The Andrew Goodman Foundation to Host Fifth Annual National Civic Leadership Training Summit at Montclair State University From Wednesday, June 19th to Sunday, June 23rd, The Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF) will host its fifth annual National Civic Leadership Training Summit at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. The annual Summit brings together student leaders from across the country who are part of the organization’s Vote Everywhere and Puffin Democracy Fellows
programs. It provides them with training, strategies, and tools needed to advance youth leadership, civic engagement, and voter participation on their college campuses.

This year’s Summit will also commemorate the 55th anniversary of the murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, who were killed on June 21, 1964 by the Ku Klux Klan while registering African Americans to vote in Mississippi. In recognition of this anniversary, the theme of the 2019 Summit is “Live the Legacy.”

“This year is particularly meaningful because it marks the 55th anniversary of the brutal murder of our namesake, Andrew Goodman, who lost his life, as a 20-year-old college student, in service of advancing equality and voting rights. In honor of this anniversary, the 2019 Summit will focus on empowering student participants by providing them with the tools to leverage Andrew Goodman’s legacy to promote long-term voting engagement on their campuses,” stated Sylvia Goodman, executive director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. “We are grateful to Montclair State University for its continued partnership and for hosting our fifth annual National Civic Leadership Training Summit. From winning the NJ Ballot Bowl by registering over 700 students to vote ahead of the 2018 election, to hosting creative campus events like Don’t Be Spooked By The Ballot, the university has continually demonstrated its commitment to promoting civic engagement on campus.”

“Montclair State University has a dynamic ongoing partnership with The Andrew Goodman Foundation, and we share a commitment to supporting students in learning to amplify their voices and embrace their power to both vote and hold elected officials accountable,” said Dr. Mariel Pagán, Montclair State’s Director of the Center for Student Involvement. “Our work on our own campus, which has led us to being designated as a 2019-2020 Voter Friendly Campus by the Campus Vote Project and The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, is in lockstep with what The Andrew Goodman Foundation is doing across the country. It is a natural progression, therefore, that this year’s National Civic Leadership Training Summit will take place on our campus and we look forward to being a part of the rich dialogue and powerful activism that will take place.”

According to a recently released Pew study, the 2018 elections saw historic youth voter participation. With the 2020 elections approaching, the 2019 Summit will also focus on implementing strategies to capitalize and build on this record level of engagement and turnout on Vote Everywhere campuses around the country.

About Andrew Goodman Foundation

The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training young leaders, engaging low-propensity voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The Foundation’s Vote Everywhere program partners with America’s colleges and universities to provide resources, visibility, and mentoring to a national network of student leaders who involve their peers in participatory democracy through long-term voter engagement, public policy, and social justice initiatives.

The organization is named after Andrew Goodman, a Freedom Summer volunteer and champion of equality and voting rights who was murdered by the KKK in 1964 at 20 years old while registering African Americans to vote in Mississippi.