Welcome to the new status quo where all youth organizers do is win. We are unveiling our 2022 Annual Report, reflecting on the amazing wins in the Alliance Network, and giving youth organizers their flowers.
Last year we carried out our work with a vibrant, state-focused lens, and it paid off! We witnessed the power of young people leading the way toward a pro-democracy society, demonstrating what’s possible when they are empowered and supported. With progressive wins across the nation the path forward is clear: When young people have support and resources, we all win.
Join us in celebrating a year of success where youth organizers faced historical odds against them yet continued to build community, strengthen our movement, and transform the electoral landscape.
Highlights from Our 2022 Report
One of the Alliance Network’s most significant challenges this year was returning to traditional on-the-ground organizing after adapting to adjusted tactics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even while navigating this challenge, the Alliance Network built one of the country’s most effective youth-led civic engagement movements.
Let’s take a look at 2022 by the numbers.
Youth Organizing Made Headlines
Starting this year with new leadership, a strategic plan, and a midterm election on the horizon, it was imperative to continue building relationships with the press and media to strengthen the argument that youth organizing is the key to the youth vote. Here are just some of our biggest hits from the press recognizing the Alliance Network’s local youth-led organizing as essential to significant historical moments at the national level:
In January, our sister organization, Alliance for Youth Organizing, collaborated with Civiqs to conduct a nationwide survey of young voters ages 17 to 39 from across the political spectrum. We asked how they feel about the country’s future, what policies the Biden Administration should prioritize, how they plan to engage leading up to the midterm election, and more. TIME highlighted that young people under 40 are increasingly influential with each passing election and would be a decisive electoral force in the midterms.
One of President Biden’s campaign promises was to cancel at least $10,000 of each American’s student debt. More than a year into his presidency, Biden still needed to act on this key promise. This piece from USA Today featured our poll data, quotes from Alliance ED, Dakota Hall, and Rachael Collyer from the Ohio Student Association, who advocate on the issue of student debt and college affordability.
When a draft opinion leaked that the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, Executive Directors and senior leaders in the Alliance Network who had been issue organizing around abortion access for years were interviewed by NPR’s Juana Summers about how this would galvanize the youth vote in November.
Alliance Network organizations were featured in this Teen Vogue piece about how youth-led organizations focus on policy issues, address peoples’ day-to-day needs year-round, and register young people to vote.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Dakota Hall joined Gen Z For Change’s Sofia Ongele, climate and racial justice advocate Isra Hirsi, and voting rights activist Charlie Bonner to discuss voting, why getting involved locally is crucial to affect real change, and more with MTV!
Dakota Hall returned to The Young Turks’ program, The Conversation, to discuss the impact young voters had on the midterm elections with Adrienne Lawrence.
Building Strong and Sustainable Organizations
Network Program Retreat – In June, we hosted the Alliance Network Program Retreat in New Mexico to bring together senior staff from the network who are hard at work leading local youth vote efforts. Staff, whose roles primarily focus on on-the-ground electoral and issue organizing in their communities, came together in-person to strengthen their 2022 program plans ahead of election season. Topics ranged from how to set realistic field goals and how to run a digital ad program to how to level up your communications strategy.
Alliance Network Cohort Spaces – The Alliance cohorts provide a space for
communications, program, operations, data, and development peers to build community, work through challenges, learn from one another, and be trained by experts. In 2022, the Alliance hosted more than 30 different cohort events, trainings, and workshops for network staff to attend and learn from. Here are just a few examples of the trainings and sessions offered last year:
- The Communications Cohort hosted a press and media panel of journalists and producers to teach communications staffers the most effective tactics for pitching stories and building relationships with the press.
- The Program Cohort discussed upcoming election plans, such as how to keep canvassers safe in the field, assess risk, and support field teams to succeed in meeting their goals.
- The Development Cohort talked about event planning. Network organizations presented their most successful fundraising events including happy hours, astrology and cocktail workshops, cookie classes, and annual celebrations. Putting the fun in fundraising.
- The Operations Cohort reviewed and discussed topics such as business insurance, brought in outside legal counsel to go over employment law basics, and worked with our Finance and Development departments to go over budgeting and fundraising.
- The Data Cohort hosted a VAN Audit workshop where teams from across the network came and worked through a set of record-cleaning and organizing steps on their EveryAction and VAN committees to improve their data infrastructure and have their databases better reflect their organizing.
Monthly Member Competition – At the Alliance, grassroots and sustainable funding is our jam. The network Monthly Member Competition made a return for an eighth year, and of course, the network killed it! This program encourages the growth of monthly donor programs, which results in a sustainable source of funding that organizations can count on. Network organizations gained monthly dollars and unlocked grants from the Alliance for reaching important benchmarks and being standouts in parts of the competition.
11 network organizations participated, here are some of the results:
- $37,456.61 total raised per year
- $3,121.38 monthly dollars
- 217 new monthly donors recruited
- $60,000 in Alliance grants awarded
These successes would not have been possible without the efforts of youth organizers, staff, Board members, and a wide range of supporters, partners, and friends. Together, we will continue to build a world in which young people have the power to effect change and create a better future where we can all thrive.
We can’t wait to see what the Alliance Network will accomplish together as we rebuild and revitalize our movement. Thank you for being a part of the Alliance’s success!
Support the Alliance Network through another year of smashing goals and breaking records by donating! This work would not be possible without support from activists across the country like you! Help us organize, build power, and win on the progressive issues our generation cares about most with a donation today.
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