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Today:
- Sweetgreen COO Chris Carr Joins Hilton's Board of Directors
- Snap's New Apps Aim to Get Young Voters Registered and Informed
Snap's New Apps Aim to Get Young Voters Registered and Informed
Santa Monica-based Snap announced new features and partnerships Thursday meant to help young people vote. The announcement coincides with the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
Two new features are Minis, simplified third-party apps that live within Snapchat, which Snap debuted at its annual Partner Summit earlier this year.
The Voter Registration Mini will enable Snap users to register to vote without having to leave the app. It was developed in partnership with TurboVote, part of New York-based nonprofit Democracy Works.
In 2018, Snap helped to register over 450,000 users to vote, 57% of whom turned out, a company spokesperson said.
The Before You Vote Mini, developed in partnership with Chicago-based nonprofit BallotReady, is meant to help Snapchat users understand their options for voting early and by mail. Users will be able to fill out sample ballots with their friends, and look up polling locations, the spokesperson said.
Snap is also adding searchable resources for users who look up keywords like "voter registration", "vote by mail" and "voter suppression". Information will come from organizations including the NAACP and the ACLU.
Every Snap user will also have a "voter checklist" feature incorporated into their profile, which will remind them to register to vote, consider their ballot before Election Day and make a voting plan.
The new features will debut in September.
Snap's announcement highlighted several obstacles that young people face in the voting process. New research out of Tufts University shows that many young people rely on college campuses to learn about civic engagement.
"63% of 18-21 year olds who have at least some experience with college said they learned about voter registration at their schools, and 66% said their college professors had encouraged them to vote," the spokesperson said, adding that COVID-19 will disrupt this process.
The Tufts data also show that only 24% of 18-29 year olds report having voted by mail before. And over a quarter of 18-21 year olds say they don't know where to find information about mail-in-voting.
"For a generation who grew up on smartphones, and are used to being able to do everything from their fingertips – to date technologies haven't done much to make it easier for them to vote," the spokesperson said.
Sweetgreen COO Chris Carr Joins Hilton's Board of Directors
LA Tech Updates: Snap Releases Voting Apps; Hilton Taps Sweetgreen COO
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. announced Wednesday that Chris Carr, who recently joined Sweetgreen as Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed to the hotel chain's board of directors.
Carr started at Sweetgreen in May after 13 years at Starbucks, where he most recently served as chief procurement officer. There, he was responsible for global strategic sourcing and supplier relationships. Prior to Starbucks, Carr spent 18 years with ExxonMobil in retail operations.
"We are delighted to welcome Chris to Hilton," said Jon Gray, chairman of Hilton's board of directors in a written statement. "When we began our board search process last year, we were looking to add world class executive leadership in global and consumer-facing organizations. Chris brings these highly relevant skills, as well as unmatched focus on customer experience and procurement. We look forward to his insights as we navigate Hilton's continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic."
Carr joins the Hilton board at what is probably the most challenging time in its storied 101 year history. The company lost $432 million in the second quarter while revenue plummeted 77.3% year-over-year as people stayed at home because of the coronavirus.
Carr also serves as a director at REI, a trustee of Howard University and a trustee of the University of San Diego.
- Snap Releases Voting Apps - dot.LA ›
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Visitors to L.A. – or locals looking for a fun reason to leave their apartments – can scroll the interactive map on a browser or download the app.
Image courtesy of the L.A. Tourism Dept.
The “Discover Los Angeles” map can be broken down by neighborhood or by a series of “guides,” which all feature as part of the larger promotional campaign roll-out known as the Explorer’s Guide to L.A
Atlas Obscura and the Tourism Department also published a hardcover edition of the Explorer’s Guide, along with several other speciality breakout guides, including the Meeting Planners Guide, artistic Visitor’s Map and, for those with more expensive tastes, the L.A. Luxury Guide to the city’s pricier pursuits. The paper versions of the guides have QR codes for travelers to scan and take information with them on the go.
This year’s collaboration with Atlas Obscura gives the Tourism Department’s previous guide a much-needed update – it was previously a whopping 136-page PDF document created in 2020.
The Explorer’s Guide includes a mix of places you’d expect to see on the map, like Griffith Park and the museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. It also has some unlikely spots sourced from Atlas Obscura’s network of local explorers who recommended their favorite places to visit: the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Venice Canals or the Watts Towers, a stunning, monumental public art exhibit of mosaic steel towers that was built by one Italian immigrant over a 34-year period.
30 neighborhoods are discussed in the guide, from classic tourist destinations like Hollywood and beach cities like Santa Monica and Venice to lesser-known but still exciting enclaves like Leimert Park, Frogtown and Little Ethiopia. There’s also several maps for specific interests – taqueria lovers will find new spots to nosh with the taco map, and there’s also a map of the Downtown Arts District, spots to stargaze and sports venues.
“For myself and the writers and editors on this project, many of them L.A. natives, getting to write and curate the official visitors guide to the city of L.A. was an absolute dream,” Atlas Obscura co-founder Dylan Thuras said in a statement. “We hope that these guides will inspire all the curious travelers arriving in L.A., to try new things, as well as providing new adventures for longtime L.A. residents. There is really no limit to what L.A. has to offer.”
