It Is A Big Day for Democracy

Today is one of our favorite holidays, National Voter Registration Day! It’s the country’s largest single-day effort to register voters, get Americans excited about our democracy, and have a rockin’ time while doing it.

The Alliance co-created National Voter Registration Day in 2012 to get more people registered, more people voting, and more people participating in our democracy. As one of the founders of this youth-driven holiday, we are stoked to celebrate this year by supporting hundreds of college campuses & college students to register students to vote as part of our Campus Takeover.

With our partner Young Invincibles, we have supported over 500 college campuses, from Hawaii to Maine, to participate in the Campus Takeover. We have created toolkits, shared resources, hopped on the phone, and granted $25,000 to students and organizations so they can put on the highest quality voter registration events possible.

Today, the Alliance Network is putting pedal to the metal and organizing events all over the country to register thousands of voters. And, yes, we mean thousands. Our network will often register the most voters out of any National Voter Registration Day partner in the country. Just check out groups like MOVE Texas, the Oregon Bus Project, Forward Montana, and more who have been preparing for National Voter Registration Day for months! Following our social media to see what our network is up to today – and get all the positive feels about good, local, work in our democracy.

Voter registration is something we love and do every day. It is part of the fabric of the Alliance. We are stoked to be a founder for such an incredible holiday and to see it grow each year. While our network will be out today registering voters as part of the holiday, we’ll be out tomorrow all the way up to voter registration deadlines.

Happy National Voter Registration Day and happy registering!

Welcome our newest staffers to the Alliance fam!

We have some exciting news, the Alliance family is growing! We are so lucky to announce the newest members to the Alliance staff, otherwise known as M³!

Check them out.

Malaya Davis

Associate Communications Director

Malaya is from Cleveland, OH and is a founding member of the Ohio Student Association! She got her start organizing at Wright State University around issues impacting Black students on campus. While at OSA, she helped lead fights in Ohio to stop “Stand Your Ground”, bring justice to John Crawford II and Tamir Rice, and get prosecutor accountability. Before coming back to the Alliance family, Malaya worked at the Color of Change as a campaign manager for their criminal justice department where she was able to sharpen her storytelling and digital organizing skills. Malaya is hella excited to tell the whole world about the amazing work that the Alliance network is doing!

Mark Hatton

Director of Electoral Engagement

Mark Hatton is a native Floridian who’s coming to the Alliance with a background in electoral work, issue advocacy, and organizing. He’s worked on higher education advocacy and within campaign structures – pushing to ensure young people and the issues they care about were heard and centered. Mark also loves all things Star Wars, iced tea, and diet coke, and is looking forward to supporting our network of awesome organizing!

Marisa Slifka

Operations Coordinator

Marisa is joining the Alliance with a background in operations and advocacy. From her time working as an office manager at a boutique DC lawful to teaching students from all over the country how to advocate for themselves and the issues they are about, her new role at the Alliance is a perfect match! She’s the mommy of a happy dog named Annie, named after her grandma who was originally a gift to her grandfather, and she owned a goldfish named Ruth Beda Finsburg. Marisa’s expertise is what our operations team needs to thrive!

From operations to communications, electoral work, storytelling and more, we’re so grateful to expand our capacity to ensure our network is getting the support it needs to thrive.

Starting next week, we’ll be sending regular updates from across the network. In the meantime, check out our Instastory where Daniela is highlighting updates from the field every Friday!

Check out the newest additions to our board

We are so blown away by the brilliant people who have joined our network in the last few weeks, including some amazing new Alliance Board Members.

Check them out!

Alliance for Youth Organizing Board

Whitney Porter

Operations & Finance Consultant

Whitney Porter brings a wealth of operations, finance, event planning, and strategic thinking to the Alliance board. Whitney believes “that change can only happen when everyday, ordinary people speak up and ask for life to be better. This can’t happen if people’s voices are suppressed.” We couldn’t agree more.

Alexis Anderson-Reed

Executive Director, State Voices

Alexis Anderson-Reed is no stranger to youth organizing. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alexis founded Youth Reclaiming Our Communities. She shared “I have seen first hand both the individual transformation of young people when they are meaningfully engaged and invested in, and the collective impact that young people can have when they come together to change their community.” We can’t wait to build alongside Alexis!

Alliance for Youth Action Board

Jonathan Paik

Executive Director, Orange County Civic Engagement Table

A Politcorp Fellow at the Oregon Bus Project and the second staffer ever at the Alliance, Jonathan Paik is OG Alliance family. JP has a background in finance, operations, and issue-based community organizing. JP envisions the Alliance as “the bridge to brings members from across the country to work together for the radical transformation that we’re looking for.” We are so glad to have JP back at the Alliance as a guiding force in the coming years.

Dawn of a New Day

We are just days away from the 2018 Alliance Network Conference where we’re bringing together 24 of the best youth-led and centered grassroots organizing groups who are driving young people electoral engagement efforts this fall. We’ll be covering team management, operations and compliance, organizing electoral campaigns, fundraising, addressing anti-oppression internally and externally for our organizations, and of course, relationship building across the network – because we know we are stronger together than we could ever be apart.

But that’s not all! Next week also marks the first full week of our newest Alliance team member! Meet Dawn Boudwin.

Dawn is the new Director of Program and Partnerships at the Alliance. She joins the family with nearly 10 years of experience in campaigns, organizing, and coalition building with previous gigs at AFSCME, America Votes, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Originally hailing from the great state of North Carolina, Dawn is joining the DC office to take the lead on national partnerships and manage our incredible program team. When not fighting for our generation, Dawn can be found exploring a new city and its food scene, searching for new vinyl to add to her collection, and enjoying time with her family (especially her 8 year old nephew) and friends.

We’re stoked to have Dawn on the team and hope y’all will join us in wishing her a warm welcome. You can send her your congratulations here.

And the Alliance isn’t the only one that is growing. Our network of affiliates and youth organizing partners across the country are also welcoming new young leaders into their ranks at this very moment. We rejoice in the opportunity to build power alongside such an inspiring group of young people, and we can’t wait to all be in the same room prepping for one of our biggest years yet.

Now Hiring: Program Director

Program Director Job Description

The next Program Director at the Alliance for Youth Action (along with our sister 501c3 organization the Alliance for Youth Organizing) will lead programmatic efforts of the premier youth organizing network in the country. This person will work with a national staff of seven talented, fierce individuals dedicated to supporting and scaling eight state-based young people political power building affiliate organizations comprised of some of the brainiest and hardest-working folks in the field. The Program Director plays an integral role in organizational strategy development and will manage and support the Program team. This is a full-time and exempt position and reports to the Executive Director.

About the Alliance For Youth Action

The Alliance convenes, supports, and scales a national network of youth-led, locally rooted organizations growing civic engagement and social justice coast to coast. We truly are a network “of young people, by young people, for all people.” In 2018, our affiliates and partners will run massive voter registrations and get-out-the-vote drives, train new young leaders, and run powerful campaigns to win on the progressive issues our generation cares about most. Our national team empowers this work by tracking down national resources for the network, building capacity for local groups, seeding new efforts, and coordinating national issue campaigns. And we’ll likely do it all while bringing our generation together via the various remixes of J Balvin’s “Mi Gente.”

Job Responsibilities

The Program Director will be responsible for leading and managing the organization’s Program Department. Key responsibilities of this position include:

Program Team Management (50%) – The Program Director will manage an experienced program team in the development and implementation of goals and objectives adopted during our annual planning process by ensuring team members have the tools and support they need to be successful and thrive. This person will also guide team members through professional development opportunities to grow their individual skills and abilities.

Network Expansion (20%) – The Program Director will manage the Alliance’s “incubation” process to expand the network of state-based youth organizations. This work includes vetting and recruitment of new organizations and emerging leaders, collaboration with in-state stakeholders, and significant support on organization building for first-time and/or young Executive Directors and board members.

Affiliate Executive Director Alignment & Coordination (15%) – Because our network is committed to taking the lead from young leaders on the ground, Executive Directors of Alliance’s affiliate organizations are crucial stakeholders in driving our work of developing new models of progressive leadership and accountability in progressive movements. The Program Director will be responsible for aligning, empowering, and coordinating Alliance Executive Directors to help set network-wide strategy and define our values. This person will also serve as a connector between affiliate Executive Directors, Alliance staff, and Board.

Strategic Partnerships (10%) – The Program Director will lead partnership work with national, state, and local organizations, companies, and brands to elevate affiliates and partners and further organization’s electoral and issue campaign goals.

Other Organizational Efforts (5%) – The Program Director will play a key role in supporting the work of the Program team through involvement in capacity building efforts, the national Alliance conference, and the 2018 electoral plan. This Program Director will also support organization-wide efforts in the development and external communications.

Key Qualifications & Experience

We’re looking for candidates with particular strengths in the following areas:

Organizing expertise and strategic thinking – Deep understanding of state and local grassroots organizing and advocacy, track record of developing & implementing either issue advocacy or electoral campaigns, ability to advise staff with campaign strategy/develop new ideas to maximize impact, make smart judgement calls as needed.

People & project management skills – Ability to manage multiple projects, plan backwards, anticipate obstacles, run a tight ship, support and develop staff.

Communication skills – Written and verbal.

Relationship building & collaboration skills – Track record of developing and maintaining trusting relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, ability to meet people where they are, find common ground, and inspire collective action.

Racial justice analysis – Experience organizing colleagues, organizations, and/or movements using a racial justice and/or equity lens.

Equal Opportunity

The Alliance for Youth Action is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse work environment. People of color, people with disabilities, people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and identities are encouraged to apply.

Logistics

- Compensation: $80,000 – $90,000 per year commensurate with experience.
- Benefits: The Alliance offers a competitive benefits package covering 100% of employee medical, dental, & vision insurance premiums, 50% of premiums for employee dependents, employer retirement contributions (SEP IRA), cell phone reimbursement, public transportation stipend, professional development funds, and generous paid time off, including paid family and medical leave.
- Location: This is a full time position based out of the Alliance’s Washington, DC office.

Travel: Approximately 20% of this position may be spent on domestic travel.

To Apply

Please email hiring@allianceforyouthaction.org as a single pdf document including the following:

Cover letter, explaining why you want this job and what makes you well-suited to the position (please, show some personality)
Resume
Three references

Please reach out to hiring@allianceforyouthaction.org with any questions.

PRIORITY DEADLINE TO APPLY IS MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2018.

We stand with our undocumented peers

August 30, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nation’s largest network of youth-led grassroots organizing groups denounces any efforts to end DACA program

Groups take action to support undocumented peers and commit to holding electeds accountable in 2017 and 2018

Washington, DC – The Alliance for Youth Action, the largest network of youth-led grassroots organizing groups in the country, released the following statement on reports that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is in imminent risk:

“DACA beneficiaries are our neighbors, family, friends, and members of our community. We’ve grown up with and fought for social justice alongside them. Now they are under attack and we unequivocally have their backs. They represent the best of America, and an assault on them is an affront to our values and ideals as Americans.

Any step towards ending the DACA program is unacceptable and reflects a larger White Nationalist agenda that is the opposite of everything we stand for as a generation. As the largest network of youth-led organizations working to build young people’s political power, we are committed to fighting for the undocumented members of our generation.

Our network is, and always has been more than statements. We are taking action in our communities to ensure that the DACAmented young people are here to stay. Some examples include:

In Texas, MOVE San Antonio joined as a co-plaintiff against their state-based “Show Me Your Papers” legislation, SB4. Under SB4, university campus police are required to inquire about the citizenship status of detained students and notify ICE, endangering thousands of young people. The combination of both SB4 and removal of DACA places too many in the San Antonio community at risk and MOVE is organizing to ensure their community both knows their rights, and is pushing back.
In Florida, Engage Miami is following the lead of groups like the Florida Immigrant Coalition and United We Dream to call on Representative Diaz Balart and Senator Rubio to stand up and defend DACA. From showing up at mobilizations to incorporating actions and asks in their campus work across Miami colleges, Engage Miami is committed to serving as a committed partner to defend DACA.
In Ohio, the Ohio Student Association is building program to mobilize students across Ohio campuses to show support for DACAmented students and push their representatives across both political parties to support undocumented young people.
In Illinois, Chicago Votes is standing in solidarity with their trusted partners, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, to ensure our communities know their rights and are loved during these trying times. They are committed to adding capacity to their partner’s efforts to defend DACA through a variety of tactics including direct actions, press conferences, and elected official engagement.

This Administration is no friend to our generation and we condemn any action taken that puts DACAmented young people at risk of deportation. We also call on Members of Congress to pass the bi-partisan DREAM Act of 2017 that ensures that undocumented young people in our communities can live without fear.

Young people are watching the actions of electeds and candidates in both political parties in this moment – and will hold them accountable at the ballot box.”

The Alliance for Youth Action is currently building 2018 youth electoral engagement plans with partners in more than 20 states. Members of the network have led the charge for, and won, on a series of issues including Automatic Voter Registration in Oregon, community owned clean energy in Boulder, CO, same sex marriage in Washington, and more.

Affiliates of the Alliance for Youth Action include Chicago Votes, Engage Miami, Forward Montana, MOVE San Antonio, New Era Colorado, Ohio Student Association, Oregon Bus Project, and Washington Bus. The Alliance for Youth Action is a nationwide network of organizations building political power of young people, and the premier youth vote vehicle in the United States.

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Last night’s UK elections show the USA how to help youth rise up at the ballot.

Because we’re ridiculous democracy nerds, we spent last night glued to Twitter watching the returns come in for the UK general election. The tl;dr is that the progressive Labour Party overperformed almost everyone’s expectations, driven in huge part by young people turning up.

Early returns showed that young Britons turned out at 72% – up from 43% two years ago. That’s mind blowing.

Young people voted for Labour by 2:1 over Conservatives, and that’s how Labour surged.

Both at home and abroad, we’re seeing the power of the youth vote, and learning how to unlock it. If you want to win, you need inspired young people. And if you want young people, you need to speak to our needs. (And obviously do a metric ton of peer-to-peer engagement in the field).

To turn out masses of young people, run on economic and racial justice. Labour ran on free college tuition, increased funding for schools, fighting racism and Islamaphobia, protecting renters and helping working people afford to buy homes, giving workers a share in corporate profits, protecting and expanding universal healthcare, and taxing the very wealthiest. Oh, and voting rights for 16-year-olds.

The lack of engagement on economic justice with our generation in the US – a generation that is still working to recover post Recession – led to the creation of our Broke AF campaign. A lot of we’re fighting for matches the platform that inspired young people to turn out in record numbers:

Free college tuition and no student debt
Guaranteed affordable housing
Workers owning a stake in corporate profits

And allying with youth of color led organizations centering racial justice issues from policing to immigration reform allows for a more robust set of demands that truly centers the needs of our generation. When you run on those things, you win. Period. Get it. It’s the truth, y’all.

Plus, Labour also ran more women and people of color for office than they ever had before (and more than any other party).

While we’re not Britain, there are epic lessons to be learned – especially as our generation is engaging now both in the streets AND in the voting booth. To inspire America’s most diverse generation, you also need more than representation. You need to be serious and unapologetic about racial justice. Ending mass incarceration. Ending police brutality. Embracing immigrants. True justice.

Real, true economic justice + racial justice + candidate diversity is how you get young people inspired and turning out. And that’s how you win.

Tell your friends.

Hundreds turn out for first ever Youth Organizing Summit

Hundreds of young organizers convened in Washington D.C. in late April to build progressive power, strengthen our movement, and plan for 2017 & 2018.

In April, we brought our *literally* hundreds of young organizers from all ends of the country to Washington, D.C. for the first ever Youth Organizing Summit. It. Was. Huge. Together, we debriefed 2016 and made plans for building progressive power in 2017 & 2018.

Our friends at Advocates for Youth, CJRC, FCCP, NAKASEC, NextGen Climate, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Roosevelt Institute, URGE, Vote Mob, Youth Engagement Fund, and Young People For helped us plan the Summit and convene a force of driven, young people ready to take on this nation.

Participants attended workshops on electoral organizing, leadership development, tech tools, running women for office, tools for resistance, issue organizing, reproductive rights, immigrant justice, and the list goes on. Our keynote speaker, Amber J. Phillips, began the summit by empowering attendees to keep fighting for our people and building the movement.

“We will only win when we remember that those who have been pushed to the margins are brought back to the center and the front.”
– Amber J. Phillips

Amber Phillips at Youth Organizing Summit

“It was so nice to have a cross-movement summit where I could hear from and learn from folks who are dedicating their time to movements which differ from but are absolutely intersectional to mine.”
– Youth Organizing Summit Attendee

The Youth Organizing Summit by the numbers:

632 young, grassroots organizers
109 allied organizations
56% young people of color
35% LGBTQ identified
40 states
26 skills building & issue workshops
12 unconference sessions
11 core partners
1.5 days of power building
1 incredible summit!

The Summit wrapped up with a fiery keynote by Representative Pramila Jayapal where she told attendees, “If you provide the space for leadership to emerge, young people will lead.” And that is exactly what we intend on doing. Since the Summit’s conclusion, we have been connecting with organizations in attendance to build this movement and lead the nation while young people at the forefront. We, at the Alliance for Youth Action, are rallying this young, vibrant, and progressive energy to push for voting rights, strengthen our democracy, create a better economy, and fight injustice in our communities. This is our movement–join us today.

Announcing Youth Organizing Summit Keynotes

The Youth Organizing Summit is just a few days away, and it is gonna be lit. What was originally an just an awesome idea has now turned into an incredible space with 570 attendees representing 68 organizations and 39 states. Over 50% of attendees are people of color and experts agree that 100% are sooooo dope.

With this colossally cool crew assembled, we’re thrilled to announce our two keynote speakers who promise to pump them up: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and the incredible Amber J. Phillips of Black Joy Mixtape and Advocates for Youth!

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal represents Washington’s 7th District, which encompasses most of Seattle, and surrounding areas.

Her focus is on ensuring income equality; access to education, from early learning to higher education, including debt-free college; expanding Social Security and Medicare; protecting our environment for our next generation; and ensuring immigrant, civil and human rights for all.

The first Indian-American woman in the House of Representatives, Jayapal has spent the last twenty years working internationally and domestically as a leading national advocate for women’s, immigrant, civil, and human rights.

She came to the United States by herself at the age of 16 to attend college at Georgetown University and later received her MBA from Northwestern University. She has worked in a number of industries in both the public and private sector.

Amber J. Phillips is a social justice organizer, writer, podcaster, and digital strategist working to advance the rights of all Black people and people of color in general. Amber’s writings on Black women at the intersections of politics, pop culture, and the media have been published on Huffington Post, For Harriet, and Rewire. Combining her electoral organizing background with social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram as a launching pad to shift culture and conversations, Amber has been featured as a leading voice on Black feminism on The Breakfast Club, ESSENCE, the Young, Black and Fabulous, and as a regular contributing panelist on Roland Martin’s NewsOne Now.

In addition to being the Senior Manager of Youth Leadership and Mobilization at Advocates for Youth, Amber is the Co-Director/Founder of the digital marketing firm BLACK that uses culture to elevate Black progressive power in politics and media. Amber also co-hosts and produces the Black Joy Mixtape, a weekly podcast that breaks down the trending stories in news, politics, and pop culture while centering Black women and our communities. Overall, Amber is living her best life being petty, Black, and feminist AF as an Ohioan living currently living in Washington, D.C.

Whew! So much fire. Can’t wait to watch these women get next level up on the main stage.

The Alliance for Youth Action is Here.

Bigger, bolder and more ready to pump up the voices of young people than ever.

We have spent the better part of a decade making moves behind the scenes.

Pushing the envelope on voting rights. Changing the balance of power in our communities. Transforming the face of leadership across our states. A select few knew of us, and called us “the Bus Federation” after the buses we’d drive around to organize people. (Get it?)

Many many more people knew the names, and celebrated the work, of the local organizations that made up our federation. We have proudly worked backstage, amplifying and supporting and investing in local works in targeted corners of the country.

But today America faces unprecedented challenges.

We need to do unprecedented work – bigger, broader, more ambitious. We need to shine a beacon, so any group of young people organizing for progressive change anywhere in the country knows that somebody has their back with resources and support.

That somebody is the Alliance for Youth Action. That’s us.

We’ve been preparing for this a long time. Our network has brought automatic voter registration to America. We’ve defeated huge corporations to fight climate change after being outspent 11-to-1. We’ve helped win the country’s first $15 minimum wage. We helped ensure protections for LGBTQ people in some of the nation’s most conservative places. We have wrung police accountability measures from entrenched city governments. We founded National Voter Registration Day and the American Voter Guide. We have helped over 350,000 young people register to vote.

With this experience, we are ready to take it fully national.

The fundamentals of our mission haven’t changed – we’re still building a locally led movement of young people, by young people, for all people. We believe our historically huge and diverse Millennial generation holds the power to transform American democracy. We’re now going to do more to release that potential.

In 2017-18, our network will grow affiliates and youth organizing partnerships in 25 states, to mobilize masses of young people in every competitive statewide election. We will create a national tide for automatic voter registration, vote-your-way reforms, and voting rights for the formerly incarcerated with our Democracy Done Right campaign. We will shift the national economic conversation toward one where working people have power and profit in their jobs, housing, and educations through our Broke AF campaign. We will train hundreds of leaders, and register hundreds of thousands of voters.

An effort this big needs a new name, and a new identity. It needs to be big, and loud – so local youth organizing can finally get the attention it deserves (and so local youth organizers know where to turn for help).

Thus, the Alliance for Youth Action is born. We can’t wait to grow with you.

P.S.

Check out the rest of our spiffy new website. Find out about our affiliates & partners. And if you’re feeling really inspired, throw us a few bucks to fund the huge work ahead of us.