youth movement

Some quick hits for you as we head into the weekend (or, perhaps, just the end).

• A Washington Post piece asks if college is worth it
• Ezra Klein flags a graphic showing the percentage of recent college grads with jobs, by major.
  

  

• Speaking of college, here are ten reasons to get pumped for life following graduation.
• Nebraska's 4H organization and the YMCA team up to offer youth entrepreneur classes. An interesting partnership and initiative.
• CBS writes up the story we covered yesterday regarding Rockefeller's belief that young people are morally hollow. (Apparently 13 more people like him on Facebook between yesterday and today.)
• New Hampshire is aging.
• The Pope knows what's up--at least regarding the wisdom of listening to young people.
• Two young candidates in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area won primaries this week.
• Young Canadian city council candidate links young people to the local community.
• UK developing youth "underclass"
• The government: Just say no to sexting.
• Young people afraid to call themselves feminists.
• When will the GOP realize they are on the wrong side of history?

Today, hundreds of young people all over the country are going to deliver a simple message to their local congressional office, "We're ready -- where are the jobs?"

These young people are dressing up for an interview and bringing briefcases to demand Congress comes up with a plan to deal with the youth jobs crisis. Since Van Jones mentioned the idea for these Briefcase Brigades at Powershift, over 31 groups have sprung up in 22 states.

Briefcase Brigades speak to the challenges we face that politicians just aren't listening to. We are the most educated and tech savvy generation, yet unemployment for Americans under 30 is 16.7%, double the national average. The average student loan debt facing graduates today is over $24,000. Our generation is graduating off a cliff - each year, graduates are stuck facing off in the labor market with unemployed graduates from the prior year.

View Briefcase Brigades in a larger map

And yet, the conversation in Washington revolves around how deep to cut the programs we need, while education costs soar and many qualified job seekers can’t find work. They claim cuts to education and job creation programs will benefit us, but cutting necessary investments threatens the economic recovery and our future well-being. The entirety of the debate over the budget has been about how much to cut, with no attention given to the urgent need to expand opportunities for our generation and protect our priorities for the future. Long term deficit reduction cannot come at the expense of investments that create the jobs younger voters desperately need.

As Washington focuses on addressing the nation’s debt burden, young voters are taking a stand and telling their members of Congress that job creation is what we need right now. Despite our generation's considerable political importance, neither party has a plan to address this growing crisis. We want to tell politicians of both party who think that young people care more about deficit reduction than jobs to pay closer attention. As the 2012 election approaches, the voice of young voters will only grow in importance. We’re finding our voice and speaking out about the issues that affect us personally.

Young voters are organizing Brigades around the country, including New York, Washington, Boston, Orlando, Columbus, Minneapolis, Madison and Atlanta, and many other cities. This is the first step in building a movement to resolve the youth jobs crisis.

A lot of Future Majority readers no doubt heard about Andrea Huerfano, the 23-year-old democracy activist from Colombia arrested last week and detained. Andrea, a threat to no one but the forces of apathy, had moved to the U.S. with her family after her father was threatened with political violence. Her father died while waiting consideration of his asylum claims.

Last year, Andrea won a hard fought position as a PolitiCorps fellow, where she spent 80 hours per week registering young Americans to vote, a right she herself lacked. She went on to volunteer in Ohio in the fall of '08, continuing to register voters and kick ass for America.

The good news is that Andrea's deportation has been stayed. This happened because of actions of hundreds of young Americans, many of whom have had the pleasure of serving alongside Andrea. Here's the release the Oregon Bus Project just put out:

YOUNG ACTIVIST FREED FROM DETENTION FACILITY

YOUTH MOVEMENT COMES TO THE AID OF A YOUNG COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

Portland, OR – On December 8th, while paying a traffic ticket, 23 year-old community organizer Andrea Huerfano was detained at Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, and faced imminent deportation. Thanks to the efforts of young organizers from a coalition led by Bus Project, PolitiCorps and Students Working for Equal Rights, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that she will be released this afternoon.

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Andrea's family fled from political threats in Colombia in 2001 with a valid visa, bringing her and her younger brother to the United States before her first year of high school. During her second year at Florida State University, while the family's political asylum was still being adjudicated, Andrea's father died of liver cancer. After his death, Andrea and her mother and brother pursued political asylum status based on his experiences in Columbia. They submitted their plea to immigration Judge Teofilo Chapa. Although the national average denial rate for applications for asylum is 58%, Judge Chapa denies 88% of the asylum claims before him. Their claim was denied.

After hearing word of her detention last Tuesday, an impromptu coalition of non-profits, advocates, students, lawyers and individuals from across the country came together in support of Andrea. Hundreds of people across the country were recruited to petition for Andrea’s release, putting phone calls into ICE offices in DC and Florida.

Andrea will be released on a "stay of removal" this afternoon and will have six months to assemble her case.

"We'll continue to work closely with her during this next phase, but for now – we just want to express how grateful we are for the incredible outpouring of support, advice, resources, time, and love," says Caitlin Baggott, Director of PolitiCorps, "Andrea deserves a chance to achieve her American dream."

Even as her status in the United States became increasingly uncertain Andrea continued to be an avid volunteer and community activist. She donated her time to numerous organizations, including Florida Immigrant Coalition and the DREAM Team coalition while a student at Florida State University. After graduating from Florida State University with a bachelors degree in international relations, she volunteered for five months with the International Labor Rights Forum and the International Rescue Committee, where she helped case workers work with with individuals who had been granted asylum. In the summer of 2008 she earned a competitive a Fellowship to participate in PolitiCorps, a prestigious political training program in Portland, Oregon.

“Andrea’s passionate commitment to American democratic values and her reliance and optimism in the face of adversity make her one of the most exceptional young leaders I have ever had the privilege of knowing,” says Alex Tischenko, a former supervisor of Andrea's, regarding her deep involvement in civic engagement. During her fellowship with PolitiCorps in 2008, she spearheaded efforts to educate low-income communities about criminal justice legislation in Oregon. She was considered one of the hardest-working and most promising Fellows in the program. Andrea continued on to support "get out the vote" efforts in Ohio during the 2008 general election.

For more information about the Andrea’s case, please contact Mollie Ruskin or Caitlin Baggott at the Oregon Bus Project at 503.233.3018

###

Thank you, all, for your help.

To help more young Americans (citizen status pending), check out USSA's DREAM Act page.

Yesterday Craig wrote about the "Youth Disengagement Meme" and closed with the following paragraph:

Unfortunately, given the lack of funding for many progressive youth organizations, the communications efforts aren't there. By no means am I an expert in progressive youth infrastructure, but I do want to raise awareness of this. Because I have a feeling that the Corzine campaign's inability to engage youth on a peer-to-peer level is going to have some rough consequences, I believe we're going to be facing the "youth are disengaged" meme that will affect our preparations for 2010 and 2012. What are we going to do?

Last week Sarah wrote about the lack of youth outreach from the Democratic establishment. In that piece, she quotes Morley Winograd:

"There's been a missed opportunity here in showcasing the kind of youthful, optimistic, hopeful energy that greatly Obama benefited from during the campaign," said Morley Winograd. . ."But of course it does not at all mean that the opportunity has gone away."

Between 2004 and 2008 progressive youth organizations were building a strategy and infrastructure to turn out young voters and engage them in issue advocacy outside of elections. Major progressive donors seemed to realize the latent power of the youth vote and the need to catch up with the conservative funding machine that supports conservative youth.

Money came in to progressive youth organizations and they continued building on their earlier successes. In 2008 the work paid off resulting in the election of President Barack Obama and large Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate. Unfortunately, it seems that donors now feel like the mission was accomplished and the funding dried up.

There are some who argue that this is because of the financial crisis, but that is only a small part of it. There is still a lot of money being raised by candidates and PACs. It is that the donors aren't choosing to invest in the long-term as they had been for the previous four years.

Progressives can't take the support of young voters for granted, nor should they miss out on activating this powerful demographic when it comes to fighting for legislation or local races. As Winograd said, we are missing opportunities, and we will continue to do so until progressive donors recommit to building a long-term bloc of progressive voters.

Bumped. --Mike

Ever wondered why young people, despite being the “Future Majority”, aren’t really asked to help imagine and build the future they’ll inherit? I’ve thought about it a lot and it’s unacceptable. That’s why I started Young People First last December. YPF is all about building systems and tools that help young people become a more future-oriented, powerful constituency. We want to push the debate out past the next election, toward what kind of world we’ll inhabit when we’re our parents’ age.

To this end, YPF is building the Future Preparedness Index. The FPI measures how well America is moving toward the type of country we need to be in 25 years. A number of great organizations, like Mobilize.org, Black Youth Vote, Roosevelt Institution, and Student Association for Voter Empowerment (a full list of partners is below), are already helping us build this tool.

Now we need your help. Let us know what issues you think are most important from a Future Preparedness perspective. Your input is important for helping us build the Future Preparedness Index into something that will help our politics address our country’s most difficult problems. Here’s the questionnaire: http://www.youngpeoplefirst.org.

Future Preparedness Index partners: Mobilize.org, Roosevelt Institution, Student Association for Voter Empowerment, Black Youth Vote, CIRCLE, Generation Engage, Concord Coalition, Youth Entitlements Summit, National Conference on Citizenship, HeadCount, Truman National Security Project, and Sierra Club.

With the Credit Card Holder's Bill of Rights voted out of committee yesterday, the full House goes to vote next week. According to the Speaker's Blog

"The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights protects Americans against the unfair and often abusive practices of credit card companies. Americans should never be subject to excessive credit card fees, sky-high interest rates, and unfair, incomprehensible agreements that credit card companies revise at will. But during a recession, with so many families in economic peril, these practices can be devastating.

This legislation is a departure from an era of government indifference to anti-consumer practices. I commend Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for her tenacious work on this legislation in the face of continued opposition from corporate interests. I look forward to a strong, bipartisan vote in favor of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights and to working with the Senate to send this critical pro-consumer legislation to President Obama for his signature into law."

While the economy is in freefall and CEOs are jumping out of windows, Americans are seeking refuge in bankruptcy courts and in the offices of credit counselors across the country. Young people are no different.

What predatory lenders peppering corners with high interest pay-day loans are to the poor, blood sucking credit card companies offering free t-shirts and unlimited cash on campuses are to youth.

In a report this week from the Online News Hour

"According to a study commissioned by Sallie Mae researchers, the average undergraduate carries $3,173 of credit card debt -- the highest level since researchers started collecting data in 1998."

The current legislation includes a section forbidding credit cards to emancipated minors under 18 years old. That's a pretty small community of people, and provides zero protection for students on campuses and new high school graduates. The Online News Hour piece referenced above suggested originally Congress was considering making it harder to issue credit to anyone under 21. The piece also mentions a hardcore lobby effort from the Bankers Association, which is probably the reason for the 21 to 17 and under emancipated youth switcharoo. The partnering Senate Bill The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd has the 21 year old limit.

The House Bill is a joke. As open as I'm sure so many progressives want to be, lets be realistic. Credit.com reports that a majority of young people begin establishing lines of credit between 18 and 22. They also say that the majority of those 18-22 year olds don't understand how their financial decisions impact their credit.

At the same time

"Credit card companies spend billions of dollars marketing to young people through the Internet, television, phone and old-fashioned brochures in the mail offering pre-approval, low interest rates, and even "free money" if you sign up now.

They are especially aggressive on college campuses, buying lists of students from schools and entering into agreements that allow them to set up tables in front of dining areas and activity fairs.

"They were everywhere...like vultures: outside of my dorm, at football games and in the quad. I took their teddy bears, free pizza, tote bags and complicated, convoluted signup forms," Kali Dun, a University of Virginia student, told a congressional hearing on credit card abuses. "

Many colleges have banned the vultures and some state governments have worked from their level to protect students. Is it so much to ask that the feds do the same?

The Newsletter for the Federal Courts warned, years ago, that young consumers should be wary about credit card companies and their practices.

"Many of the debtors who come into bankruptcy court admit that if someone had warned them about the pitfalls, they would not be in that predicament," said Chief Bankruptcy Judge John Ninfo of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York. . .

"It is especially troubling that more and more young people are falling victim to credit card abuse and turning to bankruptcy as a means to relieve their oppressive debts," Chief Judge John Walker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit added."

I'm grateful for Sen. Dodd's 21 year old cap but I wish both bills would make all public universities a safe haven from credit card companies that pull the rug of financial stability out from under young consumers.

This morning fellow FM blogger Karlo is at the Roosevelt Institute Health Care Forum and wanted to do a liveblog of the event. Instead the wifi is a bit spotty so he is live tweeting it from his phone.

Feel free to watch via his twitter account but here are some of his tweets below. I will try to update as they develop.

• the end =)
• LA: people need to keep up the momentum, urge you reps to hold town hall meetings with their constituents.
• LA: its too early to say what the minimum benefits pricing model will be.
• LA: we are reaching out to all communities. If people want to talk with us, we meet with them. This process is open and transparent.
• LA: massachusetts shows that penalties, even low ones, work. . . They are at 90% coverage.
• LA: coordinating care, such as having doctors know what tests and medications you have had, leads to better quality care and lowers costs.
• LA: check out healthreform.gov and tell us your ideas/stories.
• LA: Process-wise, the first challenge was getting health care in the budget. now that the budget has passed, This is an enormous victory.
• LA: we have a shortage of primary care physicians and nurses.
• LA: privacy is a big issue. We will be hiring a privacy officer at HHS
• LA and the audience are going off on electronic medical records and heath information technology in general.
• LA: the stimulus provided 90 billion in Medicaid money to the states, because of state budget shortfalls.
• LA: obama sees health care reform as a moral and financial imperative. Health costs are rising and eating up GDP
• LA: changing the system to incentivize quality care
• LA: three prongs to health care reform: cost, choice, and quality care. This is our time, we waited 15 years.
• LA: health care reform is the top domestic priority for this year.
• Keynote is here!
• Advocates for youth and campus progress folks are in attendance!
• Advocates for youth and campus progress folks are in attendance!less than
• @caitlinhowarth is leading a great summit. Very excited for lauren aronson's keynote speech!less than a minute ago
• break soon, then keynote speaker lauren aronson, policy director for the white house office for healthcare reform =)
• roosevelt Students giving presentations now. They are energized and have great ideas about how to mobilize their campuses!
• MG: PHIP is the only way to control costs, ensure quality, + force private insurance companies 2 finally put our health b4 their profits
• MG: polling shows that nearly 3 out of 4 voters want a public health insurance option. 'this plan is built on choice'
• Melinda gibson, health care 4 america now, presents. 'this is the moment' 'this is different', in regards to public health insurance plan
• JU: young voters need to hear that this is a pocket book issue. . . It concerns all of us.
• JU: . . . But young voters feel a stronger sense of urgency to change the system than voters overall
• JU: young voters are more worried than voters overall about changes in health care reform. . .
• JU: how to talk to young voters about health reform- personal dialogue works best, more likely to worry about their family and self.
• JU: young voters choose 'rising health care costs' as the number 2 issue. Women more concerned than men.
• JU: poll finding: 'health care is a much more salient concern for young voters than people might have thought.'about
• JU: under 30s view the debate thru a cost prism. . .a lot of anger at health insurance companies overall, but less among younger ppl
• Joshua Ulibarri, lake research partners, discusses keys to engaging young americans in the health care debate.
• SB: our country has a low use of medical records when compared to other nations.
• SB: very few americans pay no out of pocket costs, while many pay over 1000 or more (a lot when compared to other nations)
• SB: it is hard to get a same day appointment and takes long to schedule one when compared to other developed nations.
• SB: even for people with insurance, 1 in 4 is having problems saying medical bills. 1 in 2 among those without health insurance.
• SB: other democratic nations developed a mechanism for insuring everyone, but not us
• SB: our health care system 'costs are 25% or greater than those of any other wealthy democratic nation.'
• SB: ' more than 100 millions persons uninsured, underinsured, or unable to pay their medical bills.'
• Sara rosenbaum - dir of GWU health policy department. Presents public health stats and wonky jokes
• robert nelb welcomes summit attendees. 'create advocacy campaigns around graduation, a time when students lose their health insurance.'
• Check that - Rx Summit
• Just arrived at the marvin center for the roosevelt institution health forum.

William Smith has done an amazing amount of important research that as a former soldier is very important to him and to our returning young members of the armed forces. --Sarah

First, what makes me qualified to write this article? I am a Veteran, I utilized the Montgomery GI Bill, I use VA for my health care and I have worked in Higher Education for the past nine years as a Public Health Educator. Since June 1989, I have been and will always be an American soldier. Like many Veterans, I enlisted for military service because of my sense of pride and duty to my country. I was assigned to the famed 1st Infantry Division — the Big Red One (BRO) at Ft. Riley, Kansas. Furthermore, I was assigned to one of the oldest units in the Army: Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment —- Hamilton’s Own.

One November day in 1990, the BRO was called to duty as part of Operation Desert Shield. My unit deployed to Saudi Arabia at the end of December 1990 and returned to Ft. Riley at the end of May 1991. I was awarded the Bronze Star for my service during Desert Storm.

I received an Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Army in June 1992 and enlisted in the Army Reserve in October 1992. I remained in the Reserve until December 1997.

Soon Veterans will be able to begin utilizing the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act or as it is more commonly referred to as the GI Bill for the 21st Century. This new GI Bill is a significant improvement to the Montgomery GI Bill which helped pay for my undergraduate education – well barely, it helped with living expenses but not for tuition and books. The GI Bill for the 21st Century will enhances one of the most fundamental benefits for Veterans aside from eligibility to utilize the Veterans Administration (VA) Health Care System. For more information about the GI Bill for the 21st Century, click here.

The question that Administrator’s in higher education need to begin asking themselves is, are our country’s college and university campuses prepared for the estimated 580,000 next generation of Veteran’s of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are our campuses prepared to address the unique needs that these students will bring to campus – different life experiences than traditional students, increased mental and physical health issues, increased utilization of campus disability services, support networks and organizations for students who are Veterans, etc.?

Let’s look at the current profile of all Veterans and what the potential issues faced by college campuses:
Basic Facts About Veterans (click to make larger)

Based on this FY 08 data there is the potential of approximately 65.5% of those receiving educational benefits are also being compensated for PTSD.

Looking at the number of amputees from the current VA data, there is also the potential from theses veterans to seek higher education on our campus and Disability Offices in concert with Counseling Services will need to position themselves to accommodate their needs.

Now let’s look specifically at OEF/OIF Veterans
Profile of Service Members Currently Deployed

Total number currently deployed includes all branches of service
Profile of Service Members Currently Deployed

It is estimated that there are 1.8M OIF/OEF Veterans to date since 2001.

Profile of Service Members Currently Deployed

It is projected that approximately 580,000 Veterans will take advantage of the GI Bill for the 21st Century. This was signed into law in 2008 by then President Bush and significantly increases the educational benefits to Veterans from the previous Montgomery GI Bill.

Current research on students who are Veterans is limited. Most of the research is dated from the post Vietnam era. I was able to find one qualitative study that was conducted by Dr. DiRamio – assistant professor of higher education administration at Auburn University; Dr. Ackerman – associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Regina Mitchell – doctoral candidate in education leadership at Central Michigan University. Their study is titled, "From Combat to Campuses: Voices of Student-Veterans" () and was published in the NASPA Journal in 2008.

What they found is that students who are Veterans typically move through four transitional periods in the course of their initial enlistment, deployment to a combat zone, coming home, and transitioning to campus life. These are classified as Military Moving In, Moving Through, Moving Out, and Campus Moving In stages. It is a great article to read (PDF).

The common issues that OIF/OEF Veterans will bring with them to college campuses are high rates of mental health disorders (PTSD, depression and increased alcohol use); increased rates of suicide and suicidal ideation; learning issues as a result of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); and physical disabilities. PTSD is the result of any event that inspires fear, helplessness, and threat of annihilation.

Personnel in combat zones are exposed to high levels of stress and threat every day. Tours of duty typically last 12 months and current rotations have troops doing repeated tours of duty. This can have a significant impact on troop’s ability to manage this high level of stress over time. Combat related PTSD may include the following: recurrent recollections or dreams about war; flashbacks that cause the veteran to relive various trauma; avoiding any reminders of combat; emotionally numbing; hyper-arousal (feeling of being on edge and alert for new threats). PTSD and depression are often times linked among Veterans.

It has been reported that nearly half of veterans with PTSD were also depressed. Depressed veterans often times feel: worthless and profoundly sad; have poor concentration; have a lack of interest in social activities; have feelings of hopeless and helpless; experience a change in appetite; have difficulty sleeping or over sleeping; are irritable; and experience suicidal thoughts or attempts.

An article in the LA Times emphasizes the need to be mindful that

"some service members may actively avoid a diagnosis of a mental health problem, fearing the negative consequences of being diagnosed with a stress disorder or depression….these troops are worried that their career could be hurt or co-workers would have less confidence in them after a diagnosis."

This article also noted the need for

"thousands more mental health professionals – both government hospitals and the civilian health care systems – are needed to meet the need of troops and veterans, and new training is needed for current medical professionals."

According to the article Bringing the War Back Home

"the youngest group of OEF/OIF veterans were at the greatest risk for receiving mental health or PTSD diagnosis compared to veterans 40 years or older."

Campus Counseling Centers must become mindful of the unique conditions these students will present in terms of their exposure to trauma in the combat zone. They must be prepared to address the potential increase of students seeking services. Clinicians will need to be prepare to address the trauma of combat – high combat stress situation and loss of comrades. Campus clinicians must also become familiar with the resources that are available to Veterans and how to refer them to the VA or Vet Center‘s for treatment and care.

The use of alcohol among Combat Veterans as a means of self medication to cope with PTSD, depression, or social anxiety disorders is also of concern.

"In 2003, there were an estimated 25 million veterans comprising roughly 11.5 percent of the 217 million non-institutionalized civilians aged 17 or older in the United States. Approximately 93 percent of veterans are male, and 8.4 percent were between the ages of 17 and 34. (SAMHSA, 2008).

"An estimated 56.6 percent of veterans used alcohol in the past month compared with 50.8 percent of their nonveteran counterparts in 2003. Heavy use of alcohol also was more prevalent among veterans, with an estimated 7.5 percent of veterans drinking heavily in the past month compared with 6.5 percent of their nonveteran counterparts" (SAMHSA, 2008).

"An estimated 13.2 percent of veterans reported driving while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year compared with 12.2 percent of comparable nonveterans"(SAMHSA, 2008).

The VA has approximately 94 alcohol dependence treatment program (ADP) and 42 drug dependence treatment programs (DDTP). Each ADTP and DDTP provides services that include intervention support activities, emergency medical services including detoxification, clinical and vocational assessment, consulting liaison, ambulatory/out-patient and after-care services.

Again, campus clinicians need to become familiar with the resources that are available to Veterans and how to refer them to the VA or Vet Center’s for treatment and care.

Many Veterans have become victims of Traumatic Brain Injuries as a result of the employment of IED or road side bombs. TBI is the result of sudden trauma that causes damage to the brain when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue. The victim may remain conscious or may experience a loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes. Other symptoms may include headache, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision or tired eyes, ringing in the ears, bad taste in the mouth, fatigue or lethargy, a change in sleep patterns, behavioral or mood changes, and trouble with memory, concentration, or attention.

Some of the consequences resulting from TBI include problems with cognition (thinking, memory, and reasoning), sensory processing (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell), communication (expression and understanding), and behavior or mental health (depression, anxiety, personality changes, aggression, acting out, and social inappropriateness).

This type of injury, along with other injuries that result in physical disabilities such as amputation may bring an increased demand for the utilization of campus Disability Services. Again, these services should become familiar with the services provided by the VA to assist students who are Veterans. One program at my local VA hospital provides veterans with PDA’s and GPS’s to assist with calendar and task reminders and with direction finding.

The Student Veterans of America (SVA) is a coalition of student veterans groups from college campuses across the United States. The SVA was founded in January of 2008 and works to develop new student groups, coordinate between existing student groups, and advocate on behalf of student veterans at the local, state, and national level. SVA has published a guide for college campuses to use to prepare them for an increase of Veterans attending their schools. Key points from the guide are as follows:

• Survey student veterans for their needs and concerns.
• Work with student veterans during registration periods to ensure they are able to quickly enroll in classes.
• Develop easy to use procedure to notify institution (all parts of it to include professors, departments, programs, support offices) in the event they are called to duty. Ensure point of contact is promoted and easy to find.
• Keep in mind that Department of Veterans Affairs benefits and programs do not cover all the needs of student veterans.
• Consider developing institution specific scholarships, programs and other student veteran’s resources.
• Evaluate the admissions process to ensure veterans are not disadvantaged. Student transitioning out of active service face a host of admissions difficulties.
• Be mindful that Veterans have dramatically different life experiences, especially younger veterans, that their counterpart traditional students.
• Do not treat them the same as you do student straight out of high school or other first time students.
• Develop veteran specific orientation programs. Partner with local veterans organizations and military units for presentations and assistance.

In the end, the important thing to remember is that our Service Members have volunteered to provide service to their country. Whether their motivation to enlist was the result of a sense of patriotism, a duty to country, or as a way to pay for higher education they have earned the benefits they receive once their enlistment obligation has been met. It then becomes the obligation of Institutions of Higher Education to ensure that the unique needs of these students will be met on college campuses in order for our Veterans to be successful students.

It is the Army Core values that I learned in Basic Training and throughout my tour of duty in the Army that continue to guide me today and have proven to be useful in all aspects of my life – loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Our colleges must be prepared to take on the needs of these returning service men and women.

Resources for Veterans

Transition Assistance Program
Department of Veteran Affairs
Iraq and Afghan Veterans of American
After Deployment
Military Health System

See Works Cited below the jump

Back in December, when the Presidential Transition was just beginning to ramp up, I wrote two pieces about the current state and future of progressive youth organizing:

• Framing the Youth Movement
• Where Do We Go From Here?

These were pretty high level, 30,000 foot views. Today, having finished the transition period, I want to talk a little more specifically about what I think the youth organizing space needs to accomplish in 2009 and 2010 in order to push this "movement," (such that is one) forward beyond the electoral work that has primarily defined us for 4 years. These are the four main themes that I think need to define our work, and this is where Future Majority will likely focus its efforts in 2009:

• Spread Internal Policy and Lobbying Expertise: What little institutional knowledge the youth community has when it comes to moving legislation is locked up in a few orgs with professional lobbying staff (USSA, PIRG, maybe Energy Action). We need to create a mechanism to unlock and spread that knowledge out to the rest of the community. Furthermore, we need to grow our organizational and personal social networks on the Hill and find allies who can guide us through the process, sponsor bills, and give us greater entre into DC. It was my hope that the White House Youth Liaison might in part be an ally in this process, but at this time the transition is completed and there is no word from the Administration as to whether or not such a position will even be created let alone staffed with someone who will be a competent and forceful ally.
• Resist Issue and Age Silos: A framework needs to be created under which youth organizations working on different issues can endorse and support each other. We are strongest when we act together and demographically speaking the vast majority of Millennials are going to be on the same side of a number of issues. It's widely recognized that siloization of issues in the progressive movement was detrimental overall, we should recognize that and be conscious not segregate ourselves along issue lines. Likewise, our work shouldn't be separate from the work of "older" progressive organizations. Progressive campaigns should all have youth-targeted components and rather than run our own programs, we should be running the youth-targeted pieces of these larger campaigns.
• Voter Registration Reform is a Game Changer: We are all excited to make headway on major issues like climate change, green jobs, education funding, and restoring civil liberties, but our success in all of those areas in part depends on high levels of youth participation at the polls. Maintaining those levels of engagement is a resource intensive endeavor that never stops. It sucks up millions of dollars and thousands of staff hours per year. Automatic Universal Registration with an Election Day Registration fail-safe, as proposed by Rock the Vote, could potentially guarantee that 2008 is not the last time we see 53% turnout or higher among youth. It would also put dozens of youth groups effectively out of the voter registration business, saving millions of dollars a year that could instead be spent on GOTV, issue campaigns, and leadership development. That would change the youth organizing space in profound and fundamental ways, I think perhaps for the better. I would like to see some form of AUVR and EDR passed during this Congress, and get all youth groups out of the voter reg business by 2012.
• Reform the Democratic Part(ies) and Party Committees: As I've noted many times, Obama's engagement of young voters remains the exception, not the rule in Democratic politics. We've had a lot of great rhetoric from Howard Dean's DNC about the importance of young voters, but very few campaigns or state parties took that to heart, and Dean's words never translated to a stronger, better resourced youth infrastructure within the Democratic Party. The best that could be said of Dean's tenure with regard to youth participation in the party is that we saw the creation of the Youth Council, and entity that is still getting its legs and fighting for power, and we saw a higher number of youth delegates at the Democratic convention, something more attributable to Obama's candidacy then to any policy or program instituted by Gov. Dean. The argument for greater inclusion of youth within the party structure, and the codification of youth outreach and engagement as a sound strategy practiced by the state parties and party committees has never been stronger. Over the next 4 years we are going to need to make that case so that the Democratic Party does not squander the opportunity of a generation. This is another area in which I hoped a White House Youth Liaison would be helpful. At the moment, it seems as though we'll need to just wait and see what Jennifer Dillon O'Mally and Mitch Stewart, respectively, do now that they are officially in control of the DNC and Organizing for America.

These are what I see as the four main tasks ahead of us in terms of creating greater coherency and power for our movement over the coming years, and adapting to the new power structure in DC and our relation to it. What do you think? Did I leave anything out or misrepresent anything?

Today, Crystal Strait, the Political Director of the California Democratic Party, announced her candidacy to become YDA President. As I reported in my book, YDA underwent huge changes in recent years. They left the DNC and transformed from a networking organization for aspiring politicos to become a great grassroots, peer-to-peer organizing operation targeting young voters. This change lies at the heart of what Kevin was talking about in his post yesterday about the disconnect between "youth movement" people, young staff, and the Democratic Party. Crystal gets that. She understands why peer-to-peer organizing targeted at young people is important. In short, she'd make a great YDA President and I wish her the best of luck.

Enough of me yapping, though. Here's Crystal's letter to the Young Dems announcing her candidacy:

Dear Young Democrat,

I want you to know that I am running for President of the Young Democrats of America.

For more than 75 years, YDA has served as an arena for young leaders to cut their teeth, learn politics and earn their first stripes. But for many of us, just playing politics isn’t enough.

Over the last three election cycles, there has been a slow and steady push for YDA to be a people-powered organization that dedicates our time to doing the hard work it takes to build a bloc of progressive young voters. Like many of us, I have dedicated myself to this change and want to see YDA become a place that will continue to build and represent our generation.

That's why I am running for YDA President and hope I can earn your support.

Through the inspired efforts of young people across America, we have generated unprecedented results; and we are now poised to become a sustained force for change and progress. We must open the doors and embrace this once-in-a-lifetime energy. We must ensure that the ineffective organizational politics of old are left behind so we can build upon our achievements and embrace the change our generation so desperately wants; and our country so desperately needs.

We know change is never easy, but it is necessary for progress.

With our talented and diverse membership, I am confident we have the power to make the changes we need to move YDA forward. I am running for YDA President so together we can make these changes and realize our collective potential. Working together, we can make progress; without all of our shoulders to the wheel, we cannot advance.

We will change YDA by bringing more people into the room, not fewer--by making our programming serve and help our members grow at the local level--by making sure that we represent millions of young voters by directly advocating on the issues that impact them the most—and most importantly by holding each other accountable for getting the work done.

From my time as a local chapter president, state chapter president and national officer, I have ideas on how we can get there—and I know you do, too. The future of YDA is in our hands. I look forward to talking with you, so we can share our ideas and plan how we move YDA forward, together.

Last Tuesday night, our President said to a room of young people just like you and me: “The future will be in your hands...You will make it happen."

Let’s make it happen, together.

Best,

Crystal