Yes...We MUST keep up the momentum.

I have seen many articles in the wake of Tuesday's election surprised at the voter turnout among Millennials and instead of recognizing the Millennials as a new powerful voting bloc, they automatically began musing on whether members of the generation would actually make a difference or keep up the momentum.

Since this is OUR generation, what do you think?


http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10939331?nclick_check=1

Millennials Get Politics - We Told You So

Harvard University’s Institute of Politics Poll Released

Millennials are increasingly engaged and understand that poiltics can effectively solve our problems. In the last two years we’ve seen a 9% increase, according to Harvard University’s Institute of Politics’ latest poll of 18-24 year olds out yesterday.

Among the many results is this one:

“More young people see the effectiveness of political engagement than one year ago. Nearly seven in ten 18-24 year-olds today (69%) say they see political engagement as an effective way of solving our nation’s problems, up six percentage points from fall 2007 (63%) and fall 2006 (60%) IOP polling. Fewer young people today agree that politics is not relevant to their lives (28%) than did one year ago (32%) and fewer believe that elected officials don’t share their
priorities (69%) than did one year ago (71%) or two years ago (75%). In addition, over six in ten young people (68%) say running for office is an honorable thing to do, up from one year ago (67%) and two years ago (66%).”

This is great news, and yet not surprising. It’s great that we have more polling on this. Mobilize.org and many others have been saying this for a long time. It’s shown up in our gut-instinct, anecdotally, and in our own survey of thousands of Millennials that created the Democracy 2.0 Declaration.

The key is for us to support the growing sense of political awareness with opportunities to build more grassroots and netroots action that build Civic Currency. Mobilize.org is working on this and our next Democracy 2.0 Grant Summits focus on just that.

The work enters a new phase on November 5th.

So Sad in This "Youth-Friendly" Election

In a display of age discrimination in this supposedly youth-friendly election, Delaware Valley School Board Director John Kupillas writes the following (Pike Dispatch, 10/16/08) about a nineteen year-old candidate for the board, Ryan Balton:

“Can a teenager fresh out of high school connect to the residents served by this board? Maybe in the future, but not at this point. The section of the brain responsible for decision making and rational thinking doesn’t fully mature until the mid-twenties. Proof? Try to get auto insurance if you are a teen. The risk is the highest of any age group.”

The above commentary comes in the midst of community concern over recent appointments to the Delaware Valley School Board. Mobilize.org sincerely hopes that this situation can be resolved in accordance with the district policies and in the spirit of transparency.

As an organization dedicated to the Millennial Generation, we are disheartened to hear public officials dismiss the intellectual capacity and talent of members of our own generation, especially when these members take active steps to be a part of the political process.


Show your support and get the scoop:


http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=36475382266&ref=nf

http://rbfordv.blogspot.com/

Bail Me Out!

In April 2008, Mobilize.org, in conjunction with Common Cause, issued a report on college finance issues entitled, "We're Broke, Let's Fix It." The report detailed the growing problems with the student loan industry in the United States.

Feedback on the report was mixed. Some thought the report was of great value, since we attempted to address the problem from both points of view, a student borrower's and a lender's. Others felt that our paper was meant to be a scare tactic.

Six months later, it is clear our fears were rightly placed. Personally, I know people with law school debt who are getting job offers rescinded, students, who due to poor credit, may not get loans to complete their undergraduate education, and recent graduates who are losing jobs left and right in the financial sector. And, let's not forget the millions of Millennials who do not attend college and how the current state of our economy will effect them. Our generation is in debt, with some of us just struggling to survive.

Millennials, who is going to bail us out? This issue affects all of us, and although the conversation on the issue nationally has been strictly partisan, the solutions, those that are sustainable and innovative that is, will have to come from people who are willing to think holistically.

The cost of college already places an insurmountable barrier for many people. Without available financing, our generation will bear the cost, not only losing access to dollars but access to the knowledge we need to survive in our information economy.