At Levi Strauss & Co., we’ve long been committed to fostering a culture of civic engagement among our employees, consumers and communities. This year is no different. We’re all in on civic action, working throughout this election season to educate and encourage voters to use their voice.
Community College Commitment
When our partners at Students Learn Students Vote identified a 10-point voting gap between students at two- and four-year colleges, LS&Co. set sights on bringing the business community together to close the gap. That’s why we partnered with peers to launch the Community College Commitment, a nonpartisan business community effort with a goal of turning out 500,000 new community college voters over the next four years.
It took off. In just the first six months, this overall effort grew to include eight companies, and through funding and key partnerships with civic engagement organizations, LS&Co. has supported voter engagement on 377 campuses with more than three million students across 46 states.
Community College Concert Competition
Nearly 150 community college campuses nationwide entered this year’s inaugural Community College Concert Competition — a free concert presented by Levi’s® and SHOWTIME/MTV — by submitting action plans to drive voter engagement among their students. The competition, won by Austin Community College (ACC) District in Texas, culminated last week with a concert by rising alt-country artist Jessie Murph in celebration of early voting.
The performance was attended by nearly 500 ACC students, faculty and friends on the fourth day of early voting in Texas. Jessie Murph met with students, rocked her custom-studded Levi’s® and reminded the audience to use their voice.
The concert was also supported by LA Hope Dealer founder and artist Corie Mattie, who tagged custom Levi’s® totes for attendees and created a bespoke “vote” mural at ACC that is driving students to make a plan to vote via a QR code.
Getting Educated and Dancing to the Polls
In addition to community college civic engagement efforts, LS&Co. is also supporting voters through:
- Employee engagement: Throughout the year, LS&Co. employees are encouraged to vote early and use our nonpartisan civic engagement platform to get informed on how, where and when to get to the polls. Earlier this month, employee resource groups also hosted nonpartisan informational sessions with LS&Co. and Levi Strauss Foundation (LSF) grantees, the ACLU and the Fair Elections Center respectively. These sessions aimed at helping employees understand the different ways they can cast their ballot in their state and how to make a plan to vote. We’re also partnering with Daybreaker’s Purple Tour through Election Day to encourage employees to vote early — and dance!
- Grantmaking: Both the company and LSF are supporting voters through grantmaking to organizations across the country that work to drive voter education and registration and expand access to the polls.
Photo Credit (from top to bottom): Daniel Cavazos. Daniel Cavazos, Daniel Cavazos, Chris Saucedo/Getty for MTV
