YLNI The Vote
YLNI THE VOTE
YLNI is a non-partisan organization, invested in community and civic engagement. We create programming and opportunities that gets our demographic engaged and interested in local and regional politics. We encourage public service among our emerging leaders, educating our community on the issues and promoting an improvement in voter turnout for all elections.
As a part of YLNI the Vote, we have the following initiatives we offer:
- Local Candidate Debates & Town Hall Discussions
- Meet the Candidates Night
- Informative Candidate Brochures
- Candidate Boot Camp
- Rally the Vote events
- And more...
Local Candidate Debates
In March of 2019, YLNI hosted the local Republican Party Mayoral Candidate debate that was between candidates Tim Smith and John Crawford. The event itself allowed YLNI to ask questions that were specific to those that matter to our demographic. The event had a strong turnout of approximately 200 people and was covered by almost all of the major news outlets in our community.
In an attempt to help bring the content to our demographic who could not attend, YLNI partnered with Fort Wayne STV Channel to record and live stream the debate for viewers at home. Check out the debate video below:
Meet the Candidates Night
In October of 2018, YLNI the Vote co-hosted a Meet the Candidates Night with Greater Fort Wayne Inc., UPSTAR, and HBA. The event brought 13 candidates from Federal, State, and local elections to share their thoughts and meet over 70 members of the partnering organizations. The event was recorded and distributed within partnership with Access Fort Wayne.

Informative Candidate Brochure
YLNI the Vote produced a non-partisan election brochure that included candidate responses to survey questions. The brochure was distributed in hard copy by partners at local libraries, higher education institutions, and community organizations. An electronic version was available through the YLNI website.
Click here to view the 2018 Brochure

Candidate Boot Camp
YLNI Candidate Boot Camp is designed to encourage Northeast Indiana’s emerging leaders to think critically about public service. Whether you have an interest in simply volunteering your leadership skills as a civic duty, running a political campaign, or being a candidate for public office, the Candidate Boot Camp will afford you the valuable opportunity to connect with proven community leaders from the public arena to gather insights into what it takes to be successful as a public official.
The experience includes an intense topical session and will provide participants with a range of information starting with Government 101, to running a political campaign to media relations. There are discussions, exercises, and homework to give you a complete experience.
The YLNI Candidate Boot Camp is open to members and non-members from Northeast Indiana. If you have any questions, please contact us at vote@ylni.org.
Workshop Topics:
- Government 101
- What it is Like to be a Candidate and Elected Official
- Platform Development
- Campaign Plan Development
- Budgeting and Fundraising
- Media Relations
- Plus Much More…..