Next spring will see a change in leadership at MOVE Texas when its executive director, H. Drew Galloway, steps down after five years with the nonpartisan nonprofit grassroots organization.
Galloway said MOVE Texas student organizers and their volunteers have registered 120,000 new young voters during the time he’s been with the organization.
“While I’m sad to leave, I swell with pride thinking about what the impact this organization is going to be for decades and decades,” Galloway said.
“Now it’s my chance to empower one of them to take over this organization and lead their peers,” said Galloway, 38.
Galloway is only the second executive director to oversee what began in 2013 as a student-led group at the University of Texas at San Antonio and is now considered one of the nation’s leading youth civic engagement organizations.
He said MOVE Texas is now in nine cities, on more than 65 campuses, and it has 70 full- and part-time employees, with a budget of more than $4 million.
“This organization is building a pipeline and building power all across the state,” Galloway said.
He said MOVE Texas has trained hundreds of young leaders now working across the progressive political sector. The organization has helped expand voting rights, fought voter suppression legislation and sued to protect voting rights.
In addition, Galloway said one of MOVE Texas’ founders is at the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy and another who works for a civic organization in New York City.
Galloway said he’ll be staying on as executive director through the search and hiring process. However, he’s unsure what his “next adventure” will be, perhaps helping other organizations or organizers.
“I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Texas movement and for young people and for organizers all across the state,” he said.