Youth Organizing in the U.S.
Youth Organizing in the U.S.
Featured Story
Introduction: Youth Organizing in the U.S.
In all of these stories, young people’s creativity, moral courage, and commitment enabled them to turn the resources they have into the power for change.

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Image courtesy of Californians for Justice From Demanding to Commanding Power
We must find ways to transform the whole system, not just change policies. That will never happen unless we change the people, the culture, and the power young people of color have over their lives.
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Getty Images From Climate Strikes to the Union Hall
Young workers are key to building the labor climate movement.
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Photo courtesy of David Duhalde How YDSA Will Grow Post-Bernie
YDSA National Coordinating Committee Co-Chair Sarandon Elliott talks about the opportunities and challenges facing YDSA in this moment, her plans to help grow the organization over the next year, and the difference between socialist organizing and other forms of campus activism.
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Rhododendrites Wikimedia Commons The Long Arc
Greisa Martinez Rosas on the importance of personal transformation, the long arc of the movement for justice, and how United We Dream’s strategies are shifting with the new administration.
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Photo courtesy of Oakland Kids First Oakland Students Turn the Tables
How Oakland Kids First built youth governing power during a pandemic
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Getty Images “Make the status quo unlivable”
Providence Student Union’s Emma Jewett on empowering young people to take action, navigating relationships with adult allies, and why youth organizing is such a powerful mechanism for change.
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Photo courtesy of Generation Citizen Advocacy Within the School House
How Generation Citizen is pushing civics beyond the classroom to the community
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Photo by Obi Onyeador Young People Will Carry Us On
Tynetta Hill-Muhammad on why she sees young people as the foundation of the abolitionist movement, the work BYP100 does to transform the personal into the political, and the challenges and opportunities of working cross-generationally.
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Getty Images Transforming youth-led organizing in the digital age
While technology is transforming grassroots organizing in incredible ways, the core of our work is still relationship building.
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Photo courtesy of Forward Montana Progressive Organizers Must Redefine Success in Conservative States
I want the rest of America to see the rural America that I see: the queer and trans youth and youth of color refusing to be ignored and the young people demanding progressive change in order to save our planet and humanity.
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Photo courtesy of New Era Colorado Youth power requires more than electoral organizing
Our electoral organizing model increased turnout, but young people of color deserve more.
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Photo courtesy of the author Commentary: Youth Organizing in the U.S.
We must build young leaders to make mass organization possible.