Headshot Photo of Casey Sherman
2019 Award Recipient

CaseySherman

Project Empower the People

Location Parkland, FL

Issue Area Civic Engagement | Education

Watching 30,000 people unite in the name of hope opened Casey’s eyes to the way the future could be. Casey was a lead coordinator for March for Our Lives Parkland, the student-led demonstration in support of legislation to prevent gun violence following the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Beholding the power of the supposed powerless gave Casey the chills. And ideas. She set about building a platform that would bring more people together to work toward a brighter future.

Thus Empower the People, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization facilitating high school peer-to-peer voting registration, came to be. Not only do Casey and Empower the People work with Get Out the Vote to engage students about the importance of political engagement, they’ve also created a curriculum being implemented in Washington, DC area schools raising high school students’ awareness about social issues.

I am forever rooted in the idea of tikkun olam and am incredibly grateful to the Jewish community which has helped shape me into the person I have become and will continue to guide me towards the person I want to be.

Casey Sherman
Casey and 4 other teens at an outdoor booth with the organization's logo banner behind them. The booth table has pens, candy, and a prize wheel for spinning.

Empower the People

empowerthepeople.net

Empower the People is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to provide voices to the voiceless through peer-to-peer voter registration and community engagement. Casey and Empower the People work with Get Out the Vote to engage students about the importance of political engagement. They’ve also created a curriculum being implemented in Washington, DC area schools raising high school students’ awareness about social issues.