80MS

Bumped. Ian Storrar, COO of Mobilize.org, invites you to apply for a grant summit in Chicago. - Karlo

On Friday I attended a reception with Majority Leader Hoyer’s staff at the Capitol, along with many of my friends and colleagues in the youth empowerment movement. In July, Majority Leaders Hoyer keynoted at the 80 Million Strong For Young American Jobs summit where over 100 Millennials engaged with him on some of the most pressing issues of our day. On Thursday, I attended a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee (see Karlo Marcelo’s coverage on FM). My fellow Co-Chair of 80 Million Strong, Matthew Segal, testified about the huge disparity in unemployment across generations that leaves the Millennial Generation ill-equipped to tackle the economic and personal financial barriers of the near and long-term future.

Let’s turn to Chicago, not to dissect the 2016 Olympics but because this November 18th to 20th Mobilize.org will be holding another summit for young leaders in our generation to tackle economic problems. Democracy 2.0: Exploring the Millennial Generation’s Return on Investment (ROI) will bring together 150 people, many of whom were in DC this July, to discuss the barriers to our collective financial health and then compete for Democracy 2.0 Awards ($25,000 is available) to implement their ideas at the grassroots and netroots levels. The issues we will address range from healthcare and medicare/-aid to personal financial education and taxes.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation sponsors Exploring Millennial ROI so, for selected summit participants who need it, travel expenses will be paid. We’re also excited to have an intergenerational partner in AARPs Lifetuner. The application form for the Summit is open until October 17th and anyone interested in competing for an Award should fill out a separate form with their proposal outline. I’m always happy to talk with anyone who’s interested and/or has questions (202 736 5703) or email ian@mobilize.org.

This is the year for dealing with these issues and pushing bold, innovative ideas. Demos is holding A Better Deal in Washington, DC I two weeks. You should go, I am. From there, let’s go to Chicago and cement our commitment to making change happen through collaborative approaches to our tough fiscal times.

I just returned from the House Education and Labor Committee hearing on youth unemployment. This hearing is the follow-up to the 80 Million Strong National Jobs Summit, which convened 100 young leaders from 30 states to discuss problems and solutions about youth jobs. Since the Summit, youth unemployment and underemployment have risen. In fact, this past summer, typically the best time for young people to find jobs, was the worst on record. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics summer youth unemployment report:

The youth unemployment rate was 18.5 percent in July 2009, the highest July rate on record for the series, which began in 1948. As with the decline in employment, the increase in youth unemployment in the summer of 2009 reflected a weak job market. The July 2009 unemployment rates for young men (19.7 percent), women (17.3 percent), whites (16.4 percent), blacks (31.2 percent), Asians (16.3 percent), and Hispanics (21.7 percent) increased from a year earlier.

Note that unemployment was up for all young people, not just specific demographics. In his opening remarks, Chairman Miller stated that "young people are the hardest hit". Simple and right to the point.

The first witness to testify, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, Jane Oates, said that the stimulus funds sent to states did create jobs and that a detailed report was still being prepared and actual numbers were not yet available. Anecdotally, she's received positive feedback from young people who got jobs through stimulus funds. She noted that in many of the letters she had received from young workers, there were stories of saving money for college or for helping out the family during hard times. If not for the stimulus funds, it's likely that youth unemployment would have been higher and all the negative externalities bundled with it. Representative Bobby Scott quoted a Los Angeles-based community organization's motto that the best way to stop a bullet is with a job.

Another committee member, Representative Marcia Fudge, explained that her first jobs when she was a young person were important to her, equipping her with the experiences and skills that could, and did, carry her forward. With a passion that seemed to make time stop so that we, the audience, could prepare for what she would say next, she talked about pride. The pride of working and contributing to the community in a positive way. That feeling of pride in work knows no generational boundaries. Matt Segal of 80 Million Strong, a witness at the hearing, testified to that fact when he said that the Millennial generation is enthusiastic about young people doing their part, through hard work, to get this country out of recession. He then presented some of our generation's ideas, collected from the 80MS National Jobs Summit.

Yet, one of the big questions that was not answered directly in the hearing is how to deal effectively with the transition of a fourth generation, Millennials, into the workforce. It's almost like there is an elevator so full that others are left to take the stairs, even though they contributed to the construction of said elevator. So, it sounds like we need a bigger elevator, and luckily there's the spirit to make that happen. In his testimony, Segal noted that young people are increasingly interested in public service careers and in such expanding fields as healthcare, cyber security, green jobs and social entrepreneurship.

Much of the hearing focused specifically on low-income youth and youth of color, but 80MS is talking about a broader, much more comprehensive jobs agenda that aims to incorporate our generation's varied talents and skills towards the construction of a 21st century economy. Poverty and racism are problems not unique to today's young people, but the current state of joblessness, debt and lack of opportunity for young people of all backgrounds are specific to our times; right now, we need a solution for a generational workforce problem that threatens to leave America's youth worse off than their parents.

Great news! If you are in the DC area, please consider attending the hearing tomorrow at 10 AM.

Congress to Hold Hearings on Youth Unemployment
Leading Youth Organizations Score Major Victory in Promoting Innovative Jobs Proposals

Contact: Matthew Segal, SAVE executive director, 847-502-5012, matthew.segal@savevoting.org;
Hilary Doe, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network director, 419-350-5169, hdoe@rooseveltinstitute.org;
Maya Enista, Mobilize.org CEO, 202- 352-3641, maya@mobilize.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC- The Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives has announced it will hold a hearing this Thursday, October 1st at 10am entitled “Ensuring Economic Opportunities for Young Americans.” The hearing was scheduled as a result of a conference organized by the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs Coalition, which convened hundreds of young leaders in the U.S Capitol to urge Congress to examine the disproportionate effects of the economic recession on young Americans.

Data shows that youth unemployment is nearly double the national average:

* 18% of all 16-24 year olds are unemployed compared to a 9.7% national average (BLS)
* Young African-American unemployment has climbed to 27.3% (BLS)
* Young Latino unemployment stands at 21.37% (BLS)
* Undergraduate debt from student loans averages $27,000 per graduate
* $2000 dollars is the average amount of credit card debt by the age of 24
* 30% of young people are uninsured, the highest of any age group, according to the Kaiser Foundation

To address this crisis head-on, nearly thirty of the nation’s leading youth organizations launched the 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs Coalition, working collaboratively to endorse various policy platforms that will create jobs and economic opportunity for the 80 million members of the millennial generation.

The coalition’s proposals center on four areas: increasing entrepreneurship resources, student debt reform, access to public service careers, and the creation of “mission critical” jobs that tap young talents.

“In a recession, young people are great sources of innovation and entrepreneurship - yet because of predatory lending and debt, our generation is also more hamstrung at an earlier age than we have ever been. We need some breathing room in which to create new ideas for a new economy," said 80MS national co-chair Matthew Segal, executive director of Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE). "Young people are inherently entrepreneurial. We need a legislative environment that supports, not burdens, young ideas,” stated Segal.

"In order to strengthen the American economy, we must invest in young adults today," said 80MS co-chair Hilary Doe, director of Roosevelt Institute Campus Network. "Our parents and grandparents have been hit hard by this crisis; their security and retirement is on the line. The Millennial generation is already stepping up by going home and working hard to support their families. We cannot leave this young generation crippled with debt and waiting for jobs; we need to help them stand up and lead the new economy, lifting the burden off all generations in the process."

"Whether it be providing grant money to low-income youth for historically unpaid service and internship positions or increasing access to community college, many Americans need more opportunities to get the skills and training they need to build the 21st century economy that will power our country for the future," said Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org and co-chair of the 80MS coalition. "And by investing in mission critical sectors like health care, national security, and green jobs, our Congress can further grow our economy by opening new opportunities where young people are ready to serve, and where our nation most needs our labor."

News of Thursday’s hearing comes just weeks after the 80 Million Strong Coalition issued a formal letter to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) requesting a hearing to exhibit the financial concerns of young Americans. “This is a big victory for young people,” said Matthew Segal, “we are confident that Thursday’s hearing will demonstrate how our generation has developed and expanded its record-breaking civic engagement since the 2008 election.”

For more info, please visit http://80millionstrong.org

Many youth groups are demonstrating their great concern for HCR. Here's more: 80 Million Strong and Young Invincibles announce their partnership.

WASHINGTON 80 Million Strong, a coalition with more than 25 leading national youth organizations committed to creating new jobs and economic opportunity, and Young Invincibles, a nationwide engagement and mobilization effort aimed at involving 18 to 34 year-olds in the health reform debate, have come together to share the stories of young Americans struggling without adequate health insurance coverage.

46 stories are highlighted as part of the effort, one for every one million Americans who are uninsured.

“We know that bringing about meaningful change in our health care system requires us to confront the real stories of physical struggle and financial and emotional hardship faced by so many Americans,” said Ari Matusiak co-founder of Young Invincibles. “In advance of the President’s address to Congress, we are sharing the stories of young people who have suffered needlessly because they are uninsured, or who worry daily about losing the coverage they do have.”

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, of the 46 million Americans without adequate coverage, young Americans ages 19 to 24 represent the highest percentage of uninsured individuals. In 2007, thirty percent of them did not have health insurance and an additional 26 percent of those ages 25 to 34 were also uninsured. Experts speculate that both of these numbers have almost certainly risen due to current economic conditions including high jobless numbers for young people.

“The state of the economy has disproportionately burdened young people – we are experiencing the highest rates of unemployment for young Americans ever. This reality, combined with already high rates of uninsurance in young adults, makes the need for a change in our health care system more important for our generation than for any other age group,” said Maya Enista CEO of Mobilize.org and co-chair of the 80 Million Strong coalition.

“We believe that a public option will not only provide access for 46 million uninsured citizens but will also spur entrepreneurship,” said Matthew Segal, the executive director of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) and a national co-chair of 80 Million Strong. “If young Americans do not have to depend as heavily on their employers for health coverage, they will be more inclined to start or test their own small business ventures, which in turn will create new market value and more jobs. Currently, less than 3 percent of Americans under 25 are self-employed but nearly 60 percent would prefer to be self-employed. We think this statistic is pretty telling in what health insurance reform would do to encourage free enterprise.”

Many of the stories that follow were posted on www.younginvincibles.org. They were uploaded and shared voluntarily as young people joined the online effort to mobilize in support of health reform. Membership to the site has more than doubled in the two weeks since its launch. 80 Million Strong and Young Invincibles encourage young Americans to continue to share their stories in an effort to encourage passage of comprehensive health reform.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Here are some Quick Hits as you wrap up your weekend.

• Michael Hais explains why the phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally" is so relevant to Millennials.
• Sehar Sabir (University of Maryland) writes a summary of 80MS's rule in strengthening the progressive youth movement at the Roosevelt Institution's blog
• What is the average Millennial's comfort food? Find out here.
• How's this for generational theft, John McCain? The only thing our hollowed out American industry can produce anymore is weapons of war, thanks to GOP financial policy. Who shoulders that burden? The middle class and young people.
• A graphic explaining the current situation right now with student loans.

Below are two videos of a speech Former Minority Leader Tom Daschle made at the 80 Million Strong Summit. I wanted to wait to post this because his speech was so critical to our progress both as a country and as a generation.

Amazingly, Daschle's first comments were about work on the Student VOTER Act complimenting the hard battles fought and saying he believes it MUST pass.

"I congratulate SAVE in particular on the Student VOTER Act. I think its really one of the most critical new opportunities to extend voter rights and voter opportunities to students that we have in the country today, and it ought to pass . . ."

"One important, if not the most important things, is participation. Without participation you don't have democracy. You can't have an effective republic. And so, your presence here, is in essence, in recognition of the critical nature of participation in this republic, and a fundamental part of our democracy."

Part 1

"We must reach the kind of health care other countries have. While this presents opportunities for the 10,000 members of SAVE and certainly for each of you in this room. Opportunities regarding the challenge, and opportunities for your own roles and responsibilities moving forward.

It is no secret that there are 3 fundamental problems with health care. Number one, is access. 50 million people don't have health insurance today, and that is an outrage. 48% of those who have insurance don't have adequate insurance, and because they don't 18,000 Americans die every year for the simple reason that they have either inadequate or no insurance. . . .

We also have a quality problem. Did you know that last year the World Health Organization ranked the United State 37th in world quality? Just below Costa Rica and above Slavonia. We are 31st in life expectancy, 29th in infant mortality, and 24th in overall women's health. 100,000 people die every year because of medical mistakes. 100,000 is almost as much as the largest city in my state. . .

And what's driving this debate more than anything else is the cost problem. We have a cost problem that is effecting everybody in this room and its going to effect you a lot more. When I was born... health care comprised 4% of our GDP. When my children were born, about 25 and 30 years ago, the percentage went from 4% to 8%. And when my grandchildren were born, and I have 4 of them now, it went from 8% to 16%. And when you're my age, its going to be 32% according to the Council of Economic Advisers. . ."

Part 2

Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) stops by the 80MS conference to talk about greening our future.

His hilarious speech followed with great questions and answers the most amusing answer being

Green technology can't solve all of our problems, I'm not that guy saying "Ya got acne? Here's a solar panel!"

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

My only sad point in this speech (from a person living in Oklahoma right now) was that he didn't bring his cowboy hat. Sec. Salazar is no stranger to young people and the job depletion particularly in Rural America. You can see via the videos below - I don't have quotes like with Bernstein because I was simply too engaged in what Sec. Salazar was talking about. Truly amazing speech, if you can stick with the fact that its in 3 different videos.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Jared Bernstein is an American economist who has been designated Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama Administration. Bernstein was formerly a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and is author to the book Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (And other Unsolved Economic Mysteries).

His last book was All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy. He is also the co-author of eight editions of the book State of Working America and has published extensivly in popular and academic venues. He is a frequent contributor to the cable station CNBC and holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Columbia University. He was also the one that was cut off by the moderator.

Notable comments:

"You don't get from the deepest recession since the depression in a few weeks days or months even. . . I think there is this kind of meme being adapted - if unemployment is rising therefore the recovery act isn't working. There is no stimulus plan that could offset the greatest recession and the trillions of dollars in debt that the US is in.

"We are not at "Mission Accomplished" until we are fully putting people back to work and fully out of the woods."

"And, less bad is not the bar we seek to clear."

Part 1

Part 2

See my earlier post on Justin's speech here.