The South Central Democrat

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Welcome to The South Central Democrat newsletter, a source of up-to-date information about the counties and municipalities of South Central Pennsylvania. This newsletter is written, edited, and published by the members of the South Central Young Democrats, and while they are a branch of the Democratic Party, great care is taken to report the facts without bias. All author opinions are explicitly labeled under dedicated opinion headings, or with (Opinion) in the title.

Latest Article

Issue 2: April 24th, 2025

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South Central Newsletter

April Edition
Knowing is half the battle

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In the Past

West Shore School Board Pushes Anti-Trans Policy

As detailed in the report on the April West Shore School Board Meeting detailed, the board is considering a new policy that would effectively ban transgendered students from participating in sports. Author Andrew Bowman followed this article up with opinion piece, calling for LGBTQ allies to attend the next meeting on May 8th.

These policies have come to a vote a year after the school district consulted with Independence Law Center, who seem to be involved wherever book bans and bathroom policies are to be found here in South Central Pennsylvania.

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Coming Up

  • Thursday, May 1st: 50501 May Day Protest (in search of correspondent)
  • Thursday, May 1st: Silver Spring Township Planning Commission
  • Monday, May 5th: Cumberland Valley School District Board Meeting (in search of correspondent)
  • Tuesday, May 6th: Silver Spring Democrats Meeting
  • Thursday, May 8th: West Shore School District Board Meeting
  • Tuesday, May 13th: Silver Spring Township Recreation Advisory Council
  • Thursday, May 15th: South Central Young Democrats Meeting
  • Thursday, May 15th: West Shore School District Board Meeting
  • Monday, May 19th: Cumberland Valley School District Board Meeting (in search of correspondent)
  • **Tuesday, May 20th: Primary Elections - Go Vote!
  • Wednesday, May 28th: Silver Spring Township Board of Supervisors
  • Tuesday, May 27th: Silver Spring Township Recreation Advisory Council
  • Wednesday, May 28th: Cumberland County Democrats Celebrate the Slate

Want to contribute?

Do you attend school board, local government, or volunteer organization meetings? Are you capable of unbiased reporting? Can you read and write? Congratulations! You are qualified to write for The South Central Democrat. All you need to do is find the Newsletter chat in the SCYD Discord server and let us know. Even if you have no interest in taking notes during meetings, you can still help us populate our Wiki with information about organizations and people who are active in our area.

Letter From The Editor

It’s been a busy month, full of 50501 protests, local government meetings, and garden prep. More importantly for this newsletter, this will be our first publically published issue.

For something fun to attend, come to the Landisville Herb Festival On May 10th. Plant vendors, fruit growers, and seeds wil all be on display and for sale, as well as live music and food.

Warning

We are very new to this, so please be patient while we figure out how to run a periodical. We are in the process of sorting out our tech, developing a way to subscribe for updates, and are in search of more members to report on their local area.

We welcome constructive criticism in the SCYD Discord server.

TL;DR: Important

Opinion on West Shore School District Sex-Based Distinctions in Athletics Policy

In our first opinion article, Andrew Bowman breaks down the failings and impact of the latest policy to be proposed by the West Shore School Board. In the article, he goes over the details on why this policy is being implemented, where it comes from, and what the impact would be. The short version: sex at birth determines which team you can join, with very few exceptions.

From the article:

If you wish to take action to prevent the West Shore School District from passing this regressive policy, the best thing you can do is get as many LGBTQ+ supporters as you can to the May 8th meeting at 6:30 PM at 507 Fishing Creek Road. If you’re not a resident of the district, wearing Pride gear will communicate your stance on the issue. If you are a resident, you can comment in-person before the vote by grabbing a blue form from the back of the meeting room, filling it out (select business items), and submitting it on the table at the front of the room. You can also comment electronically by emailing BoardSecretary@wssd.k12.pa.us with your full name, address, and school if you are a student. All electronic comments submitted before noon on the day of the meeting will be shared with the board in their entirety prior to the meeting.

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Who, What, When, Where, Why Young Dems

Why should you join the Young Dems? The answer is simple: it’s the best way to connect with like-minded individuals in your area and make your voice heard within the Democratic Party. Most county and municipal parties are very willing to listen to your ideas, and most are thrilled to welcome young members. Not only do our political parties grow and change from the local level up, the local level is also where the most impact can be had. Even in ruby red areas of the state, local elections can be flipped with only a few volunteers and a hundred votes.

SCYD Endorses Candidates

With the primaries around the corner, members of the South Central Young Democrats voted to endorse candidates at their April monthly meeting. You may find the full endorsement list on our wiki.

Government

Cumberland County

Silver Spring Township

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2025-03-26 Silver Spring Township Board of Supervisors

Submitted by Adrian Garcia

The meeting began with a presentation from EMC Insurance, highlighting a dividend for the ninth consecutive year, amounting to nearly $1.3 million across the program, with $38,900 of premiums being refunded to the township in insurance premiums. Ray Palmer, township manager, provided a financial update, noting that the township is ahead on income due to early permits and real estate transfers. Other updates included the relocation of Gannet Flemmings to the Deloitte building off Route 114, the anticipated high traffic on Woods Drive with the opening of Costco in Fall 2025, and the success of the recently opened 7 Brew. Upcoming events include a shred-it event on May 5th and a Township Open House on May 7th. The township is also completing its cloud migration for the permitting system.

A resident, and frequent attendee, raised concerns about the transparency of government records and the handling of Right-to-Know (RTK) requests, advocating for more open access to information. He pointed out that the Township could actually save money on the processing of RTK requests by publishing all nonprivileged information directly to the website. Another resident questioned the accuracy and accessibility of the township’s online ordinances, suggesting improvements for better public understanding and access. The Township is currently in the process of correcting inconsistencies in its ordinances, and will likely refresh the online copy in the next few months.

The bulk of the meeting was taken up by a proposed towing resolution, which seeks to reduce costs for residents by establishing a system for calling towing companies to the scene of an accident. The resolution aims to create a fair rotation of towing companies, establish minimum qualifications, and ensure proper documentation and accountability. The key points of the resolution include: a rotation system, so that all businesses are equally chosen to respond; minimum qualification standards; businesses and storage facilities must be in the township; a requirement to carry insurance; a requirment to submit invoices to the township police department for oversight; and employee background checks.

The board discussed various aspects of the resolution, including the location of storage facilities, the possibility of setting a standard rate for towing, and the operational challenges of maintaining the rotation list. Input from local towing companies was also considered, with discussions on equipment requirements, subcontracting, and customer rights during towing operations. The resolution was tabled for further review and refinement, with the board seeking to balance the needs of the towing companies with the safety and fairness for residents.

The Kost Road drop lot plan discussed in previous Planning Comission Meeting, which includes 385 trailer storage spots and a 4,500 square foot office/maintenance building, also took up a significant portion of the meeting. At the request of the supervisors, additional screening and a privacy fenceweres added. Multiple residents spoke, opposing the plan, but as this is a by-right use the board could do little to halt progress.

For context

This plan was submitted the day before a new ordinance went into effect banning businesses like this from being built next to adjacent properties. It then spent the next two years being tabled and extended while plans were drawn. Normally, plans are all but complete when applications are submitted to the township

The board discussed the need for an easement to facilitate the construction of the Joe Ricci trail along Kwik Fill. This would involve both a construction easement and a permanent sidewalk easement. As Kwik Fill has not been amenable to any terms, the board is considering using eminent domain to secure the necessary easements. However, some board members expressed reluctance about using eminent domain, especially since Kwik Fill had previously given up land for a turning lane on Maple Drive. They prefer to negotiate an agreement without resorting to legal compulsion, though the solicitor stated that it appeared as if Kwik Fill had little interest in negotiating. The board approved the motion 3-2 to proceed with the easement process, with David Lenker and Harry Kotzmoyer objecting.

The township engineer provided an update on the Kost Road realignment and culvert projects, discussing the possibility of phasing the project over two years and the associated costs and timelines. The board also acknowledged a $200,000 grant from the county for the culvert work.

Staff and supervisors provided various updates, including the HSS pre-construction meeting for the Hempt Farm plot, a full-scale assailant drill hosted by Cumberland Valley School District at Mountain View Middle School, and the status of the township’s wood sale. The meeting concluded with a second discussion on the RTK requests and the importance of transparency in government records.

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Dauphin County

Board of Commissioners

2025-03-26 Dauphin County Board of Commissioners

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

On March 26th, 2025, the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners held their second legislative meeting of the month to discuss ongoing issues, the administrative functions of the county, and how best to take action to improve the quality of life in Dauphin County. The matters discussed were largely administrative in nature, however there was special care taken to provide meaningful information to the public in attendance.

The majority of the meeting was spent discussing the fight against the opioid crisis in Dauphin County. The discussion opened with some good news in that the Cycle 2 of the Opioid Remediation Grant that Dauphin County has received has been extended to the end of 2025. The extension became necessary as the County and the Pennsylvania Opioid Trust had been at odds over project selection recently and this induced delays in dispersal of money to programs such as one designed to help mothers and children affected by opioid abuse. Dauphin County is hardly alone in this issue, as several counties have had projects flagged by the Opioid Trust and have gone through the appeals process to plead their case. While not all counties were successful in this process, Dauphin County did win their appeals, necessitating this extension.

The topic of discussion then turned to the new appointments to the Opioid Remediation Advisory Board, which plays an important role in selecting programs to receive these grant funds. This changing of the guard at the young board drew the ire of Board Secretary George Hartwick, who was not pleased with Charles Mazzitti losing his position on the board. According to the other commissioners, the reason for this was that Mr. Mazzitti had reached his term limit, which the Commissioners had instituted so that more people have an opportunity to participate in local government. This matter, which had carried over from last week’s workshop meeting, continued to escalate, prompting a recess to discuss the matter. When the recess ended, an amendment to expand the Opioid Remediation Advisory Board, by two members was added as an agenda item for the next legislative meeting. It should be noted that Mazzitti and Sullivan Employment Assistance Program, a company founded by Mazzitti that he has since retied from, received money from the Opioid Remediation Grant in this meeting. Other notable recipients include the Pennsylvania State University, Dauphin County ASPIRE, and the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg.

To the end of public service, the meeting opened with a message from the Treasurer, who spoke about the Keystone Scholars Program, which provides investment seed money and post-secondary education and career saving plans for Pennsylvania families; and the Pennsylvania Able Savings Account program, which provides disabled Pennsylvanians a way to save money without affecting government benefits. The intersection of finance, education, and disability became very relevant during public comment later in the session, where a family used the opportunity to ask the commissioners for help in their application for a consolidate waiver for their son, who has a severe case of autism that requires more supervision and support than Central Dauphin East High School is able to allocate to the point of becoming a safety issue for the adolescent. The commissioners used this as an opportunity to highlight changes brought to the Consolidated Waiver program by Governor Shapiro, which allows recipients to be prioritized based on severity of needs rather than a simple “first in, first out” system that had thus been employed. The commissioners seemed rather concerned by this matter, and hopefully things are resolved for the family.

Finally, on a matter with more national implications, there are the ten Bhutanese Nepali refugees that were arrested by ICE earlier in March, one of whom lived in Dauphin County. At the meeting, Board Chairman Justin Douglas had words of praise for Warden Briggs of Dauphin County, who helped the families of these refugees arrange an out-of-hours visitation in Pike County after the families found that their relatives had been transported from a prison in Clearfield County. This is a developing story as it has now been reported that some of these refugees, who held green cards, have been deported. Per CBS 21:

Justin Douglas

This is simply persecution. And it doesn’t make us safer, it makes us smaller. We pride ourselves on being a nation of laws and rights, but if we turn our backs on refugees, who’ve done everything we asked, just because they’re different, what kind of America are we hoping to build? … My goal is to do everything in my power to keep our community safe, seek answers from those in leadership, and ensure that families are not left behind or forgotten.

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York County

York City Council

2025-03-26 York City Council Comittee Meeting

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

The York City Council held its monthly Committee Meeting, which provides an opportunity for the city’s various committees to raise matters to the council and petition for those itmes to be added to an upcoming city council meeting agenda. While no decision-making takes place during these meetings, they are still an important component of the city’s administration, as they provide additional platforms for citizen concerns and community needs to be brought to the attention of those with decision making power, as well as to discuss the finer details of how things are done.

The session was called to order at 6PM and began with a guest presentation from Brian Marchuck, CPA of Brown Plus Accounting, on their recently-completed audit of the city’s 2019 finances. The audit was to the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles by a team trained on government accounting and was presented in 4 parts. Of these four parts, the auditors issued a disclaimer of opinion for three of them, covering the bulk of the city’s finances and all the federal-related financial activity. A disclaimer of opinion means that there was insufficient evidence available from which to make conclusions. Mr. Marchuck elaborated on the reasons behind this whilst discussing the Report of Internal Controls over Financial Statements and Compliance. According to the auditors, key employee turnover, changes in software used by the city, technical issues with servers, etc. made it very difficult to find documentation and track down the people involved with specific transactions. The six-year gap does not help, but audits are very time-consuming processes, with Mr. Marchuck estimating that the audit of just the city’s finances required about 2000 man-hours. The report also noted late paperwork filing, a need to make sure that the city’s Finance Department prepare financial statements for monthly review, and multiple instances where incorrect information regarding federal grant money was found. As for the other part of the audit, which covered Component Units (Sewer Authority, General Parking Authority, and Redevelopment Authority), the auditors issued a qualified opinion, which is a passing grade outside the issues noted in the qualification. In this case, the qualification was that the Redevelopment Authority did not capitalize all of their purchases of all capital assets (property and equipment), which would have entailed counting certain expenses as assets, allowing the costs to be recognized over multiple time periods rather than all at once.

As if to keep with the theme, the Committee Reports following Mr. Marchuck’s presentation mainly concerned budgetary matters, starting with the Community Development Block Grant adjusting its projected budget rollover from 2024 to 2025 as well as shifting some grant money from Housing and Urban Development around to maximize the odds that the money is spent according to regulation before it is cut. Public Works then made the council aware that Good’s Disposal has made an offer to handle large item pickup that would halve the cost of the original plan to run the operation in-house, which would save the city $212,000. The Police Department then requested $32,000 for laptops to help youth in the Group Violence Initiative enter the workforce and find meaningful employment. The Treasury then capped off this financial talk by requesting funds to seek legal counsel outside the Solicitor to help understand city ordinances and explore options for balancing the budget. All of these matters were added to either the April 1st or 15th meeting agendas.

When it came to amendments, two were proposed. The first to Article 181 is aimed at formalizing the procedures concerning city boards by instating a formal application procedure, an attendance policy, and designating council liaisons for boards. These measures were selected to help make these boards more accessible to the general public and more effective at their mission. Other ideas were considered such as training requirements and term limits, but there was concern that doing so would hamper many of the boards; which are strongly held together by longtime members, who are volunteers like all board members. There was also a desire to create a mechanism for non-residents who are heavily involved in the community to join boards, but the council cited Pennsylvania State law as being against such a mechanism. In the process of writing this article, I was unable to determine the exact law being referenced, but I was able to find similar laws such as the Pennsylvania Municipal Authority Act with similar language.

The second amendment proposed was to Article 513, which concerns parking in certain neighborhoods during the time of events at the York Fairgrounds. As the Fairgrounds grows in scope, the Parking Authority would like to place parking restrictions outside just the time of the York Fair. This was met with hesitation, as residents of these neighborhoods are expected to get a one-time placard from either City Hall or the police station for each year’s York Fair in order to street park, which would become exponentially more irritating as events are added. The Parking Authority expressed a desire to look into longer-term placards to remedy this, and expanded on attempts to accommodate residents by delivering placards to those with mobility impairments and issuing placards on the spot to residents who forgot to get one.

With the conclusion of this meeting, the tone has been set for the next two weeks. These issues will be discussed at the York City Council Meetings on April 1st or 15th. Anyone who lives in the city who wishes to express their opinion on these matters is encouraged to attend.

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Schools

West Shore School District

2025-03-13 West Shore School District Board Meeting

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

The West Shore School Board met to discuss matters affecting the district as spring rolls in and thoughts of the next school year begin to become relevant. The meeting started with recognition of the district staff for excellence in their work. Most notable among them was Kelly Kauffman, a teacher at Fairview Intermediary School, who has been spearheading initiatives aimed at improving the school and helping students from less fortunate backgrounds. There was also high praise for the district’s wrestling teams, which have been doing incredibly well this year, as well as a student art exhibit in the conference room showing off student creativity from all grade levels.

On the subject of business items, the main topic at hand was the transportation contract selection. While the school district historically ran its own transportation, they partnered with First Student in 2013 to handle transporting children to and from school. Despite the twelve-year relationship, this year the district is poised to make the somewhat tough decision to switch to Rohrer Bus Services. According to the somewhat recently formed Transportation Committee, Rohrer was chosen out of the three applicants for the contract because they had the most detailed plan for the district, including for the transition from First Student, including provisions to offer current transportation staff jobs in the new system. There were some public concerns however about the cost, as Rohrer presented the most expensive option to the district by a margin of a million dollars. One driver also expressed concerns about pay cuts and possible demotions in the changeover, to which a member of the transportation committee spoke to her about after the meeting.

Beyond this, other business and informational items were largely benign. The board reported that they have reached a Memorandum of Understanding to receive assistance should they require help with refugee students and, keeping with the theme, the board announced that they were promoting “Inside Out and Back Again” by Thannha Lai, which recounts her experience as a child refugee of the Vietnam War who couldn’t speak English at first.

The refugee-related news wasn’t all great, however, as a member of the public reported that Church World Service, a group that assists refugees in the area, has had to furlough most of their staff due to recent spending freezes. This freeze leaves just 11 employees on the clock as the organization prepares to receive 50 Afghan families who assisted the US military, and are therefore no longer welcome in Afghanistan. Another member of the public, Terry Michels, delivered an impassioned speech regarding the recent Department of Education cuts, describing them as an abandonment of school districts and burdening taxpayers even further. I spoke with her afterward and she told me that she is planning to run for school board in region 2 (Lower Allen area) against conservative Board President Kelly Brent, who played a large role in the controversial solicitor firing last year.

As for the gender debate that dominated my report from two weeks ago, I’m glad to report that the two public comments made on the subject this meeting were in favor of transgender and nonbinary dignity.

Writer's Note

In my public comment, I raised the idea of renovating bathrooms to eliminate design flaws that cause safety issues, such as having gaps in the restroom stall walls and doors and locks that are prone to becoming misaligned. After the meeting, one board member said that they have been curious about this sort of solution and would like to implement it if the details can be worked out.

I would also like to shout out West Shore Unified for their continued work civically engaging in the school board process to protect the dignity of all students in the West Shore School District. To learn more, visit their website, where you can find information on how to participate and support their mission.

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2025-04-10 West Shore School District Board Meeting

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

On Thursday, April 10th, the West Shore School Board held the first of their two meetings for the month. Unlike most meetings, which are focused on business items that are acted on within the meeting and usually have immediate consequences, this meeting primarily concerned and concentrated on future actions in the form of two information items: The 2025-2026 School Board Budget Report, and Policy 123.2 “Sex-Based Distinctions in Athletics”.

The bulk of the meeting was devoted to the first topic. The discourse on the topic began with a presentation from Treasurer Stevie Jo Boone which laid out the current financial situation the district is in and what can be done about it. As Treasurer Boone explained, the district originally faced a $10 million budget deficit for the upcoming academic year, but through various budget optimizations, the gap has been shrunk to roughly $7 million. In order to make up this difference, the district has three options it can use in various amounts: raise taxes, cut expenses, or use money from the district’s reserves. To that end, three plans were presented, each one defined by the tax increase that residents of the district would face should the proposal be enacted. Plan 1 is the Zero Tax Increase scenario. According to Boone, this is a goal that the district can accomplish whilst still funding the programs required they are legally required to, but it would require serious cuts to a large variety of support staff such as security personnel, mental health support staff, and social workers, and programs such as TechEd, theater/drama, JROTC, and marching band. The full list can be seen below.

This revelation spurred a long discussion on the targets of any budget cuts should the school district need to undertake any. Board member Heidi Thomas pointed out that absent from the list are any administrative staff, which Superintendent Dr. Todd Stoltz and Assistant Superintendent Matthew Gay were questioned about by other board members. While Dr. Stoltz said that he had no good answer as to why such cuts were absent from the list, Mr. Gay indicated that administrative staff made unnecessary by the cuts would likely be axed, and both of them reaffirmed district staff that personnel cuts would only be made as a last resort should equipment and program cuts not close the deficit. This then led into discussion about the long-term effect that this scenario would have on the district’s financial health, as it would require the treasury to lean heavily on the district’s reserves for the 2025-2026 school year and result in compounding lost revenue totaling $45.1 million as the district can only raise taxes by 4.79% each year. If allowed to play out, this scenario could result in the district following in the footsteps of the Cumberland Valley School District, which did not raise taxes for the 2013-2014 school year and is now facing such a tough financial situation that their credit rating was downgraded this year. Due to these factors, Treasurer Boone recommended against this plan.

Plan 2 represents an opposite extreme: full tax increase and minimal district reserve usage. Unfortunately, even in this scenario, the district would still have to make cuts to the tune of $3.2 million, something that could be stalled with the use of the district’s reserves, but with the deficit projected only to grow, this would be unwise as a long-term strategy as it could quickly lead to the depletion of the district’s reserves. That is not to say that such funds couldn’t be used, and Plan 3 offers a mixed approach to pull all three levers in balance with a 3.2% tax increase, $1.4 million in cuts, and up to $3.1 million of reserve money to cover the rest of the deficit. After much discussion, the district members seemed to prefer these options, though they did acknowledge that none of the options were ideal for the residents of the district. This led to a discussion of cybercharter schools, whom use money that the district is required by state law to pay for each student enrolled in the cybercharter schools to fund incentives such as gas cards to get more parents to enroll their students in cybercharter programs, creating a feedback loop draining ever-increasing money from the district.

After this lengthy discussion, attention turned to Policy 123.2 “Sex-Based Distinctions in Athletics”, which can be viewed in its entirety in in this article’s supplement. The policy was written at the last committee meeting, and according to members of the public at the board meeting who gave comments, was rushed through the drafting process, with questions of board members being unanswered. The policy itself attempts to address the frequent right-wing talking point that the acceptance of non-cisgender identities is a clear and present danger to women’s sports, and to that end, creates a set of rules that would prevent a cisgender male who has hit puberty from playing on a team designated for women. There are some provisions for cisgender males, and by extension transgender females to play on teams designated for women, however they come with restrictions on competitiveness and only apply if there is no equivalent alternative for cisgender men. The board stated that this policy will be sent back to committee for a rewrite on April 17th, and noted that the policy will comply with recent executive orders. All public comments at the board meeting opposed the policy, though electronically-submitted comments were mixed.

Opinion

I highly recommend anyone in the district to attend the next board meeting and voice your opposition to the policy to ensure it does not get voted through.

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Organizations

East Penn Democrats

2025-03-26 East Pennsboro Democrats

Submitted by Katie Pritchett

The monthly meeting of the East Pennsboro Democrats was held on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 7PM. Several topics were discussed at the meeting, including the upcoming May primary election as well as reports from the School Board and Township Commissioners’ meeting. Sasha Sacavage, who is running for the Court of Common Pleas was present at the meeting and encouraged attendees to not only vote in the upcoming primary but educate friends and neighbors as some Republicans running for office have cross filed to appear on both the Republican and Democratic ballots.

Carol Steinour provided a report on the East Penn School Board and cited the importance of fulfilling the township’s responsibility to students and teachers. She shared that she did vote in favor of the 2.5% increase in school tax to ensure educational needs are met in the school district.

Discussion also took place regarding the need to ensure Democrats are appointed to municipal boards. In particular, the Zoning Board was brought up as an area where more Democrats are needed.

During the Commissioner report, the proposed installation of the large marquis sign was discussed. As the initially proposed location of the sign near Adams Ricci Park would require clear cutting of trees, alternates were provided at the Commissioner’s meeting to reduce the environmental impact of the sign installation.

Action steps were also discussed at the meeting for the May primary, including having slate cards with information on the candidates made and distributed, as well as sending out information regarding mail in voting.

At the end of the meeting, a motion was made to allow the club to spend up to $1,000 for election related expenses.

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South Central Young Democrats

2025-03-20 South Central Young Democrats Meeting

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

The South Central Young Democrats held their monthly meeting to discuss current happenings and the way forward for the party on the local level. The bulk of the meeting focused on handling the growth of the organization, which has gone from 7 members to 170 in just around a year’s time. To maintain a level of organization and order during this period of growth, a set of bylaws were passed. These bylaws solidify processes that up to this point that were more vague and loosely-defined, such as voting eligibility, endorsements, and the organizational structure. They can be found at this link.

The events committee is also taking form, with Antonio Megna announcing the first event of the year, which will be a virtual meeting on the identity and goals of Young Democrats on the evening of April 2nd, the sign-up for which can be found here. Additionally, interest is being gauged in a training session for the VAN voter database, the interest form for which can be found here. The time and place of this are unfortunately TBD as of the time of writing.

Another sign of growth is on the digital front, where we’re seeing new leadership take hold on social media, still in progress at the time of writing. When all is said and done, SCYD will have a presence on Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and BlueSky., and the launch of the new SCYD newsletter website, which will provide both the need-to-know information to young Democrats looking to make a difference as well as more granular information for members. We hope to see you here often and are accepting article contributions from anyone willing to help!

As time goes on and growth continues, it seems likely that more aspects of the organization will need to be formalized. Discussion is already happening to this end on the subject of finances, which have been somewhat structured procedurally by the bylaws, but still rely on some informal methods for storage and processing that not all members were completely comfortable with. At the end of the day though, not everything needs to be set in stone at one time, and as the organization grows and matures, progress is being made where it needs to be.

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2025-04-02 Who, What, When, Where, Why Young Dems

Submitted by Andrew Bowman

On the 2nd of April, the South Central Young Democrats held a virtual event entitled “Who, What, When, Where, and Why: Young Dems” as a way to orient interested members with the current political landscape in South Central Pennsylvania especially as it pertains to the upcoming elections. The event centered around a presentation given by members such as Evan Ashby, Antonio Megna, and Katie J, the contents of which form the basis of this article.

Despite Pennsylvania’s long reputation as a blue state and more recently a swing state, SC PA is a Republican-leaning area. Republicans outnumber Democrats in every county we cover except Dauphin by a factor of around 5:3. This advantage combined with significantly lower turnout rates among Democrats translates into many of the prominent seats held within the area being Republican-held, such as six of the seven State Senate seats in the region. Even among young people, Republicans still hold a small majority, which while not ideal for the Democratic Party, does indicate that the region is gradually shifting away from conservatism.

While these numbers may not inspire hope, they are somewhat misleading in the context of local elections. Turnouts for these elections are very low compared to federal elections, with the disparity only growing as the scope of the seat gets more local, making a disadvantage in overall numbers easier to overcome. This effect is further amplified if there are no state or federal seats on the ballot such as for the upcoming elections. Evan Ashby used his own experience running for school board to highlight this. According to Evan, his campaign for a school board seat as a Democrat was run on very limited resources, mostly constrained to Evan himself. Despite this, the election was close, leading Evan to wonder what the results would be if he had even one person outside himself knocking doors. He is likely not alone in this thinking, given the lower voter turnout in local elections, swings of tens of voters can have significant impact on the overall race. With over 335 candidates on the various ballots (though this number is somewhat inaccurate due to cross-filing) and only so many people willing to dedicate themselves to campaign work, help may be hard to come by for some candidates, and this is where we can make a difference. To see which candidates you can support, consult your county website’s section on their Bureau of Elections.

All of this leads to the question of how to realistically go about achieving this dream of flipping local seats. There were a few ideas brought to the table to address this question, however they all revolved around the thesis that the key to victory is to get Democratic voters more invested in the local fights that are far more in their control and can be used as a stepping stone to fighting greater battles. This is where door-knocking and event-attendance play crucial roles, as they allow getting our message out there, especially when paired with these local issues. The presenters really stressed how impactful event attendance can be, as South Central Young Democrats membership has spiked following our appearance in different locales. This suggests our messaging is strong, and that we can energize our fellow youth. Whether this plays out remains to be seen though, but it is very clear that we must help see it through.

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