Rebecca Larios and her team, Rise of the South Phoenix, spent a few hours on Tuesday night recruiting new neighborhood activists -- and several agreed to join the cause.
"It's time to rise," Larios told the crowd of several dozen people. "It's time to get up. We need you to help us."
She is one of many activists working Arizona, signing up new voters and dogging them to participate -- for the sake of the community.
She encouraged them to volunteer to knock on doors or work phone banks during the week. She cited "shameful" statistics about the community -- noting that 70 percent of the 7,463 registered voters, between 18 and 24 years old, didn't vote in the last election, and between January 9 and July 9, 2010, volunteers knocked on only 106 doors in south Phoenix.
"And we wonder why? Why don't we get anything?" she said. "If you want change, and you feel it in your heart -- want better healthcare, education, jobs -- let's get it. We need South Phoenix to really take a look at what it can do."
By comparison, since April 2012, she says that her team of organizers have already knocked on 8,936 doors, adding that "we are only 20."
