GREENFIELD — Greenfield Community College was recently recognized for excellence in student voter engagement during the 2018 midterm elections as part of the “ALL IN” Campus Democracy Challenge.
GCC received accolades for “Best in Class for Overall Most Improved” and “Best in Class for Highest Voting Rates” during the challenge’s second biennial awards ceremony in Washington on Nov. 12, a GCC press release states.
Data provided by the Institute for Democracy in Higher Education at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University shows GCC’s voting rate increased to 47.1 percent in 2018 from a rate of 25.6 percent in 2014. By comparison, the average institutional voting rate was 39.1 percent in 2018, up from 19.7 percent in 2014.
Award winners were selected for their exemplary leadership in supporting students in forming the habits of active and informed citizenship, according to the release. More than 60 institutions enrolling six million students participated in the “ALL IN” challenge, which strives to grow civic culture and institutionalize democratic engagement activities on college campuses.
“Ensuring that our students are aware of issues impacted by political decision-making is important to us at GCC,” said Associate Dean of Community Engagement Judy Raper. “In addition to hosting voter registration drives, we offer co-curricular programming on topics such as the border wall, opioid epidemic, hunger, homelessness, veterans’ issues and immigration. We are extremely proud of the level of civic engagement demonstrated by our students.”
Learn more and see a full list of winning campuses at allinchallenge.org.