The things that the occupy movement brought up, whether it means the affordability of college, right . The 1 . Those things are still happening. I actually think the movement is still continuing. Maybe its just different. That is whats different about our generation. Were still the civil rights movement, unfortunately it still has to happen in our day and age. Im sure during lbj and Martin Luther king jr. s time, they would have never wanted us to continue to have to fight that. We see it today. Through the eric garner stuff. I want to ask. I get asked by friends all the time, who are overseas, living in arab countries, they cant understand after the arab spring why young people dont stand up more and protest, and arent out in the streets. If the situation is really that bad, why dont we speak up. Is there something to this point that young people just engage differently when they want to make their voices heard and not maybe in the 60s sensibility of what it meant to be an activist . I want to say yes and no. If thats a fair answer to make. I think that theres still a lot of folks who are engaging in direct actions. You see them in ferguson, you see them in staten island. You see people who are doing the action tactics. I think whats different about this generation is our ability to amplify those beyond those whom they would normally affect, especially using social media and other forms of technology. Weve seen black twitter, names who were not in the news at all all of a sudden became news stories by organizations that wouldnt have picked them up before. The ability to amplify things from the ground level is different, because we have technology that facilitates that. Which i think says something for how establishment institutions need to think about how theyre going to engage in our generation. We still havent figured out how young people and the communities that weve built online and in person are actually going to be able to marry with institutions like government, like large corporations, things of that nature. Thats still something we have to sort out. I think its kind of a combo of both, to your point. Yes, theres protesting. And that can be part of a movement. But also, theres sort of phases to it. Movement in the 80s in the United States where a lot of gay men in new york and San Francisco were protesting. And then they realized that even though they didnt know policy, they were mainly, you know, kind of the big leaders in this base. Were lawyers, were working in real estate. They learned everything about policy, and then went to the nih and were able to speak to what they were dealing with. That looks very different than standing in the streets. But its equally if not so more important because it changes policy that affect millions of more peoples lives. So i think we need to remember that its both. Theres one thats much more of a stark image that you can remember in your mind. Theres one thats going on behind closed doors that we all need to be a part of. Its kind of all of our responsibility to be educated on how that can happen also. I want to ask specifically, because i know its something thats important to all of you about National Service. And i think another way of asking the question is, president obama in 2008, you know, i distinctly remember his victory speech where he came out and said, this is a great victory. But this is about you, not about me. For this to be a real victory, Everybody Needs to do service in their communities. I wonder what you think about whether or not thats happening. Are young people as motivated and engaged we obviously saw a huge amount of enthusiasm in the beginning of the president presidency. Lots of friends of mine who had never heard of Community Service and what that was, all of a sudden were doing Community Service. Teach for america and things like that. I was reading a story recently about sort of enrollment numbers for tfa going down over the last two years. I wonder, you know, what you would all say about that. Is National Service again, you know, a way of asking is it still happening . Barbara . Maybe its because what i work on every day, but i you know, i see hundreds of people joining Global Health care every year. Theyre all 30 and under. Average age is 26, so theyre young. 40 are quitting their jobs to work on issues that they care about. 40 masters degrees. Theyre essentially trying to figure out how they fit into building a healthier world. We, as i mentioned before, we accept 2 of the people that apply. Were fighters. So were basically a startup. The fact that people are coming to an organization that doesnt have a big name, trying to figure out how to work on these issues says a lot to me. But on the tfa, i read that article also. I mean, i dont know that its sort of a defeat for them. I think if you ask them five years ago, where do you think your application numbers will be, they wouldnt have even dreamed of where they were going to be last year, or the year before. And so their numbers rose enormously after 2008. And that was huge. And i dont think that theyve dropped presort of 2008 numbers right now. So i think it can be perceived in different ways. And i mean, i meet people every single day that are basically begging us, like how can i figure out how to work on Health Issues . Im not a doctor or a nurse. How do i get my foot in the door . That means people want to serve. Service may look different. It may not look like government, it may look like working on challenging issues. I would agree that service does take place in a lot of different ways. For us, 80 of the folks in our network go into public service, in government or the nonprofit sector. Were working with a lot of young people who are really dedicated to that. Were now ten years old. We were founded off of the idea aside from just putting boots on the ground, young people can change the policy process with their own ideas. Thats sustained us over ten years. Now we have folks in State Government running for office, working in the white house. I think there is a generation of having a narrative to serve. I want to ask just before getting to you, sara, specifically we had a writer on mlk day this year who talked about, as he called it, the santa claus iification of the mlk day. As 9 11 and mlk have become big National Days of service. As he put it, a little bit of it obscures what the purpose of the day was to begin with. Im not sure if i agree with that or not, but i wanted to throw that out there as an idea. I would be interested to know how you react to that. The big National Days of service, are they the right way to think about National Service for this generation specifically, or maybe not . Well, im going to address actual actually the teachers here. I am a teacher alum. That was a way for me to get into National Service. I was an alum in 2005. It was an incredible way to jump in, and after two years i went to the hill for five years. I really truly believed legislation was a way to affect the schools in the classroom. And the programs that theyre doing are encouraging people to leave their jobs. And with the new generation, to look at things such as startups as a way of being part of the social movement and having National Service. There are plenty of startups from our generation that are really helping people. For instance, some in the audience shouted out because i do not remember off the top of my head, there is an app for women, when theyve been sexually assaulted on the street does anybody holler back app, yes. Thats an i mean, thats an incredible app. Its allowing government throughout the nation to be able to look at that data, and see this is a real problem. And that conversation has been spurred. I think looking at it a little differently is what National Service actually is, has also changed in our generation. As for Santa Clausing holidays, i am of the opinion that if you can get more people out on a date, to go into your community and have that one experience where they have that spark to go to barbara and say, i want to do this more, i dont see that as, you know, a bad thing. Its hard for me to say that for us to push it on a national front, Everyone Needs to come out is bad. I dont. Okay. Im a believer of more questions from the audience and not less. So maybe ill just do one or two more and then open it up. I want to ask one question about political participation. You mentioned this earlier. But i think another issue for this generation is sort of the barriers to entry for running for office, or participating in elected political life. And, you know, from my experience, this generation looks at elected political life a lot differently than others. Running for office, or working on the hill may or may not actually be the best way to participate in service. As weve been discussing. I would be interested to hear what you have to say, joelle. What are the Biggest Barriers for young people participating in politics . Or why are young people not doing it more . To be frank, people in Political Office today oftentimes i mean, we look at the news, and we see all of this infighting, all this bickering over things that dont seem to matter, versus the big issues that are affecting us. Like young people getting jobs, or doing something about Climate Change, making sure that everyone has health care for all. Those are the issues that young people are invested in. But then we dont see that happening in congress, right . We hear about corporate interest. The revolving door happening between big Financial Firms and the u. S. Government. We think, you know, well, why would i want to be that person . But that doesnt mean that i dont think young people believe in the potential for government. The Campus Network ran a project called government signed for, where we surveyed thousands of people across the country about what their views were about government. You get a different answer than what you think what government is. We think government can provide for the common good, and serve as a source for innovation, scaling innovation. Frankly, no one can scale innovation like government can. I think that what matters is that we invest in organizations, we invest in local and State Governments, and places where we can gain access, where we can provide opportunities for participation at a wider scale. I think that groundswell can lead to wide changing government. Dream job, startup, politics . One or the other . What . I think probably more times than most, if im going to run for office, you know, i dont know. My inkling is thats a no. But i think a dream job is really continuing to do what im doing. Thats pushing my josh and my office is sometimes on a very small level of being a Public Relation to the community. And i think whatever i do when i grow up is going to have to be something that is connected to service. Because it is important for us to reconnect. But i do want to touch on how we can be more politically active and want to be in office. And thats if more of us start voting. First of all, i dont understand why election day isnt a national holiday. If we want to talk about Santa Clausing things, give people an opportunity to not have an excuse not to vote. That have national holidays. I think thats a huge, huge thing that would actually change a lot of whats going on in congress. Because when we vote, were influencing who steps through that door on capitol hill. Unfortunately, like joelle said, maybe a lot of us didnt drop off between 2010 and 2014, but theres still not enough of us. If you look at who voted in the Mayoral Campaign in new york state, it was less than 10 of people who voted in the primary. Less than 10 of new york city chose who our mayor was going to be. I think if we start voting more, and we start seeing people that we that reflect who we are, and electoratedriven congress, i think were going to see changes. And i think were going to be more inspired to be in office. And ill have an easier answer when someone comes to me and tells me im wrong. Barbara . Dream jobs startup versus you can give us that. Not startup, but 5yearold organization. I have no interest in running for office. I love policy. And i dont love politics. And i think that thats okay. And i love working with people every day that are trying to figure out how they can learn skills on the ground right now so theyre very informed for positions of greater influence. I promise this is going to be my last one and it will take maybe two minutes. Ill do a few quick hits. You can give a one tweet or oneword answer for these, okay . I think the first thing, what would you say to the one thing that people over 50 dont understand about young people . [ laughter ] i guess i would say inner connectivity. What do you mean by that . You said one word. I was like inner connectivity. I think, you know, the way that were connected, whether its through our devices, on our phones, you know, like barbara mentioned globally even, is something that i think maybe someone over 50 might not quite understand. Some people do. My moms on facebook and twitter. She does her thing. But i think people assume that the way that were interconnected is that were selfabsorbed. Because were constantly sharing and putting things on twitter and instagram, that its a sign were not paying attention. I think it can be indicative of the potential for connectivity that we have, and how that connectivity can actually be used for broader scale change. When it comes to things like civic technology, where folks are actually taking advantage of that connectivity, to actually build stronger communities, you know, allow for sharing of resources, theres a lot of potential there. So id say interconnectivity for that reason. Let me do a different one, just to change it up. What should our leaders know about young people . Sara . What should our leaders know . Yes. That were watching you. That were watching you and well tell everyone what you do. Yes . Everyones got their phones . Its true. I think that if leaders understood that how many of us have seen and we have a couple of politicians in new york who have done something really dumb on twitter, or facebook, or have done something very dumb and it blasts through the news i mean, were watching you. And we have this tool, like im more than my phone, this is not a distraction, this is a tool. Im going to tell the world. Im going to let them know what youre doing. Okay, barbara, your opinion of les shark at the super bowl . Amazing, inspirational. Let me ask a real question. What do i want to ask you . I guess, whats the one issue that you think will be most important for young people in 2016 . My goodness. So many. Well, i think this gets back to the millennial. This is not a oneword answer, but i think we all have issues that are important to us, and important to our communities and important to where we live. Not saying that theres one issue that is important, because every issue is connected. And figuring out how to have a bigger lens, thinking about solving each issue. And my last thing to copy your question to her is, i never really understand why older people are like, well, i dont understand millennials. You can ask people what theyre interested in. You can ask them how they want to communicate and how they would want to partner with you. Instead of categorizing one group of this elusive group, we all have the power to make relationships with people. Im going to close just by doing a quick survey of the audience. On the question of what issue most young people are interested in in 2016, mic surveys our readers, and we recently did a survey, and i just want to get a quick show of hands, or somebody can shout it out, what do people think the most important Foreign Policy issue is . I think this was by a 44 margin guess. Its not les shark. Anybody . Yeah . Global warming . Ding, ding, ding, you got it. Totally. Youre a reporter, i think, right . [ laughter ] we polled our audience and in fact Climate Change was the most important issue for the Foreign Policy. On national issues, what do people think . Immigration. Immigration. Anybody else . Jobs, marriage equality. Economy. Related to economy is income inequality and disparity. Did you say that . We should have a prize. Income inequality was the most Important National issue. I dont know if theyre going to be the most important issues for 2016, but i thought it was interesting. Lets open it up for questions. I want to remind everybody, if youre going to ask a question, use the microphone. Youre going to be on cspan. I know there are a lot of millennials watching cspan. Youre going to be on cspan, so if people want to tweet, ill have my phone also. I heard jon stewart is going to be on cspan. Raise your hand. I think we have a mic coming around. Can you hear me . Yep. Im a researcher. And what the model that im always asked about, you mentioned religious institutions, health care brands. Everybodys talking about engagement. The next step they ask me is, what about loyalty . If i get someone to engage a candidate, can i make them a lifelong exparty person or exgrant person or exreligious institution person . Is that a model, or broken older model . I can take that, because i think about this a lot. I think its absolutely true that once you become locked in to a loyal brand person, youre locked in for good. Theres plenty of examples of brands that have done this really well with this demographic, whether its whole foods, or others. I think thats actually why youve seen many, many more brands coming out on twitter during big events, like the super bowl, or other big events. And actually, like, making their social issues you know, their policies on social issues known. Youve seen many, many more Brands Taking a stand on gay rights, taking a stand on Climate Change. People are recognizing tha