About Us
The origin story.
It started with a simple question: “Who’s on my school board?”
We were sitting in History class, acing tests about checks and balances, writing essays about the Electoral College. We could diagram how a bill becomes a law. We knew the President, our Senators, probably our House representative.
But when we tried to find out who controlled our actual school — who decided the curriculum, the budget, whether we'd get mental health counselors or more security — we hit a wall.
We didn't know where to look. The county websites were a maze. The information was buried in PDFs. Some of us gave up. Some of us spent hours googling and still came up empty.
Civics class taught us about government in theory, but not how to participate in our government.
We learned about historical elections but not about the upcoming school board race. We memorized the three branches of government but couldn't name the three people on our county council. We studied the Constitution but had no idea how to contact our state delegate.
So we decided to build the tool we wish existed.
Not another voter registration site. Not another boring government website. Not another “explainer” that assumes you already understand how things work.
A platform that meets young people where we are.
01
On our phones, because who uses a desktop anymore?
02
Speaking our language — no jargon, no lectures.
03
Starting with what matters most: local officials, not just federal.
04
Connecting learning to action, because knowledge without power is just trivia.
The three tools we built
We knew we needed three things.
Civix
Because we had questions (“What even IS a county executive?”) and Google gave us 500-word Wikipedia articles when we needed 50-word answers.
Who is My Rep
Because every article about “getting involved” tells you to contact your representatives, but nobody tells you who they are — especially at the local level.
MatchUp
Because we wanted to vote based on issues, not yard signs. We wanted to know where candidates actually stood, not just what party they belonged to.
Three tools. One platform. Built by students who were frustrated that democracy felt so distant and complicated.
Who we are
We're high school and college students from California to Maryland. Some of us code. Some of us write. Some of us organize. Some of us just got really passionate about making government less confusing.
We come from different backgrounds, different schools, different political beliefs. But we all agree on one thing: young people deserve better tools to participate in democracy.
We have mentors who guide us — entrepreneurs, developers, teachers, policy experts who believe in what we're building. But the vision is ours. The design is ours. The voice is ours. Because the best people to build tools for young people are young people.
Our mission
We believe democracy works better when everyone participates. But participation requires three things:
Understanding
how government works
Knowing
who represents you
Information
to make informed choices
Right now, young people don't have easy access to any of these — especially at the local level, where government most directly affects our lives. That's the gap we're filling. Not by lecturing. Not by overwhelming. But by meeting young people where we are and giving us the tools to engage on our terms.
Why this matters
The statistics are stark:
- Only 23% of 8th graders are proficient in civics.
- Youth voter turnout lags 15–20 points behind older Americans.
- Less than 15% of young people can name their state legislators.
- Virtually no one can name their school board members.
It's not apathy. It's access.
We've met thousands of young people who care deeply about climate change, gun violence, social justice, mental health, and education. They organize walkouts. They lead protests. They flood social media with political content. They want to engage. They just don't know how.
They don't know which officials control the issues they care about. They don't know how to find candidate information. They don't know when local elections happen, or what those officials even do.
That's not a youth problem. That's a systems problem.