Inspiring Voter Turnout From the Barber’s Chair

Black men seeking a shave and a haircut in Philadelphia may soon get more than they bargained for from their local barbershop. A new project called Sharp Insight, started by the Youth Outreach Adolescent Community Awareness Program (YOACAP), will recruit 50 local barbers and train them to share nonpartisan information with customers about how and where to vote. The goal is to increase voter turnout among the city’s black men by sparking an easy conversation between barbers and their patrons.

“Barbershops are trusted places in the African American community where black males talk about everything from sports, entertainment, relationships, and even politics,” Duerward Beale, the executive director of YOACAP. Sharp Insight will work with barbers “to cut through misinformation on elections, to educate black men, and to increase their civic engagement.”

The program will start with a survey of black men in the city’s barbershops to help the organizers better understand why they often don’t turn up at the polls or take a proactive role in local government. From there, barbers will participate in a paid training program before they start chatting up their clients about voting. The shop that distributes the most voting information to its clientele will be rewarded with a special radio promotion.

In Philadelphia, voter turnout among black male residents has been on the decline since 2008, according to Beale. “[They] just have a mistrust of the system, of elected officials, because they feel like elected officials have an agenda,” Beale said.

While the legal battles against voting restrictions work their way through the courts, creative programs such as Sharp Insight may be one way to fill in the gaps. The program aims to reach more than 6,000 men through 25 affiliated barbershops, and organizers say those men may then disseminate voting information to more than 15,000 more people in their households and social groups.

CLICK HERE for more information about Sharp Insight.











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