Country of Residence
United States
Age
17
Project title
PlainPolicy
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
PlainPolicy is an AI-powered civic education platform that transforms complex legislation and ballot measures into clear, neutral, accessible explanations so everyone can better understand the policies shaping their lives. With multilingual support, accessibility features, and a voter simulator, PlainPolicy empowers people to make informed decisions and participate more confidently in democracy.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.plainpolicy.org/. https://plainpolicy.app/ https://www.instagram.com/plain.policy/
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
Living in San Francisco in 2026, I have never had to fight for my right to vote or wonder whether my voice would be heard. But during the Sojourn Trip Project, where students from across the country traveled through the American South to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, I began to understand the sacrifices behind that privilege. Standing outside Medgar Evers’ home in Jackson, Mississippi, I saw the bloodstain on the pavement where he was murdered in 1963 for fighting for voting rights. Nearby, a single rose bloomed in the yard—a small sign of hope amid a painful history. After returning home, I received a letter I had written to myself during the trip. Reading my reflections, I realized that Evers’ legacy was already shaping my work. His fight for voting rights inspired me to ask not only who gets to vote, but who can understand the policies they vote on. That realization led me to create PlainPolicy.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Democracy depends on informed participation, yet the policies that shape people's lives are often written in dense legal language that is difficult for ordinary citizens to understand. Ballot propositions and legislation can be lengthy, technical, and confusing, leaving people without the time, knowledge, or resources to confidently evaluate the choices before them. This creates an unequal playing field. People with legal expertise, greater educational resources, or more time can more easily understand public policy, while young and first-time voters, English language learners, immigrant communities, people with disabilities, and working families may face additional barriers. When information is inaccessible, people risk being excluded from meaningful participation in decisions that affect their communities. This problem matters to me because the right to vote should come with the ability to understand what is on the ballot. Civic participation should not depend on someone's reading level, language, disability, or access to specialized knowledge. PlainPolicy addresses this gap by making legislation easier to understand without influencing people's political views. Our goal is not to tell people what to think, but to give them the accessible information they need to form their own opinions.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
PlainPolicy is an AI-powered civic technology platform that makes complex legislation and ballot measures easier to understand while reducing the risk of media bias. Unlike general-purpose AI tools that can draw information from across the internet, PlainPolicy’s AI is designed to read information exclusively from official government websites and sources. It does not rely on news articles, opinion pieces, or other media coverage to explain legislation. This distinction is central to our mission. Media coverage can frame policies through particular perspectives, while legal documents often use technical language that is difficult for the public to interpret. PlainPolicy bridges that gap by helping people understand government policy directly from official sources, without requiring them to navigate dense legislative language or depend on media interpretations. Users can search for or upload legislation, including federal bills and state ballot measures. PlainPolicy turns complex legal text into concise, 150–300-word summaries written at approximately an eighth-grade reading level. Each summary explains a policy’s purpose, what it changes, who it affects, and its major tradeoffs. Our platform is purpose-built for neutral civic education. Its AI follows a structured approach to explaining policy rather than generating political opinions, persuasive arguments, or predictions about outcomes. The original legislative text remains available alongside the summary, allowing users to check the explanation against the source and reach their own conclusions. PlainPolicy also includes a voting simulator that helps users practice navigating realistic ballot scenarios before Election Day.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
PlainPolicy has reached 500+ users across the U.S., raised $7,000+ in funding, delivered 20+ demos, and presented to 1,000+ students about voter education. Our content was approved by the San Francisco Department of Elections, and our co-founders received the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award and SF Women’s History Month Youth Awards. Our partnerships are turning this work into real-world impact. The League of Women Voters uses PlainPolicy as a research tool to create its own voter guides. Schools and iCivics use PlainPolicy as an educational resource to teach students about voting rights and current public policy. Prisoner Legal Services of San Francisco has used the platform to help incarcerated voters understand ballot measures and make informed voting decisions. PlainPolicy is also part of the California Secretary of State’s Promote the Vote California Initiative. Our Ambassador Community spans CA, MI, and OH. Ambassadors work with local communities to create state-specific civic education content and voter guides tailored to local elections. Co-founder Emily is the youngest member of the CA Secretary of State’s Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee. Our team has also engaged elected officials, including San Francisco and California leaders and the UN Secretary-General, and testified in support of SB 745, establishing a CA civics civics curriculum.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
lainPolicy is different because its AI is designed to use only official government websites and sources, rather than information from across the internet. Unlike general-purpose AI tools and media coverage that may frame policies through particular perspectives, PlainPolicy helps people understand legislation directly from official sources, reducing reliance on outside interpretations. Our platform transforms complex bills and ballot measures into concise, plain-language summaries explaining a policy’s purpose, what it changes, who it affects, and its major tradeoffs. We aim to preserve the meaning of the original legislation while making it accessible to people without legal expertise. Users can compare summaries with original government documents and form their own opinions. PlainPolicy also combines policy explanations with an interactive voting simulator, helping users practice navigating ballots before Election Day. Rather than simply providing information, we connect understanding with practical civic learning. Our Ambassador Community extends this innovation beyond technology. Ambassadors in California, Michigan, and Ohio engage their peers, build local partnerships, create voter guides for local elections, and develop civic education materials. By combining government-source-based AI, accessible explanations, interactive learning, and community-led outreach, PlainPolicy tackles both the complexity of legislation and the barriers that prevent people from understanding it. Our goal is not to tell people what to think, but to help them understand what their government is doing so they can participate in democracy with greater confidence.
How many people are on your team?
11
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our co-founding team, including Leah and Emily, leads PlainPolicy’s technology development, civic education, partnerships, and outreach. We work with ambassadors and coders to create state-specific content and voter guides tailored to local elections and ballot measures. Together, we improve the platform, engage communities, and make policy information more accessible. We share leadership, incorporate feedback, and collaborate to expand our impact.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, we plan to expand PlainPolicy’s accessibility, reach, and usability while growing our Ambassador Community and civic education partnerships. A key priority is expanding accessibility by adding translations into more languages, American Sign Language (ASL) translation, and text-to-speech functionality so blind and low-vision users can listen to simplified ballot summaries. These features will help more communities access and understand public policy. We also plan to customize PlainPolicy’s visual experience for different age groups, making the platform more engaging and useful for students, young voters, and adults. Another major goal is developing a mobile app. PlainPolicy is currently web-based, and an app would make it easier for people to access understandable policy information wherever they are, including while preparing to vote. As our user base grows, we will strengthen our storage and technical infrastructure to support more users and a larger library of summarized legislation. We also aim to expand our Ambassador Community beyond California, Michigan, and Ohio, enabling more students and community members to create state-specific educational content and voter guides.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We engage people through social media, school presentations, community outreach, and partnerships with voter education organizations and elected officials. So far, we have reached 500+ users, delivered 20+ demonstrations, and presented to over 1,000 students about voter education and civic participation. We also grow our PlainPolicy Ambassador Community, currently active in California, Michigan, and Ohio. Ambassadors work with peers and coders to create state-specific civic education content and voter guides tailored to local elections and ballot measures. We reach out to organizations such as the League of Women Voters, schools, iCivics, and Prisoner Legal Services to support voter education and help communities understand public policy. We also engage election officials and policymakers to advocate for accessible civic information. Through social media, demonstrations, partnerships, and peer-to-peer outreach, we encourage people to explore official government sources, understand the policies affecting them, and share PlainPolicy with their communities. Our goal is to make civic education more accessible and help more people participate confidently in democracy.
