2025 NYC Youth Ambassadors on General Election Day in Jackson Heights.
20 fevriye 2026
When Zara Imtiaz attended a Civics Week training in February 2023, she wasn't planning to join the NYC Votes Youth Ambassadors Program. She was a high school student in Queens, curious but unsure how civic engagement would fit in her life.
Then she saw the city budget numbers.
“Learning that New York City's budget is over $100 billion really shocked me," Imtiaz said. "It made me realize how much power exists at the local level — and how little young people think about it.”
That realization led her to apply to the program.
Today, Imtiaz is a sophomore at The City College of New York, studying civil engineering, and serves as a Community Engagement and Education Intern with NYC Votes. But her journey started as a Youth Ambassador in 2023, when she completed the full spring-to-fall program.
2025 Youth Ambassadors and NYC Votes staff enjoy ice cream outside of the Brooklyn Public Library.
“In high school, I was really timid,” she said. “I never imagined walking up to strangers and talking about voting. But after that training, I kind of fell in love with the work.”
She’s not alone in that sentiment.
Mariama Touray, a 2023 Youth Ambassador and current Alumni Committee member, said she applied on a whim after spotting the opportunity on her teacher’s Google Classroom page.
“I had no interest in civics,” she said candidly. “I thought I wanted to be a doctor. I just wanted to try something new.”
That “something new” ended up reshaping their futures.
Gulshan Aachol, a Brooklyn Technical High School student from Astoria, Queens, joined the program during the 2025 summer cycle after hearing about it through a youth organizer in the Astoria Tenants Union.
“I didn’t just want to do a simple job and get money,” Aachol said. “I wanted to genuinely learn something over the summer — especially something that had to do with government.”
Like Touray, she entered the program without a specific focus.
“I was always interested in housing justice,” she said. “During the program, I learned about so many other civic issues. It opened my eyes.”
Building Civic Leadership from the Ground Up
Launched in 2020, the NYC Votes Youth Ambassador Program engages young New Yorkers in the democratic process through hands-on training, paid civic work, and leadership development. Since its launch, the program has served nearly 115 students across the five boroughs.
In 2025, NYC Votes selected Youth Ambassadors from across the city, prioritizing young people who live in or attend school in neighborhoods with the lowest voter turnout. In that same year, Manhattan's eligible voters cast ballots at about 54% compared with 33% in the Bronx, according to the New York City Board of Elections. This difference shows the impact these Ambassadors could have in communities where fewer residents typically vote.
Participants complete paid civic projects, including phone and text banking, voter registration drives, and in-person outreach events. In 2025 alone, Youth Ambassadors and Alumni Committee members:
- Participated in 136 events across New York City
- Planned and hosted 58 youth-led events
- Made more than 218,000 voter contacts
- Sent over 219,000 messages
- Registered 477 new voters
- Conducted outreach in eight languages, reflecting the diversity of the communities they serve
Education Through Action
For Imtiaz, one of her first outreach events was at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.
“We kind of just dove straight into it,” she said. “Some people ignored us. Some were open to talking. It was scary at first — but empowering.”
Touray remembers similar nerves during her early outreach events in Union Square.
“At first I was really shy,” she said. “It took a lot out of me to approach people and ask, ‘Are you registered to vote?’”
Aachol’s first outreach event was at a Pride celebration by the waterfront.
“It was a little nerve-wracking at first to go up to random people,” she said. “But as the day went on, I became more comfortable. I felt like, ‘Wow, I’m doing something important right now.’”
Moments of rejection — and even uncomfortable interactions — were part of the learning curve. But all three ambassadors say those experiences built resilience and confidence.
“Being an ambassador that early was one of the key stepping stones I needed in life,” Touray said. “It really pushed me out of my comfort zone to be open and outspoken.”
Over time, the conversations became deeper and more meaningful.
At a Pride event at Chelsea Piers during the 2025 primary election cycle, Touray met an older immigrant New Yorker who had never voted a day in her life.
“She told me she had never voted a day in her life,” Touray said. “But she said this election felt important because New York is her home.”
The two spoke at length about why local elections matter and how even one vote connects to the future of a city someone loves. The conversation reinforced for Touray that civic engagement is personal — shaped by lived experience, faith, identity, and belonging.
For Aachol, one early interaction with a voter who stopped to ask about the program made an impact.
She said what we were doing was impactful, especially for youth...(and that) a lot of people have given up hope these days, so it was encouraging to see young people still counting on the system to help us.
In another outreach event at the Metropolitan Asian Deaf Association, Touray helped provide voter information to members of the Deaf Asian community.
“Before that, I didn’t even know there was a Deaf Asian community,” she said. “We were helping people access information just like everyone else. No one should be excluded because of a disability.”
2025 Youth Ambassadors and NYC Votes staff canvassing at Youth Pride.
Youth in Action
Unlike traditional internships, the Youth Ambassador application focuses on reflection and lived experience rather than grades or prior credentials.
One essay question in the application about community involvement stood out to Imtiaz.
“At the time, I was part of a South Asian youth organizing program,” she said. “It was the first time I really felt connected to people who shared my background and values. Writing about that made me reflect on how powerful community can be.”
For Aachol, the program expanded her definition of civic engagement.
I saw civic engagement as going to protests and rallies. But being a Youth Ambassador taught me it’s also about education — learning about issues that have impacted us before and educating others about them.
She says one of the most important lessons she learned was how to have conversations despite differences.
“I learned it’s okay not to agree,” she said. “You don’t have to align with someone’s internal views to have a meaningful conversation. Speaking from a nonpartisan perspective helped me understand people better.”
For Touray, learning about local issues in her own neighborhood, Mount Hope in the Bronx, was transformative.
“When I first joined, I learned my neighborhood has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the city,” she said. “There are so many factors — language access, immigration status, history.”
Studying local history — including the long-term impact of urban planning decisions — helped her connect civic engagement to her daily life.
I live here. I wake up and see this place every day. I want better for my community. And that comes with voting. That comes with advocating.
Through the program, she learned she could pre-register to vote at 16 and even join her community board as a teenager — something she later did.
“We’re actually starting to see change,” she said. “That made me realize that as long as I show up and do my part, that’s enough.”
Investing in the Next Generation
After starting as a Youth Ambassador, Imtiaz now interns with the Community Engagement and Education team at the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the same office that oversees the program — a full-circle moment.
“It’s really cool to grade the applications,” she said. “I was in their position not that long ago.”
Aachol now serves as an Alumni Committee Member and encourages other young people to apply.
Don’t see yourself as incapable until you genuinely try it. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It showed me that I have a role in being a civil servant.
Touray is also charting a new path. Instead of pursuing medicine, she plans to major in political science or public policy.
“If I never joined the program, I’d probably still be unhappy chasing the idea of going into medicine,” she said. “[It] changed my life.”
All three ambassadors emphasize that the program is about more than voter registration numbers — it’s about relationships, confidence, and growth.
“I met some of my closest friends through this program,” Touray said. “It’s not just the work. It’s the people.”
Her advice to young people considering applying?
“Do it immediately,” she said. “You have nothing to lose by taking a chance on something new. This is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
By investing in youth leadership, NYC Votes is building a generation that doesn’t just understand democracy — but actively participates in shaping it.