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But at iMatter, we’ve always wondered— what if you haven’t reached the voting age yet? There are tons of young folks that are extremely invested in the present and future conditions of their community, but they aren’t able to vote yet— where do they fit in all of this? One common thing they’re told to do is talk to the people in their community that are of voting age and to make sure that they’re a) voting and b) voting in a way that reflects and accounts for our shared future. But what if there was more that you could do? What would that look like? This zine explores just that. We’ve put together 4 real-life examples of young people that have organized their communities and shown what ‘civic engagement’ looks like when ‘Getting Out the Vote’ doesn’t feel like enough. Not all of the examples are about climate action, even if that’s iMatter’s focus. We want to show what youth organizing looks like across issues. We’ve also included some tips and quotes that some of our youth leaders and staff members use in their work. So take a look and get inspired— whether you’re not of voting age, or are looking for more to do in the post-election season, you can always find ways to create change in your community.
Beyond the Vote
Election season just ended, which means that you’ve probably seen (and maybe even been part of!) some Get Out the Vote efforts from everyone— social media influencers, celebrities, your grandma, etc. Maybe you’ve seen a ton of political ads on TV, or gotten hit up by canvassers left and right while walking down the street. That’s great— voting is a vital way that you can work towards change at the local and federal level.
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CLIMATE ACTION IN INDIANA
WRITTEN BY MA D DIE A DK INS
PHOTOS BY LESLIE WEBB OF CARMEL GREEN INITIATIVE
When I was 17, I started working on a where our voices can have the most resolution1 in my city. power. At the time I hadn’t been involved much in politics — mostly because I didn’t really understand how government worked. What I did know was that I wanted to make a big difference on climate change, to do something that felt big enough and powerful enough to face a seemingly hopeless crisis. When I found out that I could write policies, meet with my city officials, and have a transformative and lasting impact on my community, I felt like I had so much potential to make change — even though I wasn’t old enough to vote. I was still a constituent, no matter what my age.
One of the groups I worked with was a Girl Scouts troop. They were mostly first and second grade girls who all shared a love for the natural world. We held a mock city council meeting in the spring, and each girl delivered a speech about why climate action was important to them before the mock “council”. I was so moved not only by their passion, but by their genuine understanding of this issue and the absurdity of our culture’s lack of action. I realized that age is not a factor in your ability to have a voice.
I was shocked that I hadn’t been taught this in school, so I went and gave presentations to elementary, middle, and high schools around the state to tell my fellow youth that there was more we could do to have a voice. What I discovered was that so few of us are aware of how change happens at the local level, yet that is exactly the place 1 A resolution states a position or policy of a city. Much like a New Year’s Resolution, it’s a way for a city to make a powerful statement and set an intention for action. At iMatter, we use resolutions to ask city councils to declare a state of climate emergency in their region and begin developing a plan to address the issue within 30 days. When one city does this, it sets a precedent for other cities to follow suit, resulting in widespread change.
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“[You aren’t] just fighting for climate, heard... Kids really can change the world - we d
you’re fighting for [youth voices] to be
don’t let political beliefs get in our way.” - Ela Mody, iMatter Hudson Leader
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CANADIAN INTERN ASSOCIATION
It is fairly accepted that unpaid internships are not fair. Young people are frequently taken advantage of by new businesses and established organizations alike, offtering “experience” instead of payment, and claiming that there is more value in hours worked than in obtaining a living wage. Enter the Canadian Intern Association1. Founded in 2012 by college and university graduates, this non-profit organization advocates against the exploitation of interns and aims to improve internship experiences. Working to further education, influence laws, and generate research, the Canadian Intern Association has been churning out policy proposals for years. This group of young Canadians work together with international organizations to influence Employment Rights, Health & Safety practices, and Human Rights within the workplace for young interns.
WRITTEN BY SHARITA HENRY
In 2017, they were successful in getting the federal government to ban unpaid internships in federally regulated industries. In 2015, the Canadian Liberal government was working on a proposal to allow unpaid work for up to 4 months (full-time), or 1 year (parttime). The Association’s strategy was to drop out of consultations, mount massive student protests, and demand that the process be restarted.
However, the Ministry of Labour still notes that unpaid internships are legal in very few instances, including for-credit academic internships. With a strong online presence, this group has a public “Wall of Shame”2 to effectively call out organizations and businesses that are abusing interns (including The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees); as well as a “Wall of Fame” to highlight good practices.
1 For more info, visit https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-expert-how-youth-activismkicking-unpaid-internships-curb 2 http://internassociation.ca/category/shame/)
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Beyond the Vote
Youth across Minnesota have been pushing for change at the local level for a minute. In their own communities, they are helping people realize the real urgency of the climate crisis. In 5 cities, St. Louis Park, Grand Marais, Eden Prairie, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, city councils have passed aggressive resolutions backing their efforts. But in a state where Line 3 and the PolyMet
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mine permits have been approved, and where the state is missing its commitments from climate legislation in 2007, there is opportunity for more work to be done. That’s where the MN Can’t Wait effort comes in.
MINNESOTA CAN’T WAIT WRITTEN BY JACKY BROOKS
Their work has only just begun, and even though most are not of voting age, they’ve already started to make an impact. During the recent election campaign, they met with numerous political candidates from both major parties and held a rally in support of the #TrialoftheCentury. They’re currently focusing on bringing the ideals and vision of the national #GreenNewDeal to the state level in Minnesota. They’ve been meeting with state legislators and developing an MN Green New Deal platform to be introduced to the MN legislature in January.
Their message is pretty simple - they can’t wait and Minnesota Can’t Wait for truly bold climate action..
https://www.mncantwait.com/ http://www.startribune.com/polymet-gets-green-light-from-minnesotaregulators/499308401/ https://www.stopline3.org/
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Beyond the Vote
#BYEANITA
WRITTEN BY JACKY BROOKS
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Source: For the People Artists Collective
In 2015, numerous groups12 across the City of Chicago began to call for the removal of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez from office, due to her inaction around police brutality and her decision to wait 400 days to charge former police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of Laquan McDonald (a video of the incident was recorded and widely spread in 2014). These groups, mainly composed of young people, Black queer women, femmes, and gender non-conforming folks, collaborated and put together a campaign that focused on removing Alvarez from office during an upcoming election without supporting any other candidates. These organizers held protests at various fundraising event’s for Alvarez team, teach-ins, canvassed throughout the city, and even held train takeovers with high school students to get the message about their campaign out to their community. They also created banners, posters, a mini-zine, and other artwork to support the campaign. Eventually, they won— Anita Alvarez was defeated by Kim Foxx in the Democratic primary for Cook County State’s Attorney in March 2016. Colorlines.com noted that“[t]his campaign is unique in its success in defeating a public official in the polls without endorsing another candidate.”3 Inaction is another form of action, and these leaders from Chicago showed elected officials that not listening to the needs of the community has consequences.
1 http://www.assatasdaughters.org/byeanita 2 http://www.forthepeoplecollective.org/campaigns/byeanita/ 3 https://www.colorlines.com/articles/byeanita-chicago-voters-ouststates-attorney-anita-alvarez
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Beyond the Vote
Credits
Compiled by iMatter iMatter is an intergenerational collaboration that focuses on stopping climate change, with young people driving the vision and the ideas and adults supporting it. Through the years, we’ve always remained the same: a group of amazing humans who all embrace and support young people in our authentic power to transform the world. To learn more about our work, visit www.imatteryouth.org.
A huge thank you to all that have done and continue to do this work. Please make sure you check out the organizations and collectives mentioned in these stories.
Written by: Maddie Adkins Sharita Henry Jacky Brooks
Edited by: Megan Sheridan Larry Kraft Anya Steinberg Graphic Design by: Ian Eltringham
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