Involvement in politics and campaigns is something people of all ages may be intimidated by. The Get Acting People (GAP) Project is here to solve that problem.
President and co-founder Adrienne Wolff said the GAP project is a “data-driven, grassroot” operation that connects Generation-Z with local, state and national level political campaigns.
“We have developed an intuitive Buzzfeed style quiz for students and campaigns that assess each party’s values, stances on issues, and demographics and creates a match based upon our algorithm,” Wolff said.
Once the quiz creates a match, participants are placed as a volunteer on the selected campaign.
“The great thing about our platform is that all of the campaign opportunities are remote, so you can be at school or attending virtually and work for a campaign across the country,” she said.
The algorithm they created has made it extremely easy and intuitive in finding a campaign to work for.
Both Wolff and Caroline Blanck, CEO and co-founder, have always been interested in politics and are passionate about connecting volunteers to campaigns they believe in. They are both currently working on campaigns and have harnessed their experiences into getting others involved.
Blanck began volunteering for an NYC mayoral campaign in May. She brought Wolff onto the campaign, and the two started working on the climate policy team, Wolff said.
“At the end of May, when the Black Lives Movement erupted, we saw our peers posting on social media and expressing their frustration about the political system,” Wolff said. “However, there was no way for them to take real, tangible action. We decided that we needed to help facilitate Gen-Z to volunteer.”
Hence, The GAP project was born.
Launching in June, they already have the participation of over 500 volunteers who work with over 80 campaigns. Being an election year, this has contributed to the impressive growth of the company.
“Our ultimate goal is to create a pipeline to increase the representation and participation of historically underrepresented groups in politics — young people, women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with IDD,” Wolff said. “Gen Z is set to be the most diverse generation in all of American history. We wanted to create the opportunity for a diverse group of young people to get involved in politics, so that our representatives are more representative.”
When it comes to the future, Blanck and Wolff are confident that Gen Z will continue to engage in politics.
“We think that this is just the beginning of civic engagement for Gen Z,” Wolff said. “We want volunteering to be something that Gen Z does regularly, even when it’s not the presidential election season. There are 500,000 elected officials in the country that shape our daily lives.”
For more on The GAP Project, check out their website and Instagram.