2025-2026 RRVA Student Advocacy Fellows begin their work

The Student Advocacy Fellowship is in full swing, with students from campuses across the Commonwealth already deep in their learning and advocacy work. The initiatives look different depending on each campus’s culture and the long-term goals of every pair of student fellows, but they always center young people stepping into their power with clarity, confidence, and a whole lot of heart.

So far this semester, student advocates have organized on their campuses, built powerful relationships with partner organizations, educated fellow students and community members, and even canvassed for reproductive freedom candidates.

Here’s a snapshot of what they’ve been up to:

• Tabling to recruit volunteers, Get Out the Vote (GOTV), and distribute emergency contraception at the Sexual Health Carnival at the University of Virginia
• Partnering on election-related events with campus organizations like Democrats at Mason and Generation Action at the University of Richmond
• Hosting a Storytelling Training & Writing Night at Old Dominion University
• Celebrating major wins on Election Night with watch parties and results recaps at Hampton University, the University of Richmond, and the University of Virginia
• Taking over the Rise Up for REPRO Instagram account to share GOTV information with college-aged voters
• Traveling to Blacksburg to canvass for Lily Franklin — with even more fellows volunteering locally in their home districts

But movement building isn’t all work and no play; fellows at Hampton University have been hosting game nights, ODU fellows organized two meet-and-greets to welcome students, and cohort-wide, students have leaned into teaching one another how to care for themselves while caring for their communities. Building community is essential to recruiting and sustaining supporters in this work.

As students begin planning their spring capstone projects, they’re gaining the skills and momentum they need to become advocates, organizers, and leaders in the reproductive freedom space. We’re so proud of the work they’re doing already, and can’t wait to see what’s next!