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In 2005, three organizations — Young People For, The League of Young Voters Education Fund, and The Movement Strategy Center — came together to address the lack of cross-sector collaboration and coordination within the youth civic engagement field. Out of a shared analysis of the problem, came a vision for a solution: the Generational Alliance, a collaboration of national youth organizations building collective power for underrepresented & low-income communities.

The youth civic engagement field is currently fractured among at least four distinct sectors:

  1. community-based youth organizing
  2. campus organizing and leadership development
  3. non-campus voter organizing
  4. cultural/media organizing and advocacy

Because these sectors developed — and were funded — in isolation from one another without adequate opportunities for interaction or collaboration, young people are not being optimally served and their interest in civic engagement not properly expressed.

A true sea change in the role and profile of young people in American civic life is possible only if these sectors are empowered to provide more comprehensive support and networking opportunities to young people of different ages, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds and educational experiences, who choose to play active roles in civic and political life.

Young leaders must feel supported across these sectors and know how to navigate between the organizations working collectively to support their development as activists and leaders. To achieve this type of sustained, strategic coordination, we must build strong relationships between organizations and across sectors.

The Generational Alliance creates spaces and brings together youth organizations to build collaborative and strategic working relationships. GA members have collaborated on a range of projects including twice-annual national convenings, regional conferences, curriculum development, membership trainings, fellowship recruitment and selection, a national youth voter engagement initiative, online initiatives, and a national youth issues platform and policy agenda. We view these innovative projects and partnerships as essential building blocks for the development of our organizations, fields and movements.

The GA continues to strengthen the youth civic engagement field by building the capacity of member organizations and coordinating their leadership development, electoral, issue and cultural organizing:

  • Coordination/Collaboration: Through asset mapping, coordinated planning, information sharing, and division of labor, we are: 1) identifying and coordinating existing member programming; 2) developing strategic new collaborative efforts to accomplish our organizational, field and movement goals; and 3) avoiding duplication of efforts.
  • Capacity Building: Through training, the consolidation and sharing of best practices, technical assistance provision and collaborative project development, we are building the capacities of our organizations, campaigns, fields and movements.
  • Bridge-Building: We are building an ethic of collaboration among and building sustainable bridges between participating members and strategic partners, across sectors and issues.
  • Issue Advocacy: We are placing a national spotlight on issues and influencing policy related to the priority concerns of our target constituencies.
  • Vision Promotion: We are promoting a shared progressive vision and values by documenting and broadly disseminating our movement building experiences and lessons learned working together across issues and sectors.
  • Joint Infrastructure Development: We are building a national communications and coordination infrastructure and promoting our issues/values platform to serve as the foundation for ongoing collaborative field and movement building initiatives.
  • Resource Development/Funder Advocacy: We are making a strong case for the effectiveness of our unique strategies and demographic focus and increasing long-term financial investments in our organizations and fields.

 

Generational Alliance Staff and Steering Committee

Generational Alliance

Carmen Berkeley

Field Director

Zach Dryden

Zach is the Fellowship Program Manager for YP4. He was responsible for managing our 2009 fellowship class that was comprised of 150 leaders on 86 campuses in 29 states, and is eager to start working with the 2010-2011 class! As an active student leader at Florida State University, he served as the director of the Pride Student Union, where he helped to establish the LGBTQ Student Resource Center. In this capacity, he also co-founded and served as chief organizer for the Coalition for an Equitable Community, an alliance of students and organizations dedicated to expanding the university's nondiscrimination policy. During this time, Zach also worked for Refuge House, a local domestic violence and rape crisis center, where he helped develop a social justice program for college-aged participants. Zach is also super dope, enjoys spending time outside hiking, and loves roller derby.

Christina Hollenback

Director

CJ Jenkins

Deputy Director

Terrance Laney

Rudi Navarra

National Program Coordinator

Jessica Pierce

Outreach and Organizing Program Manager

This Bay Area native’s passion for student organizing started at the University of California Santa Cruz where she was elected as Student Union Assembly President for two consecutive terms. During her time in Santa Cruz she organized the student and youth vote for statewide and national elections, and helped coordinate student efforts to defeat the special election ballot initiative proposition 54 which would have effectively eliminated all ethnic and racial data from public institutions. On campus she worked on her first major campaign which was a successful campaign that effectively ended a million dollar contract with Sodexho and began the transition to move dining hall services to an on campus department. On campus Jessica was also involved in numerous theater productions with the Theater Arts department, Rainbow Theater and the African American Theater Arts Troupe.

While at UCSC Jessica worked on campus but also off campus- on a statewide level Jessica served on the board for University of California Student Association (UCSA) and on national level with the U.S. Student Association (USSA). She helped coordinate student efforts to defeat the special election ballot initiative proposition 54 which would have effectively eliminated all ethnic and racial data from public institutions. On campus she worked on her first major campaign which was a successful campaign that effectively ended a million dollar contract with Sodexho and began the transition to move dining hall services to an on campus department. On campus Jessica was also involved in productions with Rainbow Theater, Kinetic Poetics Project and the African American Theater Arts Troupe.

After graduating, Jessica served as the Organizing Director for USSA where she led campaigns in over 15 states. During her tenure USSA led efforts to pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act- the largest increase to grant aid since the passing of the G.I. bill in 1944.

With key members of the Generational Alliance (GA) Jessica helped lead efforts to develop Generation Vote, a coalition of 20 organizations invested in building a youth voting bloc with a common vision and values. Through these efforts, Generation Vote generated over 1 million youth contacts. As the Communications and Network Associate Director at YP4 she established the first YP4 alumni program.

At the GA now Jessica works to support the organizing and communications efforts of the member organizations. Jessica also worked as the National Youth Director for One Nation Working Together (March on Washington) where major turnout efforts resulted in over 175,000 people convening at the Lincoln Memorial. Outside of the GA Jessica is on the USSA Foundation Board, the National Youth Leadership Advisory Board for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and is a lead trainer with Campus Camp Wellstone. Outside of the GA, you can find Jessica reciting every Tribe Called Quest and Prince song or attempting to become a home design professional following the guide of HGTV.

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