  Engel said. “And thus, the idea of a press conference was born.”

The first panel of speakers featured Philadelphia City Commissioners Lisa Deeley, Seth Bluestein, and Omar Sabir. They were followed by student voting advocates Vivek Babu, Ceci Schleinitz, and Alyssa Antonian, who is the director of Penn Leads the Vote. The final panel consisted of journalists Kenny Cooper, Fallon Roth, and Roxanne Patel Shepelavy.

Students from Cary’s Writing and Politics course and English professor Taije Silverman’s Voting Writes course served as moderators of the event, introducing each group of panelists. 

College junior Sonia Banker, one of Cary’s students in attendance at the conference, emphasized the importance of the event’s goal to promote civic engagement among young people.

“It’s essential to get young people in the same room with young leaders, in the same room with city officials, adults, nonprofit leaders, university students,” Banker said. “Especially in a swing state, it’s really critical to make sure that all young people know that they have the right to vote.” 

Cary echoed this sentiment, expressing that youth could play an essential role in shaping democracy.

“If young people all voted, then they could get politicians to understand the issues that matter to them,” Cary said. “It’s very much like what I hope this is part of — a swell. PA youth vote has grown; it’s a swell that grows." 

The conference concluded with the announcement of the Sheno Prize, which honors Penn alumna and former Vote That Jawn team member Erinda Sheno. Sheno graduated from Penn in 2022 and died in August. The newly established prize pays homage to her legacy, love of writing, and passion for civic engagement by recognizing college and high school students from Philadelphia for written pieces centering on voting, democracy, immigration, or Philadelphia life.

1993 College graduate Roxanne Patel Shepelavy, the executive editor of The Philadelphia Citizen, previously worked alongside Sheno. She described the award as a “very fitting tribute to [Sheno’s] brilliance and talent."