We believe that higher education should be free and accessible for all. While we are trying to solve the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis at the federal level, it is critical that action be taken at the local level to protect students. That’s why youth-led organizations in the Alliance for Youth Action Network are fighting to protect student borrowers and ensure higher education at every level is accessible and affordable for all.

Last year, our organizers were making moves in reforming education systems in their communities, so we checked in with them again to see how they’re making equitable and accessible education a reality for all. Here’s how they’re doing it:  

New Era Colorado

2022 Update

In Spring of 2021, New Era Colorado passed both of their priority bills, the Student Loan Equity Act and Financial Literacy Standards! The New Era team engaged 85 different volunteers to mobilize their peers around student debt last year, which resulted in over 1800 young people taking action. In addition, they developed two educational videos on student debt which led to multiple earned media hits including an interview with Elite Daily and an Op-Ed in the Colorado Sun.

New Era has also helped students through the The New Era Colorado Foundation Student Assistance Fund. This program assists students who owe debts to an institution of higher education through individual grants. So far, they’ve assisted 86 applicants, 79 of those applicants being people of color.

This year, New Era’s priority in legislation is around a harmful student debt practice that inhibits the economic freedom of many young people, particularly young people of color: transcript withholding. HB 22-1049, which would prohibit transcript withholding,  just passed the House, and is heading to the governor’s desk very soon where New Era is confident it will be signed into law!

2021

New Era Colorado worked to pass the Student Loan Equity Act—a trailblazing bill that would create protections for private student loan borrowers in Colorado. Private student loans don’t receive many of the basic protections afforded to borrowers of other types of loans. As a result, borrowers are vulnerable to shady loan industry practices, like robo signing and auto-defaulting. The Student Loan Equity Act will protect these borrowers, create greater transparency, and offer better recourse if lenders break the law.

Ohio Student Association

2022 Update

For the last eight years, Ohio Student Association (OSA) has been dedicated to changing the policy landscape for higher education. This year, OSA is fighting to defeat HB 322 and 327, Ohio’s own anti-critical race theory bills, by holding teach-ins, collecting testimonies, and hosting a direct action opposing the bills. They’re also working to get debt navigation programs passed in state legislatures to end Transcript Traps. 

In regards to Black student equity, OSA is making big moves this year! Their Black Student Equity Report will survey Black students’ experiences at colleges and universities statewide. This report will be the first of its kind. It will assess affordability and equity issues that uniquely affect Ohio’s Black student population.

2021

The Ohio Student Debt Association has worked hard to center student voices in these fights and uplift student debt stories. They are working in coalition with other organizations across the state to tackle student debt. Read their report with Policy Matters Ohio on higher education in Ohio. The OSA team met with Senator Sherrod Brown and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to share student debt stories.

Virginia Student Power Network

2022 Update

Virginia Student Power Network (VSPN) is continuing to protect the progress they’ve made on recent higher education wins, including passing legislation to provide in-state tuition and state financial aid for undocumented students in Virginia! Right now, VSPN is supporting legislation that would increase access and reduce barriers to higher education for students.

On campuses, VSPN organizers at University of Virginia won a tuition freeze at their university, meaning tuition rates on this campus are guaranteed to stay stagnant until the 2024-2025 academic year. Their staff has also done research to increase transparency on campuses around federal stimulus funding for Virginia universities. Throughout the VSPN network, students are demanding tuition freezes, hybrid classes, mask mandates, availability of testing on campus, and funding for mental health resources. 

2021

VSPN has a track record of organizing and winning issue-based campaigns for college affordability across the state. In 2014, they won a campaign to create a $1 million emergency fund at George Mason University for low-income, first-generation, undocumented, and homeless students. For four years in a row, they have mobilized students for annual advocacy days at the General Assembly calling for an end to student debt and free public college. 

During the 2020 legislative session, Virginia Student Power Network worked in a broad coalition and engaged 30 student leaders to advocate for in-state tuition for undocumented students, which was selected by the Governor as a priority bill and was written into law after a 15-year fight. They built upon this work during the 2021 legislative session, and Virginia is now the seventh state in the nation to give undocumented students access to state financial aid!

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they launched a statewide pressure campaign on universities to provide equitable COVID-19 relief to students, staff, and community members. They conducted research on federal CARES Act and American Rescue funding to Virginia schools to illuminate the fact that universities were still profiting from the deadly pandemic while students were incurring more debt than ever. Student organizers at the University of Virginia fought and won a tuition freeze through their “COVID Action Now” campaign. VCU student organizers held a town hall with administration and hundreds of students, faculty and staff to hold the university accountable for mishandling the pandemic. 

Washington Bus

2022 Update

The Washington Bus team spent this legislative session mobilizing on College Equity on House Bills 1659 and 1840. HB 1659 would have expanded Washington’s Higher Education grant program to include more folks to receive the full grant. This bill would have also added bridge grants to recipients for things outside of tuition and fees. HB 1840 was the core of the draft legislation Washington Bus organizers worked on with Communities for our Colleges. This bill would have established the task force on improving equity and diversity at the community technical colleges, and expanded mental health counseling to an additional four colleges.

Sadly both bills haven’t made it into law, but the Washington Bus team is continuously pushing to make bridge grants available to students, stronger equity and diversity initiatives on campuses, and more mental health resources a reality for more students across the state.

2021

The Washington Bus helped to pass the Our Colleges our Future Act! They won a $33 million investment in Community and Technical Colleges (CTCs) in Washington State, with a focus on racial equity and investment in low-income, BIPoC students.  This bill included mandating diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic plans for all CTCs in Washington, winning funding for 200 new full-time faculty positions, funding for a pilot mental health counseling program, and funding for outreach and retention program for BIPoC students. The Our Colleges Our Future Act also changed residency requirements to make financial aid more accessible for undocumented students. Community Colleges are the backbone of our higher education system, and the Washington Bus worked tirelessly alongside partners to make sure they are investing in the education of BIPoC and low-income students. 

Join our Dreams Not Debt Campaign

Wanna take action around student debt? Check out our Dreams Not Debt campaign! Millions are putting their futures on hold –  buying a house, getting married, having children – because they can barely keep up with their monthly student loan payments. We’re urging the Biden administration to keep their campaign promises and cancel ALL student debt.

It is with a bittersweet heart that we say goodbye to our fearless leader, Sarah Audelo.

After four incredible years leading the Alliance for Youth Action, Sarah is transitioning out of her role as Executive Director at the end of this month. Sarah led this organization to new heights and now it is time to usher in new leadership.

Before we officially say goodbye, we have to take a moment to honor and celebrate the incredible growth the Alliance has experienced under Sarah’s leadership. And Sarah herself has some parting words of wisdom from these victories.

1 Sarah has successfully led the Alliance Network to expand in more communities centering more young people of color.

Every young person should have access to a community with whom they can organize and take action. Sarah had this opportunity when she was younger and envisions a similar experience for every young person.

2 Sarah helped push more than $20 million to field organizations and young organizers.

Her parting message to funders is to continue investing in young people because that is how we build real power for the long haul.

3Sarah helped shift the narrative on the youth vote and youth organizing.

Sarah has held the role of hype woman for young organizers across the nation. Through countless interviews, panels, and media appearances, she has driven home that young people are here, engaged, and taking action in their communities.

4Sarah built an incredible team that continues to innovate, inspire, and drive the work forward all while facing the challenges of being an executive director of color.

Being an executive director of color comes with its own hurdles and barriers. During her time, Sarah has faced these challenges head-on and continues to improve the space for leaders who come after her.

Check out the latest articles, opinions, and articles featuring Sarah:

Thank Sarah for her outstanding leadership and send her a thank you note!

We’ve said it before and we’ll keep on saying it: Every. Election. Counts.

Last week, young people across the nation turned out to vote locally for some of the most important elections in their communities this year. They voted for city councils, for mayors, for ballot measures, and more. 

The organizations in the Alliance Network helped turn out young voters resulting in some of the biggest victories we’ve seen in 2021. Here is how they did:

Turning out the Youth Vote

In addition to electing progressive candidates and winning on key issues, Alliance organizations did what they do best – turnout young voters! Organizers knocked on thousands of doors, distributed voter guides, sent informational texts, drove people to the polls in golf carts, hosted parties at ballot boxes, organized bike rides to the polls, and so much more.

Building the World We Deserve: Issue Wins

For months, Alliance organizations have been organizing on issues related to police accountability, community safety, and affordable housing. Last Tuesday, they saw the rewards of this work.

Minnesota Youth Collective worked alongside Housing Equity Now in St. Paul to fight for rent stabilization. This ballot initiative will put a 10% limit on annual rent increases allowing housing in St. Paul to stay affordable., especially for BIPOC and low-income families. After canvassing and knocking on doors for months, the people of St. Paul passed rent stabilization! Learn more about this win here.

With the help of MOVE Texas, Austin voters overwhelmingly voted no to Prop A!

Youth Vote Approved: Endorsement Wins

From the city council to the school board, Alliance organizations endorsed a number of progressive candidates who fight for the values and issues young people care about.

 Forward Montana Voter Fund endorsed five candidates in local and municipal elections this year. They also knocked on over 1,000 doors in support of these candidates. Out of the five they endorsed, three of them won their races! The winners include city council members in Billings and Bozeman. 

We’re in the business of building young people’s political power and we do it by engaging young people in every election, no matter how big or small. We do this work because when more young people vote, we build a better future for us all.

Want to continue supporting youth power building? Become a monthly donor today!

It’s 2021, and we do not believe in “off-years,”  just odd ones. That’s why Alliance Network organizations have been hard at work getting young people #VoteReady this Civic Holiday season. If we want to grow young people’s political power, we must engage young voters year-round, every year.

Here is how our network is getting young people registered, educated, and ready to vote this year:

Our network continues to be innovative on the streets and online getting young people registered and ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

Now, it is your turn to get vote ready. 

Do you know what’s on your ballot? Do you need to verify your voter registration? Do you have a plan to vote early?  Whether you are voting by mail or voting in person, head to our #VoteReady hub to make your plan to vote early.

This month, we have celebrated the Latinx youth who power our work from organizers in our network organizations to our very own Executive Director, Sarah Audelo. They all show us that when we bring our full selves to our organizing work, including our culture and heritage, we build a beter world for us all.

Here are the stories of three powerful Latinx and Chicano organizers in the Alliance Network.

Read the article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy here.

By Sarah Audelo

Four years ago, I became the first woman of color to lead the Alliance for Youth Organizing. I was a 33-year-old Latina and first-time executive director with limited fundraising experience tasked with overseeing a nationwide network of groups mobilizing young voters.

This fall, I am stepping down from that position and taking stock of what I’ve learned about how people of color can succeed at the nonprofits we are asked to lead. 

While less than 20 percent of nonprofit executive directors or CEOs are people of color,  efforts to significantly increase those numbers have recently gained momentum — especially following last year’s massive racial justice protests. But simply hiring more of us isn’t enough. Without intentional support, it’s too easy for executive directors of color to feel like — or be seen as — props or tokens who are set up to fail. 

Over the past four years, I’ve come to understand that the support we need has three main components. It starts with organizations laying the groundwork for change before we are hired and then ensuring that adequate finances and board support are firmly in place. A new executive director of color cannot transform a historically white organization alone. We are not your in-house diversity, equity, and inclusion experts. 

Lay the groundwork. I once got a call from a headhunter who was looking for a new executive director of color who would shut down existing programs and refocus the organization’s work on young people of color. I looked at the senior staff list, which was all white, and wondered why the nonprofit didn’t make these changes prior to the new leader’s arrival.  

Before a new executive director walks through the door, the transformation into a more equitable and inclusive organization should be well underway. At its core, that means putting the experiences of people of color at the center of the organization’s work and addressing policies and behaviors that perpetuate anti-Blackness so we can begin to decenter white people as the norm and dominant culture. Organizations should conduct an analysis of pay equity and personnel policies to understand how people of color are valued — both in hiring practices and in the nonprofit’s programs, issues, and campaigns. 

A new executive director of color should enter an organization that is stable. Her hiring should not be used to solve an identity crisis — or any other kind of crisis. Hiring a new executive director of color is not the way to clean up past mistakes or the magical solution for fixing the harm done to people of color. 

Provide early financial support. A survey by the Building Movement Project found that executive directors of color reported having a harder time raising money than their white counterparts. Despite my very limited fundraising experience, when I came on board at the Alliance for Youth Organizing, I was suddenly responsible for payroll and ensuring my staff could make their rent and student loan payments. Money was on its way, but moving slowly. I was terrified of having to dip into reserves for the first time in our organizational history. 

New executive directors shouldn’t be lying awake at night worrying about how to keep the lights on. Instead, they should spend their first few months learning the job and building relationships. Ideally, the organization should have six to nine months cash on hand before hiring a new leader of color. 

I was fortunate that the Alliance had budgeted for me to work with a management coach, who was herself a former young executive director of color. She provided the guidance I needed as I navigated this new role and encouraged me to seek out help from my small network of connections in the field when my cash flow was tight. 

Almost immediately, that network moved into action. Austin Thompson, the former head of the Youth Engagement Fund connected me to Luna Yasui, previously a senior program officer at the Ford Foundation. That quickly turned into a $100,000 grant. My former boss, Deb Hauser, president of Advocates for Youth, connected me to the incredible team at the Compton Foundation and soon another check was in motion. Those interactions helped me develop the confidence I needed to approach other foundations and changed the trajectory of our organization. 

I took the lesson of early support to heart. At the Alliance, we now welcome all new executive directors of our affiliate organizations — mostly young people of color under the age of 30 — with a $30,000 grant. New executive director grants should become commonplace across philanthropy. This can take the form of increased support from existing donors during transitions or support from new philanthropic organizations that see the transition as a moment of opportunity.  

Provide board support and engagement. The decision to hire a new executive director of color should be part of a board’s ongoing work to support the organization’s development and evolution. At a minimum, boards must honor their fiduciary and governance responsibilities so that they do not leave the new executive director holding the bag for past mistakes. That means ensuring the nonprofit has robust reserves and has complied with all relevant laws.

My peers at other nonprofits have been forced to address a mind blowing array of problems in their early months on the job, including dealing with the IRS, addressing pay inequity, and tackling problems stemming from their organization’s racist past actions. New executive directors of color should not have to start their jobs with an apology tour for previous harmful behavior. 

In advance of hiring executive directors of color, the board may need to do its own racial justice work, reflect on its composition, and educate itself about implicit bias and equity. Executive directors of color are hired for their vision, but too often board members are stuck in the past. One of the greatest gifts my board and predecessor gave me was addressing problematic board members before I started. Our boards should be our co-conspirators and greatest champions. 

Any progressive nonprofit serious about dismantling our nation’s inequitable systems should of course consider hiring an executive director of color. But if the organization doesn’t put the pieces in place for that leader to succeed, it will merely perpetuate the inequities it is seeking to overcome.

The 2021 Alliance Monthly Donor Competition is officially here! 

This is our biggest competition ever with twelve of our network organizations from Miami to Seattle participating in this week-long match with the goal of growing their local grassroots sustainer base.

This is more than just a competition. By growing their monthly donors, organizations share ownership of their work with their supporters and have a sustainable revenue stream they can count on. Monthly donors are vital in the longevity and independence of youth-led organizations. Every dollar goes toward year-round grassroots organizing and creating long-term change. This is the strength of people-powered fundraising.

Participating organizations competed in two separate leagues. Here are the top three organizations that raised the highest percentage of their budget over the course of the week.

Participating organizations also unlocked grants for reaching certain benchmarks or outperforming on certain tactics:

Organizations that grew their number of monthly donors by 20% or higher:

• Engage Miami
• Forward Montana
• Michigan Student Power Network
• New Hampshire Youth Movement
• Virginia Student Power Network
• The Washington Bus

Organizations that converted the most one-time donors into monthly donors:

• Forward Montana
• New Hampshire Youth Movement
• Next Up

Organizations who made the most amount of calls:

• New Era Colorado
• Next Up

Organizations who engaged the most non-staff:

• Forward Montana
• Michigan Student Power Network

Organizations that grew their monthly income the most:

• Engage Miami
• Virginia Student Power Network

Organizations with the best digital engagement:

• Chicago Votes
• Virginia Student Power Network

Meet the Players

Here are the 12 Alliance Network organizations competing in the Monthly Donor Competition this year! Want to get in the game? Become a monthly donor today!