Rather than take the youth vote for granted, older adults must collaborate with and trust young people to make sure their priorities are addressed in policymaking.
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Ever since I could remember, the prevailing narrative about young people and elections has been that they don’t care and don’t vote. As a result, politicians have expressed no obligation to young people and their priorities.
Yet, in August, as I watched the Democratic National Convention, I saw something different. Broadcasters and commentators referred to “the youth vote” as a meaningful voting bloc. For the first time, our political discourse was acknowledging the critical role young people have played in the last several elections.
As attention shifts to the youth vote and its significance, we must consider how to build power with young people and achieve policy change. Young people will not stand to have their votes taken for granted and are looking for accountability from elected officials. Social justice nonprofits must prioritize authentic youth engagement within policymaking.
Turnout among young people in non-presidential election years has increased within the last decade. Nearly a quarter of young people voted in the 2022 midterm elections—nearly twice the 2013 youth turnout rate of 13 percent. Michigan has the highest youth turnout rate in the country at 37 percent, with Minnesota, Maine, Oregon and Colorado also above 30 percent. These turnout rates were a determinative factor in the 2022 midterm elections.
Young People and the 2024 Election
Recent voter registration data shows dramatic increases in young adult voter registration in July of 2024, compared to 2020. Registration among young voters (ages 18-29) is up 73.4 percent; this number climbs to 83.7 percent for young women.
Young women of color have shown the highest growth in voter registration, with young Latina voter registrations up nearly 150 percent compared to 2020 and young Black women voter registrations up 175.8 percent.
Newly registered voters are much more likely to vote in the upcoming election than people who have been registered for some time, suggesting that young people will be key to the outcome of the 2024 election.
Young people are also issue voters more so than other generations. They’re not voting for candidates and parties; they’re voting for policies. Issues like climate change, reproductive justice, student debt, education and gun violence are life-and-death issues, with clear implications for young people’s daily experiences.
When we develop our strategy centering on the experiences of young people, we get better outcomes for everyone.
In my household, I regularly engage my teenage children in discussions about how policy impacts their lives. Why, at age 15, do you make a subminimum wage in your summer job? Why do you have to take standardized testing at the end of the year? Why do you have to provide consent for me to view your medical records?
Policy is the answer to all of these questions. Such policies directly impact young people, and these impacts drive civic engagement.
Young people are also disproportionately impacted by policy violence, the systemic harms caused by our policy choices. For the last four years, my colleagues and I have analyzed large federal datasets to create a portrait of young people’s outcomes: From poverty rates to unemployment, mental health to community safety, they have not experienced “recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated long-standing inequalities. The pandemic relief programs that made a difference for so many people did not effectively reach young people.
These are choices: We took action through the expanded child tax credit to cut child poverty in half; we also saw child poverty return to previous levels when the program was sunsetted.
Despite young adult poverty rates that rival those of young children, our government has yet to make a large-scale policy commitment to economic justice for youth and young adults. Growing attention to youth mental health has brought about improvements for school-age young people. But young adults, especially young adults of color and LGBTQIA+ young people, continue to struggle.
We’re long overdue to meet young people’s civic engagement with the policy change that they deserve.
A phrase that has become popular amongst young leaders, especially those who advocate for foster care system reform and disability justice, is: “Nothing about us without us.” It’s a rallying cry recognizing that young people demand consultation on the systems and policies impacting their lives.
Offering opportunities for authentic youth engagement is essential to support adolescent development and the health of communities. Engaging young people in each stage of the policy change process aligns with developmental science and increases the likelihood of effective policymaking that meets their needs. It also minimizes unintended consequences often resulting from policies made only by people who do not experience the addressed issues and will not face the impact of the proposed change.
Issues like climate change, reproductive justice, student debt, education and gun violence are life-and-death issues, with clear implications for young people’s daily experiences.
How Can Social Justice Nonprofits Support Authentic Youth Engagement, Building Youth Power for Transformational Change Beyond Elections?
For the last four years, I have had the privilege of working with young people from around the country on an initiative called A New Deal for Youth (ND4Y). ND4Y is a youth-led, youth-centered effort advocating for the creation of new systems, policies, investments and structures that reimagine life for young people in America.
We spent the first year of the project collaborating with young people to define our policy agenda, and we have been working ever since to make the New Deal that young people are demanding a reality. Based on this experience and others, where the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy (TYP Collaborative) has engaged young people around federal, state and local policy, I’ve found that nonprofits play a vital role.
First, social justice nonprofits must trust young people’s leadership.
This trust can be a huge challenge for nonprofit staff because it means letting go of control over timelines, outcomes and deliverables. We need to be incredibly thoughtful about when to step up and when to step back and recognize that it’s okay (and maybe even beneficial) if young people don’t do something exactly the way that we would. Figuring out how to be supportive, what resources need to be shared, or how we can be most helpful is an art, but the first step is to be okay with not being in charge. TYP Collaborative demonstrates trust in young people’s leadership by instituting a majority youth board, with young people serving in 3 of 4 officer roles.
Second, social justice nonprofits must share information, power and decision making with young people.
One feature of adultism is an instinct to protect young people by holding back information from them rather than looking to them as creative partners in problem solving. Too often, we ask for young people’s opinions but do not act on the feedback provided.
This also contributes to situations where we engage young people in a visioning process but fail to engage them as strategic partners in implementation. I have seen nonprofits leverage young people’s enthusiasm and creativity to get in the door with policymakers, but then “take over” with a condescending “we’ve got it from here.” True shared power and decision-making require listening and acting upon the expertise that young people share with us. This includes engaging young people as thought partners at every stage of the policymaking process.
From poverty rates to unemployment, mental health to community safety, young people have not experienced ‘recovery’ from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Third, social justice nonprofits must work actively and intentionally to dismantle adultism.
There are several ways to do this, starting with regular organizational self-reflection and learning. The idea of positional power speaks to the fact that all of us are sometimes in a position of privilege despite the marginalized identities that we may also hold. So, even though I experience marginalization as a Black woman, I also hold privilege as an older person in certain rooms. I see it as my responsibility to use my positional power for good, to uplift young people’s perspectives in rooms where they aren’t and push for decision-makers to bring young people into those same rooms.
We must also push back on assumptions about what young people can and can not handle. We support young people in submitting public comments and reviewing and scoring bill text and ballot measures; our role is to provide the tools to make this work accessible to them, not to take it over or do it for them.
Finally, we must work differently if we’re going to decenter the needs of adults.
We hold evening meetings to accommodate young people’s work and school schedules. We keep meetings fun, using a range of online engagement tools and focus on community building. These steps to support young people also make a better experience for all people—reaffirming that when we develop our strategy centering on the experiences of young people, we get better outcomes for everyone.
Every major social change in this country has come from young people’s activism. Time after time, we have failed to convert young people’s actions in the streets and at the ballot box into collaboration on policy change in agencies and the legislature.
Can you imagine a world where we consistently collaborate with young people on our systems and policies and where their creativity, urgency and passion drive decision-making to reshape the policy landscape? A world where young people feel cared for, listened to and valued, not only for their votes but for their ability to contribute meaningfully to shaping our future?
I believe that such a world would be better for all of us, and I commit myself to being a trusted collaborator and co-creator of that future with young people. Now is the time for the nonprofit sector to commit and support authentic youth engagement and power-building to achieve the change young people deserve.
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