College of the Canyons is one of four California community colleges recognized for being among “America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting” by Washington Monthly magazine for its commitment to inspiring students to vote and actively participate in community decisions.

To document the efforts of colleges and universities promoting civic engagement, the magazine highlighted more than 205 institutions around the country.

“The Center for Civic Engagement is delighted that COC has been recognized for a second year,” said Patty Robinson, faculty director of civic and community engagement initiatives at the college. “Fostering civic learning, community engagement, and democratic participation is central to the work of the center, as it works with the entire campus community to foster a life-long interest in voting among our students.”

The 2020 presidential election’s remarkable voter turnout included a surge of young voters.

“More than half of the ballots casted in the 2020 presidential election were from 18- to 24-year-olds,” reported the magazine. “Part of why youth turnout shot up is thanks to the deliberate work of student voting organizers, who mobilized young Americans to register and cast ballots despite the pandemic and restrictive voting laws.”

COC participates in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a national, nonpartisan awards program recognizing colleges and universities for improving civic learning, political engagement, and student voting rates. As a part of this initiative, students, faculty, and staff have worked together to develop and implement an action plan to increase voting and civic engagement.

During election seasons, COC hosts numerous discussion panels and distributes nonpartisan materials that provide additional information on propositions and candidates.

The school also participates in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), which provides colleges and universities with data on student registration and voting rates. These numbers provide benchmarks to measure the success of future voting engagement efforts.