At a thrift shopping extravaganza, youth voter engagement takes center stage

On Saturday afternoon, Charlotte, N.C., native Alice Jones found out something new about her friend Jacque Matthews, of Memphis. Matthews didn’t plan to vote. She just doesn’t feel engaged by national politics.

“You have to engage yourself!” Jones replied.

The out-of-town pair, both 37, were shopping at the Thrift Project, a secondhand shopping bazaar featuring more than 40 local small-business vendors, food trucks, a live DJ and breakout panels.

The Thrift Project used fashion, music, and health and wellness to engage Gen Z and millennials ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Though the main attraction is the opportunity to score one-of-a-kind pieces, the real engine behind the event is voting.

“You can thrift, you can have live music, you can have good food, you can have creative panels, and you can also engage in your civic responsibilities,” said Christina Faith, creator and executive producer of the Thrift Project.

Faith got the idea for the shopping bonanza at a giant flea market in Los Angeles in 2022. She felt the East Coast didn’t have anything like it.

“We needed something that had beautiful culture, community, but also a vibe,” said Faith, 41. There were 2,400 people registered for the event.

Faith’s creative production company, the Grindhouse, partnered with Show Up Strong ‘24, a civic engagement organization launched to reach people ages 18 to 41 and get out the vote ahead of the presidential election. Show Up Strong is an offshoot of the Voter Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to voter engagement in Pennsylvania. Show Up Strong ‘24 has a presence in each of the battleground states.

Each vendor’s table included stacks of cards with a QR code that prompted people to check their voter registration status when scanned. Anyone with a smartphone could fill in their name, email, phone number and address to check if they’re registered, or if that registration is up to date.

Between a booming mix of “Wild Thoughts” by DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, an event staff member announced a pop-up prize: “We’re giving away $10 if you check your registration over here at the DJ booth.”

Valarie Jones has worked with Show Up Strong ‘24 since May. She said the organization is trying to reach young Philadelphians, noting their lack of voter engagement in the city.

“We kind of aim to make it like a party and make them not feel like voting is so boring,” Jones said.

The organization operates a bus that travels to events with large crowds of younger people like festivals and talks to them about political issues they face.

“The biggest thing we heard over the last couple of months is that voting isn’t fun,” Jones said. “It’s too serious. The whole purpose of our platform is to meet people where they are.”

She especially heard that feedback when President Joe Biden was still running, she said.

Nationwide, an estimated 41 million eligible voters will be from Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, with 8 million new potential voters coming of age in time for the presidential election. In 2022, Democrats credited young voters with stopping a “red wave” in the midterm elections.

Josh McDonough, 20, is a designer who works on custom clothing. He stood behind a booth featuring purple red, orange and teal denim adorned with pop culture references like characters from the sitcom Rick and Morty. In an era of sartorial minimalism, said McDonough, he wants to keep making vibrant clothing that pops.

“I want people to be able to express themselves to the fullest extent,” he said. “It’s all right if you walk into the room and everyone stares at you.”

From Northeast Philadelphia, McDonough is registered to vote and interested in politics, but said he’s still torn about whether or not his vote really matters.

“You want to be able to feel like you’re going to make a difference, but sometimes it feels like, what is my vote going to really do,” said McDonough.

Clair Chodak, 14, and her friend Elisha Behrend, 15, are too young to vote. But they both still felt voting and political engagement are important.

Said Behrend, “I think it impacts us directly.”