Rida Kadri joins the Rutgers Democracy Lab at the Eagleton Institute of Politics as the program coordinator for the RU Voting and RU Ready initiatives.
Weeks after graduating from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Rida Kadri returned to campus in a full-circle role, helping lead the same civic engagement programs that shaped her as a student.
In July, Kadri joined the Rutgers Democracy Lab, part of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, as a program coordinator overseeing two initiatives designed to encourage political participation among young people: RU Voting, a nonpartisan effort to register, mobilize and engage Rutgers students to participate in politics and vote in local, state and national elections, and RU Ready, a civic education program that trains undergraduate students to mentor middle and high school students in New Jersey to address public problems in their communities…
Coordinating the same programs she once participated in, Kadri said she collaborates with “a lot of people,” including Nicholas Longo, director of the Rutgers Democracy Lab, and Elizabeth Matto, director of Eagleton and a research professor.
“I am so excited to see Rida continue to create spaces for young people to be change agents in this new role,” said Longo, noting how Kadri’s role as a civic educator builds on her studies and engagement as a student at Rutgers.
“She is going to be successful because she embodies what it means to be a responsible democratic citizen,” he said. “She brings positive energy, idealism, and a deep commitment to reciprocal community building.”
Noting that Kadri served as an undergraduate associate at Eagleton, Matto said her excellence as a candidate “is an extension of her excellence as a student leader here at Rutgers.”
“She comes to this position with deep experience and a demonstrated commitment to equipping and engaging young adults in civic and political life,” Matto added.
Some of Kadri’s work takes place out of public view, preparing for outreach efforts in the fall ahead of the midterm elections as well as through the rest of the school year.
“There’s so much that happens behind the scenes that I didn’t realize when I was a student,” she said. “It’s all the little things like hiring interns and hiring volunteers.”