Year-round civic engagement

NextGen provides young people with the tools, knowledge, and confidence for their civic engagement. We educate youth on how their participation in our democracy relates to their lives. We do this on and off college, community college, and high school campuses.

Our Leaders Lab educates youth on the issues that matter most to them, recognizing that these issues are intersectional in nature. We’re intentionally building the capacity of young people to make progress on all of them simultaneously. This strategy will build an economy, society, and democracy that not only works for all of us, but also recognizes the intrinsic connections among our priorities.

Leadership Development and Capacity Building

NextGen Leaders Lab is building the capacity of young people to be the next generation of advocates, organizers, and policymakers so that they may build coalitions and speak truth to power.

Our leadership programming will include online training workshops for young leaders that will cover hard and soft skills as well as key organizing skills. A sampling of some training topics and hands-on opportunities we will provide includes:

• The art of persuasive speaking
• Networking and building the right coalition
• Running your own voter registration drive
• Team management and volunteer recruitment
• We will also provide opportunities for young leaders to participate in state and national issues campaigns

Movement Building and Voter Registration

NextGen is building a youth-led movement that is millions strong. We are engaging, connecting, and compelling young people to act to make their voices heard. And we are educating, empowering, and bringing young people together to collectively organize for an equitable, healthy, and safe future — reaching them in ways and spaces in which they move. The Leaders Lab is one direct pipeline that brings young people into our democracy.

Another pipeline to direct engagement is through voter registration drives. Using one’s voice by participating in the electoral system is one critical element of civic engagement. Additionally, as young people become more educated, more engaged in their communities, and more aptly positioned to become leaders among their peers, they will naturally seek out opportunities to become civically engaged. At that point, NextGen will continue with all of our proven voter registration programming to help young people become engaged through the electoral process, and we will ensure that the voter registration process is easily accessible for them.