Capwiz & Youth Policy Action Center
Paving the way for young citizens to have a voice in the democratic process.
How It Started:
In 2004, Capitol Advantage awarded the Youth Civic Engagement Award to six organizations committed to youth issues. Several of these organizations, including Mobilizing America’s Youth, the Campaign for Youth, 18-to-35, and Youth Service America, convened for a “Forum for Youth Investment” to build a strong, vocal constituency for children and youth. Capitol Advantage awarded the forum with 18 months of free Capwiz service.
On April 18, 2005, more than 80 of the country’s leading local, state, and national youth advocacy organizations built an unprecedented partnership and launched the Youth Policy Action Center web site. In its first six months, the Youth Policy Action Center received over 375,000 hits from more than 30,000 visitors. Thousands of messages were sent to Congress. A featured “hot site” on PoliticsOnline and highlighted by nationally syndicated columnist Jane Eisner in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Youth Policy Action Center features state-specific pages, an information clearinghouse, in-depth political tools, and interactive features.
With the help of Capwiz, adults and young adults alike were given the chance to participate in the democratic process by voicing their concerns and opinions on important youth issues to state and federal legislators.
Successes:
Using Capwiz, the Youth Policy Action Center was able to quickly mobilize grassroots support and eventually shape policies to benefit children and youth.
• The National Collaboration for Youth advanced the Federal Youth Coordination Act (H.R. 856), creating a Federal Youth Development Council to create an overarching youth policy strategy. In November 2005, the bill passed by an overwhelming bi-partisan majority of 353 to 62.
• The National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC), was able to advance the Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2005 (H.R. 2875 / S. 1238). The bill was passed successfully to offer young people ages 16 through 25, particularly those who are at-risk, the opportunity to gain productive employment, serve their communities and their country, and expand opportunity by increasing their ability to pursue higher education or job training.
• The Youth Policy Action Center paved the way so that young citizens could have a voice in the democratic process. The Center’s member organizations were able to take advantage of the Internet to build a stronger voice for the industry. Their online advocacy campaign launched under Capwiz serves as a building block for future successes that will seek out even more opportunities for children and youth.
The Youth Policy Action Center and its member organizations received many benefits from Capwiz. They were pleased with the measurable legislative victories that they obtained by expanding their advocacy campaign online. The Youth Policy Action Center especially gives credit to Capitol Advantage’s customer service representatives - they exhibited great dedication, competence, and responsiveness to help make the Youth Policy Action Center an influential communications vehicle for their supporters.
“The Internet provides us the opportunity to level the playing field," said Thaddeus Ferber, Program Director for the Forum for Youth Investment. "We couldn’t do this 10 years ago.”
www.youthpolicyactioncenter.org
