At this week’s Round Table, Amelia, Dorina, Emily and Hannah spoke with Rachel Janfaza, an amazing journalist covering youth political culture. Rachel founded 'The Up and Up,' a newsletter focused on Gen Z’s political zeitgeist and how young Americans are organizing, mobilizing, and participating in civic life and politics – or, how and why they’re not. She is also a freelancer, with impressive bylines in the New York Times, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Glamour. Previously, Rachel was an associate writer on the CNN Politics team covering young voters, campaigns, and breaking news. Recent stories have been about Gen Z politicians' fashion and style, the Montana climate activists, and efforts to stifle on campus/college student voting.
In our engaging discussion, we dove deeply into topics, such as the uptick in youth voter turnout rates over the past 3 major election cycles as well as the ways that local politics often affect young people's lives more than anything on the national level. In addition, we conversed about young people running for office, the role of social media in youth organizing, and youth voter registration.
Throughout this episode, we were very inspired by the ways in which Rachel amplifies youth voices around political and civic issues. This inspires us in our ongoing efforts to empower youth to create large-scale change. Thank you for listening!
