When MNYC was created in 2018, the goal was to solve a problem and fill a gap. For far too long, youth organizing in Minnesota has been dependent on the whims and needs of particular election cycles, and as funding dried up between even years, so did commitments to engaging young Minnesotans.
Since then we have filled that gap, and been a center for ongoing youth organizing and leadership development. Our work is ongoing, it’s stable and secure in its funding sources, our leaders are on the ground, building with people, and seeing results. Engagement challenges among young people are often talked about dismissively, like young people don’t care. We believe, and our work has proven, that young people are underinvested in, and that with that investment comes engagement, results, and change.
But as one set of issues has been addressed, it’s shown light on another. Young Minnesotans don’t have near the political power we need, and that means our issues and communities are far too often left behind, with particular harm done to young BIPOC and LGBTQ people. We are charting a path to change that.
That means solving new problems and filling new gaps. It means expanding our reach and sharpening our focus and resolve. It means building and supporting leaders who are ready to change broken systems and create new paths, and it means developing a base that can use their voices, votes, and volition to build the Minnesota we deserve.
We were created in 2018, but, from our vantage point, we’re just getting started.