WASHINGTON, D.C.: Today, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN), National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced the 2022 Coaches’ Voter Engagement Pledge, a joint effort to recruit 1,500 college coaches committed to increasing nonpartisan voter registration and turnout among student-athletes. Coaches who sign the Voter Engagement Pledge commit to registering 100 percent of their eligible student-athletes and supporting voter education and turnout in this year’s midterm elections and beyond.
ALL IN and the NABC originally launched the pledge in 2020 as part of their student-athlete voting initiative, which provides nonpartisan voter education, registration, turnout, and advocacy resources to support the engagement of college athletics in the democratic process. To date, over 150 college and university coaches have signed the 2022 pledge after more than 1,200 pledges were collected in 2020. The signatories in 2020 included representation from 83 percent of NCAA Division I institutions and featured signatures from all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA, two-year colleges and high school programs. Additionally, 120 coaches joined the Coaches’ Voter Education Task Force to serve as an advisory group for fellow coaches.
“ALL IN is working every day to get all students engaged in the democratic process,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director of ALL IN. “Student-athletes are one of the largest and most influential groups on college campuses. With the encouragement of coaches and athletics staff, we have seen how student-athletes can make a dramatic difference in encouraging democratic engagement among their peers.”
“The heightening commitment across college athletics to supporting student-athlete civic engagement over the past two years has been nothing short of remarkable, and traces its roots back to the collective efforts of coaches and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. “Equipping student-athletes with tools to become more active participants in the democratic process remains a top priority for the NABC and our member coaches, and we look forward to continuing this impactful initiative with ALL IN and our colleagues at the WBCA in the coming months.”
“Student-athletes are among our next generation of leaders in every facet of society. We must prepare them to lead and serve others as astute, thoughtful, and considerate citizens who participate in the democratic process by exercising their right to vote in elections and encouraging their fellow students to do the same,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is proud to join ALL IN and the NABC in promoting the nonpartisan 2022 Coaches’ Voter Engagement Pledge. We encourage our family of coaches to sign the pledge and commit themselves to the important process of helping their student-athletes register to vote, educate themselves on the candidates and issues, make their voices heard at the ballot box, and celebrate the privilege to do so that we have as Americans.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge complete a set of action items, with the support of ALL IN staff, to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation on their campus. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge community is currently engaged with over 9 million students from nearly 900 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
ABOUT ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge envisions a more engaged and inclusive democracy. Through institutional engagement, direct student engagement, and fostering a national higher education network, ALL IN strives for an electorate that mirrors our country’s makeup and in which college students are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls. We believe that a strong, vibrant, and more representative American democracy will result from the greater inclusion of informed college student voters.
ABOUT Civic Nation
Civic Nation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit home for changemakers who inspire, educate, and activate people around the issues that will define this generation. Civic Nation empowers and educates individuals, companies, institutions and organizations to drive culture, systems, and policy change, working towards a more inclusive and equitable America. Seven initiatives are a part of the Civic Nation family: When We All Vote, United State of Women, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, End Rape On Campus, It’s On Us, Made to Save and We The Action. Learn more here.
ABOUT the WBCA
For 40 years, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association has been the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. Founded in 1981, the WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit WBCA.org for more details about the association.
ABOUT the NABC
The National Association of Basketball Coaches was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. Guided by the core values of leadership, advocacy, service, education and inclusion, the NABC works to further the best interests of the game of basketball and the players and coaches who participate in the sport. Nearly 5,000 coaches representing all levels of collegiate, scholastic and youth basketball hold NABC memberships. For more information about the NABC, visit nabc.com.
