By Jordan McSpadden
A Youth Outreach Coordinator for the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley attended the Young Democrats Club meeting last Thursday to urge students to participate in the Democratic campaign.
David Osiri urged students who are interested in seeing Democrats in the office should volunteer to help campaign.
Volunteers are trained to call registered voters and receive a script to read to voters when calling them. Volunteers call voters from all over the United States and also go from door to door and asking voters for their support.
“Canvassing is a good experience and a safe experience,” Osiri said. “What they want students to do when you volunteer is to do the actual voter outreach, the actual voter contact.”
There are two different types of volunteers at the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley: volunteers who come in whenever they can and want to, and more dedicated volunteers who come into the office regularly. There is no set time commitment for volunteering, students simply call and schedule times to come in and help in any way possible.
Osiri said that working for the Democratic campaign looks good on a college application, and students gain experience for future job applications. The Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley has the largest campaign headquarters in California, he said.
“This is a good experience for you guys,” Osiri said. “Come into the campaign office, see how it is run. We will teach you who weâre calling, why weâre calling them, where we get our data from, where we get our money from. Weâll give you the whole grand scheme, you guys will know how to campaign, and if you guys come in for a good amount of time, I guarantee you will know how a campaign runs.”
There are volunteer students from schools all over Los Angeles, so students meet new kids from other schools.
“Helping out with the campaign should be really fun and a good learning experience for you guys. This is a landmark election,” Osiri said. “I donât have to sell that to you guys. If you want to get involved with an election, this is the year to jump in.”
