There’s another secret that isn’t so secret: Millennials are bearing the brunt of this lack of employment. Right now, nearly 10 percent of Millennials across the nation aren’t working. The driven, innovative spirit of our generation is going unharnessed. There is a misconception among others that our generation will be the first to be worse off than our parents.

Just last week Young Invincibles, a partner of Mobilize.org, launched the Campaign for Young America which works to help Millennials see the virtue in college and other higher education resources. Their site provides detailed information on Millennial employment (or lack thereof) in every state in the union. The outlook isn’t good.

What we’re finding is that fewer and fewer Millennials are going to school, and that fewer and fewer jobs exist for Millennials with a lack of skilled education. So, Young Invincibles put together a toolkit that is designed to provide skills and opportunities for unemployed Millennials. The toolkit highlights opportunities to become a part of the solution. It guides Millennials to the way of success. Mobilize.org puts this work into action by holding their signature Target 2020 conferences at which, students work together to identify barriers they face in achieving their educational goals and develop Millennial-led solutions to address them.

These times are hard. They don’t look to be getting any better. In spite of the cliché, these times require determination, innovation, and panache. It takes new ideas. It takes new skills. This coming week, when Mobilize.org hosts their Meetup for Young Leaders at Sacramento City College, they’ll be talking about ways to push this generation forward. They’ll be bringing the great Millennial minds together to discuss the solutions that we need.

This generation is young. This generation is pragmatic. Mobilize.org is blazing a trail to bring the best and the brightest Millennials together to come up with solutions. There is still benefit in gambling on yourself. Young Invincibles and Mobilize.org; they’re gambling on Millennials. While the rest of America says that we’ll be worse off than our parents, we’ll soon be showing that we will be anything but. We’re down for the count. But we’re not out.