Generation Engage

Generation Engage is a nonpartisan youth-civic-engagement initiative that connects young Americans to political leaders, to other civic organizations, and to meaningful debate about the future they will inherit. There was a good piece in the Politico that spotlights the organization and shows how it's trying to bring political access to young people.

According to the organization's website, Generation Engage partners with local HotSpots: social venues where young people in a given community congregate socially (pool halls, cyber cafes, community centers, places of worship, etc.) to provide a venue for members to gather and connect with civic leaders. These events allow political leaders to vie for young voters' support as they should: face-to-face and not over the airwaves. Then the organization connects its local forums among multiple cities and local HotSpots, through videoconference technology, leveraging one event into many. Members, gathered at Engagement Forums can hear from and ask questions of prominent political figures, via Apple's iChat video conference technology. For politicians, these forums open cost-effective channels of communication between politicians and young voters.

As founder Adrian Talbott puts it, "Young people suffer from a lack of access, not from a lack of information."