Meet the Founder & Lead Organizer
As Founder & Organizer of Get Up and Vote, I develop the overall strategy and set the goals for the initiative, ensuring that every action we take moves us toward increasing voter turnout. I coordinate volunteers, plan events, and manage outreach activities to engage the community directly. Every decision I make and every event we run is designed to motivate people to show up at the polls and take an active role in shaping their city and beyond.
My Story
Hi my name is Braylon Little, I’m 15 years old, a high school student from Cleveland, and I grew up in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Living here has made me aware on of how deeply local decisions affect everyday life from the quality of schools and neighborhood safety to housing and public services. Even though I’m young, I’ve always paid attention to what’s happening around me and how government choices shape communities like mine. I’ve seen how often people feel disconnected from politics or believe their voices don’t matter, especially in neighborhoods that are overlooked or underrepresented.
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That disconnect became impossible to ignore when I started looking at voter turnout data. In the 2024 election, only 77,000 out of 250,000 registered voters in Cleveland showed up to vote only 30.8%. The numbers were even more alarming in the 2025 city council and mayoral primaries, where turnout dropped to only 7.1%. Seeing how few people were participating made it clear that important decisions were being made by a very small portion of the population. Instead of accepting that as normal or waiting until I was older to care, I felt a responsibility to do something about it.
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That’s why I started Get Up and Vote. This initiative was created to make voting feel accessible, understandable, and worth showing up for. My goal is to encourage people to take part in elections at every level local, state, and national starting with my own community in Slavic Village. Get Up and Vote is about building a culture of participation, where people understand the power of their voice and feel motivated to use it. Even small increases in turnout can lead to real change when communities decide to show up together.