The 2020 Kids Agenda
From the campaign trail to the White House, it’s time for elected leaders to listen to young people.
As a nation, it’s our collective responsibility to work together to help our children — kids, tweens, and teens — realize their potential and to help them become successful adults who contribute to society. From teachers to parents, religious leaders to non-profits, that is our common goal.
Our current youth population is booming. Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2009, is expected to number 1.8 billion globally. And GenAlpha is expected to total more than 2 billion. This burgeoning youth wave will be the most diverse generational cohort in American history.
The Executive Office of the President has the responsibility to communicate the president’s vision to the American people. Over the years, various programs have been created by the Office of the President to address the specific needs of children and teens.
For example, the Federal government currently has several programs that address the needs of our youth. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an Office of Children’s Health Protection, which has the fundamental goal to ensure that all EPA actions and programs address the unique vulnerabilities of children.
President Obama created the ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative to “address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color.” In 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order to create the White House Council on Women and Girls to “establish a coordinated Federal response to issues that particularly impact the lives of women and girls.”
But as a country, we need to think bigger. It’s time to build a cohesive national youth plan to ensure that Federal policies and agencies address the concerns and boost the potential of our most valuable resource: our youth.
Office of National Youth Policy
In addition to creating and sharing a #KidsAgenda, it’s time to create a new Office of National Youth Policy (ONYP), led by a Chief Youth Officer, whose sole role is to ensure that all actions and programs carried out under the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) address the unique vulnerabilities and concerns of children, tweens and teens.
The first step in making this goal a reality, is for adults to demand that every candidate (or incumbent) running to for President start addressing and listening to the concerns of kids.
A 2020 Kids Agenda
It’s always been natural for kids to worry. However, as the first generations raised in the information age, Generation Z and Generation Alpha youth are growing up more aware of the world, and it’s many problems. Worries that were once the sole domain of adults have now become a very real part of 21st Century childhood.
What’s on the minds of kids? Based on my own observations, interviews, and surveys with kids’, and data collected by other organizations, here are three issues that matter to Gen Z and GenAlpha youth.
🌎 Climate Change
“We can’t vote, so we want to say, ‘This is our planet. We cannot let it get destroyed by other people.’ ” — Maxine Wanderer, 7th Grade
🔫 Gun Reform
“The youth of America are dying at the hands of our leaders’ inaction and if they’re not willing to face this reality, we will show it to them,” said one teen who helped create My Last Shot.
🧠 Mental Health
“Nearly three-quarters in this generation (73 percent) say they could have used more emotional support in the past year.” American Psychological Association
📱 Data Privacy
“ Past generations were able to grow up without a digital record of their past. This generation, and the ones to come, will be held accountable to their inescapable online identities. How current regulations respond to this shift is a fundamental question of our time.”
👧🏾 Social Justice
“Dear Future President: Stop the injustice. Don’t you see people are losing their lives by the color of their skin? Or does it not matter to you? Don’t you see people are afraid to go outside, afraid it might be their last day?”
🏡 Youth Homelessness
“Each year, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness, of which 700,000 are unaccompanied minors, meaning they are not part of a family or accompanied by a parent or guardian. On any given night, approximately 41,000 unaccompanied youth ages 13–25 experience homelessness.”
🌈Protect LGBTQIA Youth
The Trevor Project is invested in ending conversion therapy in every state because lesbian, gay and bisexual youth from highly rejecting families are more than 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than youth from accepting families.
What do you think should be on the #KidsAgenda? Share your ideas on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok! Let your favorite candidate know what you think!
Give Kids a Seat at the Campaign Rally
From asking and listening to what’s on their minds, to taking their questions at rallies and sharing a Kids Agenda alongside your other policy positions on your campaign website, it’s time for our elected leaders to give our youth a say in their future.
✅ At campaign rallies, candidates need to give kids’ the microphone.
✅ Let kids, tweens & teens ask candidates questions about their 2020 #KidsAgenda.
✅ Candidates need to take their questions & concerns seriously.
✅ Don’t patronize youth. Share your vision for their future.
Stop Talking. Start Listening.
As we head into the 2020 election, every candidate running to occupy the Oval Office needs to share their 2020 Kids Agenda which outlines their policy agenda and vision for America’s youth.
Failure to start listening to young people may ultimately prove to detrimental to their own future as elected leaders. “I don’t think people realize how big the school walkouts were and how many student leaders came out of that,” said March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg.
“I don’t think congressmen are realizing what they have coming. Like, seriously, they do not realize.”
What do you think should be on the #KidsAgenda? Share your ideas on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok! Let your favorite candidate know what you think!
