Kids Voting of Mesa County Scholarship

The Scholarship, was created to help students from Mesa County who show potential to be good citizens of their community. The donor, Kids Voting of Mesa County has the mission to encourage young people to become knowledgeable and engaged citizens. Their vision is to build build a strong community of engaged, responsible citizenry through early civic education, involvement, and voting .The Kids Voting program was launched in Mesa County in 1996 during the presidential election by a group of Mesa County community members. These local leaders had heard of a national group, Kids Voting USA, which was formed in 1988 by three businessmen on vacation to Costa Rica. While there, these businessmen learned that Costa Rica’s voter turnout was typically around 90%. This high turnout was attributed to a tradition of children accompanying their parents to the polls. The men were intrigued by the idea and launched a school-based pilot project in a Phoenix suburb that has since grown into the national Kids Voting USA organization. In 2016 the organization dissolved and the remaining proceeds are the source of funding for this scholarship.