Current political realities, such as the outsize influence of money in electoral politics and the under-representation of younger citizens in the US Congress, make it difficult for young Americans to exercise the full extent of their political power. Furthermore, younger citizens do not effectively articulate a future-oriented perspective, despite the fact that they will inherit the long-term consequences of government action, or inaction. We believe that this is due to a lack of commitment to engaging young people in future-oriented thinking, and a failure to effectively connect long-term problems to their deeply held values.
Young People First works to establish a powerful constituency of young people to advocate for long-term priorities in the United States. To do so, we engage young thinkers and organizations to set measurable goals that capture America’s most urgent 21st Century needs. Our principal tool in tracking these goals is the “Future Preparedness Index” (FPI), which empowers younger generations to prevent the next cycle of hidden crises here in the US by providing a structure for consistently elevating long-term policy priorities in the political discourse.
Senior Advisory Council:
Hilary Doe, National Director of the Roosevelt Campus Network
Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org
John Kamensky, Senior Fellow and Associate Partner for the The IBM Center for the Business of Goverment
Catalina Ruiz-Healy, Principal of Catalista Consulting
David Smith, National Director of the National Conference on Citizenship
Our Team:
Zachary Kolodin is YPF’s co-Founder, Executive Director, and Board President. He first emerged as a youth leader at Wesleyan, where he served as Student Body President. Zach trained for a year as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, and spent six months as a Strategy Consultant to Echoing Green before launching Young People First. He has also worked for the Corporation for National and Community Service, Living Cities, and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development.
Bernard Holloway serves as YPF’s Vice President. Since graduating from the University of North Carolina, Bernard completed a year of leadership training at the Coro New York Leadership Center. He is currently the campaign manager of Mark Winston Griffith’s run for New York City Council. In 2003, Bernard co-authored Freedom’s Answer: Too young to vote but old enough to lead, a book addressing civic engagement and political participation among young people.
Adrienne Frederick serves as YPF’s Marketing and Communications Specialist, and as Treasurer of the YPF Board. She brings over six years of experience in political campaigns and marketing to YPF.
Lauren Smith was YPF’s co-Founder and currently serves as a pro bono consultant to the organization. After working with a variety of nonprofits and advocacy coalitions during her time at Wesleyan University, Lauren spent a year as National Advocacy Fellow at Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM). She has since worked at Clinton Global Initiative and the Center for American Progress.
Alex Degolia serves as YPF’s Organizing and Grantwriting Specialist. He worked for over a year across the country for Obama for America, finishing as Regional Field Director in the swing state of Ohio.
Matthew Segal, Executive Director of SAVE, and William Kellibrew, Director of Black Youth Vote, drive forward the Coalition for Future Preparedness as Advisory Board Co-Chairs.
Our Story:
For too long, those in power have legislated without serious regard for future generations, and now more than ever we are seeing the consequences of reactionary legislating. In order to hold leaders accountable to younger generations, Americans need basic knowledge of how legislation proposed in Congress will affect our future preparedness. Most youth, and even experienced civil society professionals, lack that knowledge. What we do know is that the United States is currently in the midst of the worst financial disaster since the great depression. Though we can point to any number of contributing factors, the root cause appears to be a failure to foresee, or unwillingness to prevent, the long-term consequences of deregulation and the rapid expansion of credit. Now is the time, as we rebuild our injured nation, to look towards the future and reflect on how the course we choose now will affect our common future.
Young People First was formally established in the State of New York in December 2008, as a fiscally sponsored project of Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action. It was co-founded by Zachary Kolodin, a graduate of the Coro Fellows leadership training program, and Lauren Smith, a veteran of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, with Mr. Kolodin as Executive Director. In the relatively brief time since its founding, YPF has assembled 16 partners supporting the Future Preparedness Index. YPF is nearing completion of the development of the pilot FPI, having established sets of indicators in Healthcare Excellence, Environmental Sustainability, and Fiscal Responsibility. Over 300 young thinkers have participated in the process of developing the FPI, and YPF has raised over $45,000 from 16 donors
Our Partners:
Roosevelt Campus Network
Mobilize.org
Black Youth Vote
Student Association for Voter Empowerment