Jun 2

Jun 2 Episode 506: Sarah Audelo from Alliance for Youth Action

In conversation with Sarah Audelo, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Youth Action. The Alliance for Youth Action is a nationwide network of organizations building the political power of young people.

Musical credits:

"Are You Listening" from Elephant Shaped Trees by IMUNURI.
Released February 3, 2018.
Composed by André Pilette, with the help of Adam Garcia, Stephanie Leary, and Dan Wilson.
Lyrics written by Stephanie Leary.
Produced by André Pilette and Stephanie Leary.
Mixed by Brett Ryan Stewart of The Sound Shelter in Nashville, TN.
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper of Turtle Tone Studio in NYC.
Song used with permission by the band.

Episode Transcript

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This transcript is AI-produced and may contain errors. Please check back a few days after the episode airs for a cleaned-up version of the transcript.

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Kelly 0:00

This is Two Broads Talking Politics. Our guest today is Sarah Audelo, the executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action. On Monday, June 7, be sure to check out my new podcast Unsung History anywhere podcasts are found.

Hi, everyone, I am Kelly. And this is Two Broads Talking Politics. I am on today with Sarah Audelo, who is the executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action. Hi, Sarah.

Sarah Audelo 0:49

Hi, Kelly. It's so great to be here with you.

Kelly 0:51

Yes, I am excited to talk to you. So I have lots of questions. But let me start with how do you define youth. Every time I have anyone on who works with youth organizing or youth voters, I want to make sure we're talking the same language here.

Sarah Audelo 1:06

Now I appreciate you asking that. Because, you know, depending on what organization we're working with, it can mean something very different. So you know, with the the network that I'm very grateful to support, we have a pretty expansive definition, mostly to make sure we all kind of fit under this larger umbrella. So youth for us in the most expansive sense is like 16 to 34 year olds, more or less. However, most of the young people that the groups in our network or organizing are between the ages of like 18 and 26 or so.

Kelly 1:35

Okay, excellent. All right. So then let's talk about the Alliance for youth action. What What is this alliance? And what are sort of the goals of what you're doing?

Sarah Audelo 1:48

Yeah, so the Alliance, we are a network of young people, by young people, for all people. And so it is a group of youth led organizations from across the country that are building on people's political power, they are organizing on the issues that young people care about year round, when it's time for elections, we're really taking those issues and flexing our power at the ballot box. So our groups will run large scale voter registration and get out the vote efforts. And, you know, a lot of education about just how the heck our democracy works, how to vote, our government does not make this easy. Frequently, I find we are doing the work that government should be doing to make sure that people are able to participate. But yeah, that is the work. It is 365 days a year. It is leadership development. And it is beautiful visions of a future that yes, young people are about fighting for, but will really benefit all of us.

Kelly 2:43

And so you mentioned the the issues that young people care about what are those? Obviously, this is, you know, a lot of different things, lots of different young people, and they don't all care about the same things. But what are the primary issues you find are really engaging young people?

Sarah Audelo 3:00

Yeah, well, I mean, you know, how you framed the question is actually really important, because I get asked all the time, what is the number one thing that young people care about? And the thing is, it's many issues, that, you know, I've been doing this work for a long time, and the issues that will rise to the top, and it's many, because then people are bringing their full selves to the work, it's they're bringing their full identities, they're bringing their communities, and the many struggles that that folks are having. So it's everything from you know, leading up to the election, certainly the pandemic was the number one issue that young people were thinking about. But it's also the economy and how the pandemic intersects with the economy or with her ability to access education. It's climate change, and you know, it's the air they're able to breathe and the water they're able to drink and what how we're taking care of the planet for the short and long term. It's police accountability, and trying to reimagine safety in our country, but also looking out for immigrant brothers and sisters. So it really is, you know, a larger set of issues that underneath that is all about our greater sense of justice. And it's a really, I think, some of the things why I love organizing and supporting and people and their organizing is they'll also look at how these issues connect to one another. Right? I think in the pandemic we've seen so clearly how our healthcare and our economy are so intrinsically tied. And that to me is Yeah, that is part of the magic of organizing with young people.

Kelly 4:27

What is the organizing actually look like? On the ground? You know, what, what does it normally quote unquote, normally look like? What does it look like for the past year and a half when the whole world has been upside down? Yeah,

Sarah Audelo 4:39

so our network, our favorite place to be is in the field talking to young people directly. Of course, the pandemic changed a lot of that, but in the biggest like sense, right? It is showing up in school board meetings and testifying about getting the police out of public schools like leaders igniting transformation does It's about pushing county Council's and you know, county administrators to act on climate like the young people move Texas to it's about showing up and pushing your state legislators to take student debt seriously, which is what the young people in New Era Colorado have done. But then it's also really cool work to engage the artists community, you know, and the creative community of young people who are very much speaking about the issues that young people care about, but in a way that's more accessible in many cases, and that's like, you know, I think about groups like Chicago votes in the powerful that work, they've been alongside creatives for a very long time. So it's really engaging with every single lever of power that exists in order to make our communities safer. And in order to make our communities more just and so obviously, that happened remote during the pandemic, which was tough. But you know, we saw young people really flex and stretch them in powerful ways to do this work, but then also to get young people registered to talk about the issues, to push those who are running for office to take progressive stances on the issues and then work to get their peers to actually turn out and vote. So yeah, it is it is nonstop.

Kelly 6:14

What are some of the barriers that young people face in getting involved? I, you know, either sort of formerly involved in politics or even interest in formally getting their voices out there, you know, what are some of those sort of structural issues that they face?

Sarah Audelo 6:30

Yeah, you know, I think, in some cases, like we're talking about straight up getting involved in our democracy, which is, you know, voting rights is an issue that all the groups in our network work on, we take the lessons from turning and people out to vote in the fall and are like, well, these things are really hard or terrible, like, let's try to introduce laws to make better or whether you're in some, I hate to say conservative states, because voting rights should really be a non partisan issue. But in conservative states, just really trying to fight back a lot of terrible legislation. So getting involved, you know, if we're talking about straight up, just voting using the important tactic of voting. In places like Texas, it's really hard, because there is no such thing as online voter registration there, because in order to just register your peers, you have to be deputized, which is like classes you have to take for the county you live in to be legally allowed by the state to register voters in your communities. So there's like bananas, barriers and hurdles that you have to jump through, just to participate. And then I think, you know, some of the challenges your round are, a lot of folks, once they're elected, they like, don't do their jobs, you know, continue to put the work in to make sure that they're paying attention to the voters who elected them. And I think that's a lot of what the groups or network do, you know, Election Day is where the work begins. It's not when the work ends. And so, you know, trying to explain these super wonky processes about like, who has power and how to leverage that power rule and doing it in a way that's like, youth friendly. And you know, young people are the best ambassadors for change. They're the best ones to mobilize their peers and, and they four plus years I've had and running this network, some of the biggest challenges, challenges we've had, honestly as to make sure their work is resourced that young people should, you know, be paid to do this work just like folks of all generations. And so trying to make sure that, yes, we're throwing down on this really important issue, but then also like, having the fundraising to make sure we could pay the staff to do this work. It's you know, those are some some of the barriers that that exists, but certainly not all of them. Yeah.

Kelly 8:41

So youth turnout was really up in 2020. All sorts of turnout among all sorts of different demographic groups was up in 2020. What were some of the things that were driving that? And do you think that Biden and Biden administration are engaging these youth that turned out to vote them in?

Sarah Audelo 9:01

Oh, my gosh, I'm so glad you asked this, because I just every time I'm having kind of a bummer day, I like wow, look what we did in 2020. Because we saw an 11.9 11% and 11 point increase in youth turnout from 2016 to 2020. So 50% of young people voted. You might be like 50%, that's not a lot. But like getting to 50% was a really, really big deal. And, you know, especially when, again, our government does not make it easy for people to participate, right voter registration, the act of just registering to vote is like, literally in place to they get the remnants of preventing black people to vote, black people to vote, right like this terrible registration process we have right, or all these barriers to even make sure that people are able to access the ballot that that increases. It's important to be reminded of that, because that was the result of years of organizing work of young people, newer Organizations being created between the sweat of 2016 and 2020 elections of young people making their voices heard Yes, in the streets, but then organizing, of course, at the ballot box. It was the anchor of the past four years. But then also like the hope and the opportunity to make real change. So, yeah, those, I hope we celebrate those numbers for a very long time, and then continue to invest in youth organizing, to keep those numbers growing, in terms of the Biden ministration. You know, there's been a lot of good, certainly the progress we've made on the pandemic is really important. Going into the election, again, the pandemic was the number one thing that people cared about. And so that, you know, the administration was able to pivot so quickly to make vaccines accessible was incredibly important. The other issues that we've seen come to the top, you know, then people want to cancel student debt, they want to tax the wealthy. Those are

Kelly 10:55

older people want to do those things.

Sarah Audelo 10:57

Exactly. Right. Exactly. And I think, you know, those are definite areas where work remains. There's a lot of hope in this generation, for what is possible. But this is really where the administration, they've done a lot of good, but they have to go hard, harder, they have to go further. Because we're literally, you know, I'm an older millennial. It's my generations second recession, Generation Z is coming of age into a recession, like we were like, This is unacceptable, that there are billionaires period, and that like people got richer during a pandemic, when so many people were hurting. So actions to really rein in and tax folks to make sure that college can be more affordable to make sure that we're able to support things like caregiving and child care to make sure we're able to protect our planet. You know, there's just so many places that we need more spending, but we absolutely need to the rich to pay their fair share along the way.

Kelly 11:55

Yeah. And how do we keep up that that momentum, that engagement, you know, these increased numbers in 2020, without that sort of Rage Against, you know, a single person that a lot of people was driving a lot of people out. But coupled with this sort of, I'm assuming young people are feeling it, because I'm feeling it this sort of every day feels like there's more roadblocks put up to democracy, there's more things like what's happening in Texas and Georgia and Florida, that are sort of getting in the way. And, you know, how do we sort of fight that? How do we make sure that youth that remain engaged and want to come out and vote in midterms in 2020, when we know that voter engagement is up and really down? You know, so what are you looking at doing over the next two years to make sure we keep that, to keep those numbers up?

Sarah Audelo 12:49

Absolutely. Well, you know, the the work has continued since the election. It just, you know, we take a little bit of a break, because people absolutely deserve it. But the work has continued. When I you know, we talked about Texas, and those Democrats were really brave, and making sure that that voting, voter suppression bill could not make it over the finish line. And those Democrats were brave because of the organizing work that happened in that state to make it unacceptable for that bill to pass. So there's like that the organizing it like it just continues. And we have to make sure that there are more opportunities for young people to get engaged and organized. So for me, I think about how do we support the groups in communities across the country that are providing that outlet for young people to continue to organize. I'm originally from Bakersfield, California, and I left my hometown because I didn't have a place to like figure out how to make change. And I don't want that for any in person. You shouldn't have to leave your hometown in order to make change. Thank goodness, there's a lot happening in my community now. But you know, this is about looking to weather. The groups in our network like Minnesota youth collective who's doing really powerful work on police accountability and coalition with others in the Twin Cities, like I talked about move working at the state capitol to prevent voter suppression bells. In Mississippi, we have an incredible group called Mississippi votes, who is working to restore the rights of people who have had felonies because that restoration looked like an individual piece of legislation being introduced for every single person who wants to write restored and it having to be voted on like that is bananas. Mississippi vote has introduced dozens of pieces of legislation. And you know what, not many have made it all the way through which is unacceptable for people who have served their time, let alone people should never have the right to be taken away ever. So those groups need resources and they need resources to do that work to continue to provide the opportunities for young people to engage and to best invest in young leaders who today are the interns and the organizers at our groups who tomorrow could be I don't know a member of Congress, we have an alumni in her network, who is a member of Congress, Congressman Jonah goose for Colorado was one of the founders of our network organization, new era Colorado. Detroit action is a multi generational organization in our network. And they have a great youth program. One of their members is Congresswoman rasheeda. To leave, right like so. That, that that community that that, that developing the bench on the left, includes investing in young people we've all been invested in at some point in our lifetimes to get to the places we're in, we need to be providing homes for young people to also have that support.

Kelly 15:36

Well, this would be a good time for you to tell our listeners how they can invest these young leaders.

Sarah Audelo 15:42

Absolutely. So highly encourage folks to check out Alliance for youth action.org. That is our website. And if you want to be inspired, check out our annual report. It's so pretty, I'm so proud. It's a digital annual report, it's way cooler than me. And it really tells a powerful story of organizing that happened last year, and really tough times. And so check it out. We take the net donations on our website, but we also connect to the groups across the country that are in our network. And you can just give directly to them. A little bit goes a long way for these organizations, actually, monthly donor programs are really important. Maybe you have five bucks a month that you can give that is so powerful, because then those are regular resources groups can rely on that they're steady, they're not having to chase all the time. And we can our groups keep you updated about powerful work that they're doing. But yeah, check on our map, click on a group that's in your state or near your state. And they'd love to receive those funds directly as well.

Kelly 16:44

Yes, you too. I was looking at this pull the Harvard had done with youth voters. And I was trying to figure out it said, you know, like, Where do you get your your news and your information about politics, and it looked like there was no one place. Young people go to that it was pretty spread out among different types of social media and different types of traditional media. How do we make sure that we are reaching and messaging to young voters all over the country? Yeah, I

Sarah Audelo 17:13

mean, this is where it's really important to give young people a job to reach their peers. Because as you know, where young people get this information shifts, there's no one to know better about, like, Where the heck to go next, then young people themselves. And so really, that that to me, especially as we see so much misinformation online, and misinformation coming from elected officials, like it's really important to hire those young people. So they can say, hey, like, you should be posting information here. Or let me show you how to do so in a way that is authentic, because there's like, young people have the biggest bullshit detector, which is great, almost all the time, except when you're trying to do large scale things, right? You get called out if you don't do it well, which is like, yeah, just hiring people themselves. This is also part of why the center network, have been doing powerful work alongside creatives. They're very important about what's going on. And especially during the pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs, who were creative. So what better opportunity then to hire the MCs and the artists, and then your LS out there to help also share important information out so it's one of my favorite things that groups in our network? Do. We partner with the Center for cultural power on this? And yeah, Chicago votes, Ohio and association leaders igniting transformation. They're kind of like, Oh, geez, and doing this work, which is really awesome.

Kelly 18:37

Yeah, I know, my, my own kids who are not yet old enough to vote are much better at some of the social media than I, you know, like, they can pick up Snapchat or whatever, and just know how to use it. I thought I was good at that stuff until it's on that they could just pick it up and do it.

Sarah Audelo 18:54

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I am definitely not on all the platforms, which is also why, you know, my tenure at the Alliance is coming to an end. And we need a new leader, who actually is a bit more in those spaces than I currently.

Kelly 19:09

There are other things that you'd like to make sure that we talked about today.

Sarah Audelo 19:13

One of the big jobs that we had over the last election cycle was really working to shift the narrative about the youth vote. And that, you know, I think as a millennial, we were kind of the victims of some of the worst headlines that existed about our generation, we're killing this and this and we're lazy and all of these things. And you kind of have this like, super blaming gross culture about like, who is or isn't doing enough to fight for change. And then we do this terrible thing where we just don't uplift enough of the good work that's actually happening. And so you know, whether it's following us online or a cruise like there's just so much powerful organizing work that happens year round on the state and local level, that never make it to the national headlines. And as you know, when folks start to feel a little like a cranky towards young people not organizing in the right ways or doing the right things like looking at what they are doing. Think about when when you were young, and how you wanted to just like set the world on fire with all that you were trying to leave. And that is leadership that should be nurtured. And that like vision, that impatience that young people have is something that should be nurtured. And we should be investing in their leadership to just like, yeah, hold us accountable, hold us accountable for change, not happening quickly enough. My mom and I talk a lot about how, like, the fights of her generation, she's so mad that my generation in the next year is still fighting them. And so I just had, so I just see it all the time where people are getting really angry, and people for not doing any, like things in the right way or whatever. And I'm like, Why are young people having to fight these fights still? Clearly, as an elder millennial, we didn't fix everything else. I'm really excited for the fire and the passion and the intersectionality, that Generation Z is bringing to the work. And I think it's on all of us to kind of share the lessons that we've learned and move out the way. And so yeah, I I feel like that is like a type of investment that I was really lucky to receive when I started organizing. And I hope that's something that we're all able to do with the incredible young leaders in our communities across the country.

Kelly 21:30

So instead of angrily re tweeting someone you disagree with, go find a youth organizer and happily retweet them and uplift what they're doing.

Sarah Audelo 21:40

Absolutely. I mean, if you haven't been following move Texas online, yes, it's important to applaud those House Democrats and what they did on to shut down that SB seven bill but like, look at how the young people have moved Texas have been in that state house until like three in the morning, time and time again, over the past few months. Working in solidarity alongside partner organizations like Texas rising and others to shut shit down. Like it just, it is so powerful. So yeah, check us out online. Check out the groups in our network. It is yes, don't angry, weak retweet, like the haters get enough attention out there. But like, let's uplift the joyful, powerful, transformational work that is happening every single day across the country that's uplift those young leaders. We actually have a really awesome series on it right now where we have we're highlighting to you now that in May, we're highlighting highlighting Asian American young organizers and our network like they're so brilliant. Check them out. I just like, I love it. I love all the wisdom that they had to share. And we're going to be doing some work on student debt next week. So yeah, there's there's so much good out there, and especially these times looks like lienhard on the good. Absolutely. Well, sir, thank

Kelly 23:03

you so much for speaking with me, we will put on our website, links to your website and to that great annual report that you mentioned and some of the organizations that you work with. So thank you so much.

Sonya 23:20

Thanks for having me. Thank you for listening to Two Broads Talking Politics, part of the DemCast Podcast Network. Our theme song is called Are You Listening off of the album Elephant Shaped Trees by the band IMUNURI and we're using it with permission of the band. Our logo and other original artwork is by Matthew Weflen and was created for use by this podcast you can contact us at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics@gmail.com or on Twitter or Facebook @TwoBroadsTalk. You can find all of our episodes at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics.com or anywhere podcasts are found.

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