TG: Design the Change: How Millennials Can Amplify their Voice and Impact the Policymaking Process

This workshop will prepare Millennials to be a potent force outside of the electoral cycle by training them on how to directly engage with and impact the policymaking process, online and offline.  By guiding participants on how to craft a creative policy solution and engage meaningfully in policy discussions, the workshop will provide participants invested in leveraging technology for social change and the broader progressive agenda with a clear process and toolkit for how young people can uniquely drive policy change.
 
Abstract: Objectives and Rationale
 
In the recent election, Millennials defied their detractors by matching the turnout numbers of 2008, putting boots on the ground to elect the officials that reflected this generation’s values. Now – what’s next? How can we ensure that the values and policy priorities of young people remain relevant as we transition to governance? How can use policy process to expand their voice beyond the ballot box? Through interactive engagement and group work, this session aims to:
 
·   Inform participants on the Campus Network’s unique form of progressive activism focused on promoting and campaigning around young people’s ideas for change;
·   Prepare participants to craft local and state policy solutions grounded in values; and
·   Train participants on how to connect their ideas to the policy process for meaningful impact on issues, and the potential for young people to re-imagine the public sphere through technological innovation
 
Roosevelt Campus Network members have used this training to transform city blocks in Detroit, incentivize fair tax practices for domestic partners in Richmond, and redesign government for a technology-savvy 21st century. After participating in Design the Change: How Millennials Can Amplify their Voice and Impact the Policymaking Process workshop, individuals will be poised to drive change fueled by their values and ideas back in their own communities.
 
Session Outline
 
 
I.               Set session expectations & objectives (5 minutes)
II.             Introduction to the Roosevelt Campus Network (5 minutes)
III.           The exercise: Introduce values to policy outcomes frame (5 minutes)
IV.           Values: In small groups, participants will brainstorm their top four values (ex. equality, access to opportunity, etc). (15 minutes)
V.             Outcomes: What do those values mean we should be working toward? In the same group participants will brainstorm an outcome for each of their key values. (15 minutes)
VI.           Policy: How can those values be reflected in the world? In the same group participants will brainstorm three policies, two national and one local, that would lead to the outcomes decided above. (15 minutes)
VII.         Technology: Policy in a changing world (15 minutes)
VIII.       Real world application: How to connect ideas and policy solutions to the policy process  (15 minutes)