VOICE (Vocal Oklahomas In Civic Engagement)
In 2002 the national Campus Compact organization awarded Oklahoma Campus Compact a $126,000 Raise Your Voice grant funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Raise Your Voice campaign was an effort to encourage college students to begin conversations, address issues and create solutions for the challenges facing our democracy. The campaign was a student-led initiative to encourage students to take action — from volunteering to voting.
Students involved with Raise Your Voice worked to meet the following objectives:
- Inform and increase fellow students’ participation in public life.
- Document the issues that are important to students.
- Mobilize higher education to make civic engagement central to student learning.
From 2002-2005 students on more than 600 college and university campuses across the country came together to implement the Raise Your Voice campaign. Oklahoma’s local initiative was called VOICE (Vocal Oklahomans in Civic Engagement). Students on more than 20 Oklahoma college and university campuses worked together to increase civic participation among their peers. Activities included issue-based campus dialogues, voter registration drives, political forums, National Month of Action and much more.
While the VOICE initiative has officially come to an end, OkCC continues to place an emphasis on student outreach. Plans for the future include service-learning workshops for students, voter registration contests, Month of Action and more.
VOICE Success Stories
VOICE Project Summary
Download the VOICE project summary (PDF, 262k) to read highlights and see pictures from 2002-2005.
Oklahoma Christian Takes Top Honors for Fall 2004 Voter Registration Contest
October 4, 2005 - A contest among Oklahoma college campuses to register more students to vote in this fall’s state and national elections has produced some positive results. Officials with the Oklahoma Campus Compact announced Monday that Oklahoma Christian University won the second annual VOICE (Vocal Oklahomans in Civic Engagement) Voter Registration Contest. The Oklahoma City-based university registered 230 of its students for the Nov. 2 elections. (more)
President O’Neil speaks to students attending chapel
(l. to r.) Jennifer Geren, President O’Neil, OC Student Body
President Jacob Davis, Chancellor Paul Risser and Gina Wekke
OC Student Body President Jacob Davis accepts the banner
