Find an Issue and Educate Yourself
Whether it is health care, curfews, access to education, debt consolidation, or poor lighting in your campus parking lot, the first step to becoming involved is to find an issue that affects you and your community and get ready to take action.
Everyday across America people are working to better their lives and the lives of others. Is there a specific policy or issue in your community that you want to see changed?
Over the past seven years, Mobilize.org and our partner organizations have worked on a number of different campaigns on issues that affect young people all over our country. Below is just a short list of our issues and related statistics that affect young people throughout the country everyday. There are many issues out there, many changes that need to be made; it is time for you to step up and be the change you want to see.
You cannot fight to change laws if you do not understand them. Before you begin your advocacy, take time to research legislation, build a base for an argument, and develop an idea for change. Often the issues that interest us are complicated. It is important to understand the varying sides and angles of an issue in order to create a cohesive and effective argument.
There are several resources available to assist in issue research. The issues listed on the right are a good place to start, but there are other web based resources to help with specific issues or legislation.
For information on an individual piece of legislation, go to opencongress.org and enter in the name, number, or sponsor of the bill. If you do not know this information, searches may also be conducted by keyword or issue. Once the correct bill is located, you can read it to learn about its various components.
Contact local organizations who work on similar issues or areas of interest, and ask them for their talking points and additional information.
For example, if your main concern is eliminating a curfew law, get in touch with the National Youth Rights Association at www.youthrights.org, review their talking points, and take note of the sources they reference.
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