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Chris Evansis heading to Washington, D.C., to engage first-time voters ahead of the2024 election.
On Tuesday morning, Evans and actor Mark Kassen — who co-founded the bipartisan civic engagement websiteA Starting Pointin 2020 — are bringing dozens of high school seniors to the White House for a conversation on youth engagement in U.S. politics, focusing specifically on the primary issues affecting young people today, like economic opportunity, job creation and climate action.
A number of senior White House officials will also be on-hand to answer questions, including press secretaryKarine Jean-Pierre, Secretary of EnergyJennifer Granholm, Deputy Treasury SecretaryWally Adeyemo, and former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who heads the White House Office of Public Engagement.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing with reporters.Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Evans, PEOPLE’s2022 Sexiest Man Alive, is no stranger to discussing politics. When he was looking for a new initiative to launch ahead of the last presidential election, he wanted something that could have a real impact.
“We live in a country of 300 million-plus people, I think roughly only 60 percent of the people voted [in the last election],” he told PEOPLE in 2020. “In my opinion, you’re going to have a hard time creating a government that accurately reflects who we are as a nation with those types of numbers.”
Coming from a political family and feeling determined to help others find their voice, Evans had the idea to tackle voter engagement. So he — along with hisBefore We Goco-star Kassen and tech entrepreneur Joe Kiani — started a website that could expose Americans to a variety of political viewpoints and get them excited to cast an informed vote at the ballot box.
“There’s a lot of things you can do as an actor with your name,” theAvengersstar said. “I could be making booze — I don’t discourage anyone from doing that, I love booze — but there’s no denying that I played a certain character [as Captain America], and it just so happens to align with part of my nature in terms of being someone who is politically involved and who cares about the wellbeing of people in this country.”
Last year,the cast ofTed Lassojoined a White House press briefing to speak on the importance of addressing mental health; after theRobb Elementary School shootingin 2022, Uvalde nativeMatthew McConaugheydelivered an impassioned speech calling for across-the-aisle solutions to gun violence; and after the COVID-19 vaccine was released, Gen Z sensationOlivia RodrigoandLevel UpsingerCiaraeach had their moment to encourage young people to get vaccinated.
source: people.com
