3 Founders Revolutionizing Civic Engagement & Policy Access

When Arabia Simeon turned 18, she eagerly anticipated casting her first vote, but?discovered that only a handful of her peers were also eligible. Many had been caught in the “school-to-prison pipeline” as early as elementary school.

“That was a harsh reality that hit me out of nowhere,” she said.

When Simeon went to fill out the ballot, her disappointment grew: “I found myself not recognizing a single name on the ballot that wasn’t a presidential candidate.”

These experiences formed what Simeon explains as her “love-hate relationship” with politics — a central dynamic to her founder story. Simeon felt that the status quo wasn’t working for her generation, and she decided to intervene.

Enter Politics on the Go : “a one-stop shop for civic engagement that extends beyond the elections and builds a civic practice for young people in ways they understand.”

Simeon credits Halcyon for laying the foundation for where she wanted to take PoGo as a brand and as a collective. She believes the network and connections she built during her time with Halcyon’s 2023 Future Builders Fellowship have helped power PoGo to this day.

The venture recently launched their main product, which leverages Simeon’s design and tech background with elements catered towards Gen-Z engagement such as gamification and instant gratification, resulting in an app that Simeon describes as a mix between Tinder and Duolingo.

Users are incentivized to educate themselves on politics—on candidates and the officials already in office—as well as broader civic involvement. For example, they can view nonprofits near their location doing work in specific issue areas they care about such as climate advocacy.

A justice tech perspective remains central to PoGo’s mission, ensuring a positive user experience for all users regardless of their voter registration status.

“For people who can’t vote, this is an opportunity for them to participate in other aspects of civic engagement, because we want to build a well-rounded citizen,” Simeon said. “That includes the immigrant population in America, that includes justice-impacted or formerly incarcerated people.”

Outside of their flagship app, PoGo launches events, governmental partnerships, and other activations, amplifying their mission of capturing the youth voting bloc and supporting overall behavioral change.

For instance, during the current 2024 election cycle, the PoGo team is working on a short film documentary, Voices Unheard, which tells the stories of first-time voters in New York, Baltimore, and Detroit and discusses the youth political landscape for multicultural, diverse, and disenfranchised young voters.

As she looks past 2024, Simeon considers justice and civic tech ventures the future—not just in terms of political impact, but in closing key equity disparities.

"Civic tech has the opportunity to bridge the gap in terms of education, in terms of access to information,” Simeon said. “The way we’re doing it is engaging the community, not just trying to build a product that’s going to sway people to vote for one person or not.”

“It’s everyday people building tools for everyday people,” Simeon added. “We can actually go into our communities and really hear what people are saying and build solutions that meet them where they are.”

Wen-kuni Ceant 's venture formed after a startling moment during the 2016 presidential election.

“After a conversation with my co-founder, we realized a lot of our friends and family knew little to nothing about how presidents were actually elected,” she said.

Specifically, Céant cited widespread confusion over the distinction between the popular vote and the Electoral College, as candidate Hillary Clinton captured the popular vote but ultimately lost the election.

“I just realized a lot of people just did not have a fundamental understanding in that political literacy—particularly in communities of young people [and] communities of Black and Brown people—was not where it needed to be,” Céant said.

“So, we really decided that we wanted to be the change we wanted to see in those communities.”

From there, Politicking was born. This nonpartisan platform is designed to bridge the gap between electoral information, elected officials, and their constituents, and it functions through multiple arms, including a mobile app, social media, and in-person events.

Deep engagement in the DC ecosystem is a major part of the Politicking story. Céant and her co-founder, Jordan Wilson, were part of Halcyon’s 2021 Opportunity Intensive, bringing together founders based in or serving under-resourced communities in the DMV region. Céant said that the Halcyon fellowship was critical for their venture in terms of exposure, training, network building, and leadership development.

Céant believes Politicking now stands out among civic tech ventures, especially through its bottom-of-the-ballot focus. Beginning with her time at Halcyon, Céant typically asks the audience during her Politicking pitch, “How many of you know the name of your mayor?” Usually, only half the room raises their hand.

“That is a very scary thought because you have to be able to start at the core,” Céant said. “You can’t hold anyone accountable if you don’t know their name.”

“We are still going to make sure that we have information about the presidential race—but it’s important to know who’s serving as city council member, superintendent, mayor, senator, and governor as well.”

This local focus directly translates to the Politicking app. Users can input their location data and see who currently represents them, who’s running for office, where their nearest polling precinct is, how to order a mail-in ballot, and more.??

The Politicking team is also working to combat voter disenfranchisement and disinformation using geolocation and other tech-driven features. They’re currently developing an estimated wait time tool for polls, allowing users to view lines ahead of time and enact strategies to combat systemic practices enacted to deter people from voting, Céant said.

Céant’s other priority during the current election cycle has been curating dynamic events across the political spectrum.

“Black and Brown people and young people are not a monolith, particularly when it comes to voting,” she said. “I think that is really important and making sure that we create safe spaces in the community where people can have those discussions.”

For instance, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, the Politicking team will be holding a watch party at a Washington, DC venue featuring live coverage of the election night results.

Céant hopes to continue this engagement in the area, including with Halcyon.

“I’m just really humbled to be a Halcyon alum and still consider myself very much part of the Halcyon family,” she said. “I’m excited to continue to stay involved and looped in with Halcyon’s growing community.”

Naeim Khanjani was a fellow member of Céant’s 2021 Opportunity Intensive cohort, at the time representing Electo Analytics.

Khanjani comes from a finance background, but always knew he was interested in how policies were being written.

“I realized there was not much innovation within policy [tech],” he said. “For instance, in FinTech, in consumer tech, we saw so many startups, but in this particular space, at the time, we didn’t have too many players.”

Incorporating a blend of civic tech, GovTech, and legal tech into his policy tech venture, Khanjani launched a public affairs software after identifying the biggest pain points from users: time-consuming and difficult-to-use tools.

“Our platform was not industry focused, so we were able to work with everyone working within the U.S. policy space,” he said.

He found Halcyon to be another space where the network was especially powerful. Khanjani said he felt there was a huge advantage to accessing Halcyon’s diverse ecosystem, where each member was united by their interest in creating impact.

“Halcyon has been a great community builder in DC,” he said. “It takes a village, and I have seen that over the past few years, DC has become more active, and Halcyon is one of the good players in this space for sure.”

Khanjani recalled that he knew about the tangible resources he would be receiving during his Halcyon fellowship—such as legal advice and technical support—but just as important were the unexpected intangibles, like the connections, lessons, and thought leaders he was able to connect with.

Following the success of Electo Analytics, the company was acquired in December 2023 by Punchbowl News . Khanjani now serves as their Vice President of Strategic Initiatives.