Hey! We're Minnesota Youth Collective. Our staff is a group of young people who work in leadership development, civic engagement, and issue advocacy with and for young people across the state. We reflect our audience—we're majority BIPOC, majority LGBTQIA+, and come from a variety of backgrounds. When we talk about the issues and how they affect people, we're speaking as much from experience as we are speaking as representatives of the organization. To learn more about us, visit our website (link in bio).

This post is the first in a series to reintroduce ourselves to you. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing more about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our work, so you can get to know us a little more. Stop by throughout the summer to learn more & subscribe to our newsletter for more ongoing updates about our work.

Hey! We're Minnesota Youth Collective. Our staff is a group of young people who work in leadership development, civic engagement, and issue advocacy with and for young people across the state. We reflect our audience—we're majority BIPOC, majority LGBTQIA+, and come from a variety of backgrounds. When we talk about the issues and how they affect people, we're speaking as much from experience as we are speaking as representatives of the organization. To learn more about us, visit our website (link in bio).

This post is the first in a series to reintroduce ourselves to you. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing more about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our work, so you can get to know us a little more. Stop by throughout the summer to learn more & subscribe to our newsletter for more ongoing updates about our work.

Hey! We're Minnesota Youth Collective. Our staff is a group of young people who work in leadership development, civic engagement, and issue advocacy with and for young people across the state. We reflect our audience—we're majority BIPOC, majority LGBTQIA+, and come from a variety of backgrounds. When we talk about the issues and how they affect people, we're speaking as much from experience as we are speaking as representatives of the organization. To learn more about us, visit our website (link in bio).

This post is the first in a series to reintroduce ourselves to you. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing more about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our work, so you can get to know us a little more. Stop by throughout the summer to learn more & subscribe to our newsletter for more ongoing updates about our work.

So…who is Minnesota Youth Collective for? Who do we work with? The short answer: young people in Minnesota. The longer answer? Minnesota Youth Collective was founded to provide a “political home” for young people who may not feel at home in other political spaces—BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, women, and under-resourced people.

This means we act as a place where they can share their progressive values, cultivate the skills they need to be civically engaged, build community, and work together to envision and build a more just state. We work with young people who aren’t traditionally included in conversations about politics, and who aren’t represented by the wealthy, old, white men who historically hold positions of power.

Black and Brown young people, queer young people, first-generation young people, trans young people, young people from low socioeconomic statuses, and all young people in Minnesota: we’re here for you.

For the next part of our reintroduction series, want to talk a little bit more about what our organization does. It's one of our most-asked questions, so we thought we'd clear it up. Our mission is: "We center the leadership development of the new generation of movement leaders, leveraging civic engagement and issue advocacy as tactics to create a more equitable state." But what does that mean?

Issue Advocacy: We ask you to fill out your top issues in our pledge cards so we can focus on what you care about. That helps us advocate for change around those issues. We track policies related to them, work with other organizations and people to create solutions to the problems you share, then use our political connections to help pass those policies.

Leadership Development: We train young people about how to do all of the things we do, through fellowships and general public trainings, because we'll all get farther in our goals if we share information. That way, when the time comes, other people are prepared to act, without having to pause to learn those skills.

Civic Engagement: We share information we've found on civic engagement and politics and issues, so you have a trusted source of information. We register you to vote, so you're ready for local elections and ballot initiatives. We then use that face to face time to pledge you to vote which feeds into all of our other work!

For the next part of our reintroduction series, want to talk a little bit more about what our organization does. It's one of our most-asked questions, so we thought we'd clear it up. Our mission is: "We center the leadership development of the new generation of movement leaders, leveraging civic engagement and issue advocacy as tactics to create a more equitable state." But what does that mean?

Issue Advocacy: We ask you to fill out your top issues in our pledge cards so we can focus on what you care about. That helps us advocate for change around those issues. We track policies related to them, work with other organizations and people to create solutions to the problems you share, then use our political connections to help pass those policies.

Leadership Development: We train young people about how to do all of the things we do, through fellowships and general public trainings, because we'll all get farther in our goals if we share information. That way, when the time comes, other people are prepared to act, without having to pause to learn those skills.

Civic Engagement: We share information we've found on civic engagement and politics and issues, so you have a trusted source of information. We register you to vote, so you're ready for local elections and ballot initiatives. We then use that face to face time to pledge you to vote which feeds into all of our other work!

We've been sharing a lot more about the workings of Minnesota Youth Collective through our recent reintroduction posts. We've talked more about who we are as a staff, what our organization does, and where we work. So now we want to talk about when we do our work!

Minnesota Youth Collective works all year round to make transformational change. We know it can be disheartening and disappointing to be contacted by someone about the issues you face and then never hear from them again. That’s why we work all year—we want to build relationships with young people, and to be a resource to you all year. We don't want to be another organization that uses extractive or transactional relationships to get what they want then dip.

Building trust and communities takes time, and that means we’re working all year. The issues you face don’t stop outside of an election cycle, so why would we only talk to you twice a year? We want to learn about the issues you face, collaborate with others to build solutions, work to pass those solutions, and train you and other young people on the skills you need to do work like ours. That’s a full-time, year-round job.

Plus, we're so much more than elections! Other than voter turnout, we work on issue advocacy, voter education, local civic engagement, and leadership development, to name a few. That happens throughout the year, because we want our work to be sustained.

To continue our reintroduction posts, we want to share more about where we work. Our name is Minnesota Youth Collective, but Minnesota is a big state. Where, exactly, is Minnesota Youth Collective? The short answer is, “a little bit of everywhere,” but the long answer is more complicated.

It’s important to us to be transformational in our work, and that includes our communities. When we work in a city or on a campus, we want to spend time building our “base,” or the people who work with us and support us and who we can tap to move our work forward. That work takes a lot of time and energy, and it can be hard. The result is we don’t have as strong a presence in as many communities and cities as we would like. In the past, we’ve worked in: Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Cloud, Duluth, Mankato, and Northfield. Right now, our largest presence is in the Twin Cities, where our office and (most of our) full-time staff are based. However, in the near future, we’re going to be expanding our statewide presence and building our bases outside of the Twin Cities, so we would love to hear from you if you’re in Greater Minnesota.

We also want to give a shoutout to our full-time staff who are outside of Minnesota. We have staff in Chicago and New York City, and we’re so grateful they continue to support our work! We're also a member of a national network of similar youth-powered political organizations, called the @allianceforyouthaction, so if you’re not in Minnesota, you may be near one of our affiliates!

For one of the last posts in our reintroduction series, we thought we'd share more about our "why." Why does Minnesota Youth Collective exist, and why does our staff work here?

Minnesota Youth Collective was founded to be a "political home" for young people, and especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ young people. We strive to be a place young people who have historically been excluded from politics can come to build community with folks who share their values and to learn more about organizing and how to be engaged.

As a staff, we all have different reasons we love MNYC. Overall, though, we believe in the power of building relationships, and knowing more about the people you're collaborating with is a great place to start. Learn more about some of the reasons our staff members work at MNYC and organize here.

For one of the last posts in our reintroduction series, we thought we'd share more about our "why." Why does Minnesota Youth Collective exist, and why does our staff work here?

Minnesota Youth Collective was founded to be a "political home" for young people, and especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ young people. We strive to be a place young people who have historically been excluded from politics can come to build community with folks who share their values and to learn more about organizing and how to be engaged.

As a staff, we all have different reasons we love MNYC. Overall, though, we believe in the power of building relationships, and knowing more about the people you're collaborating with is a great place to start. Learn more about some of the reasons our staff members work at MNYC and organize here.

For one of the last posts in our reintroduction series, we thought we'd share more about our "why." Why does Minnesota Youth Collective exist, and why does our staff work here?

Minnesota Youth Collective was founded to be a "political home" for young people, and especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ young people. We strive to be a place young people who have historically been excluded from politics can come to build community with folks who share their values and to learn more about organizing and how to be engaged.

As a staff, we all have different reasons we love MNYC. Overall, though, we believe in the power of building relationships, and knowing more about the people you're collaborating with is a great place to start. Learn more about some of the reasons our staff members work at MNYC and organize here.

For one of the last posts in our reintroduction series, we thought we'd share more about our "why." Why does Minnesota Youth Collective exist, and why does our staff work here?

Minnesota Youth Collective was founded to be a "political home" for young people, and especially BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ young people. We strive to be a place young people who have historically been excluded from politics can come to build community with folks who share their values and to learn more about organizing and how to be engaged.

As a staff, we all have different reasons we love MNYC. Overall, though, we believe in the power of building relationships, and knowing more about the people you're collaborating with is a great place to start. Learn more about some of the reasons our staff members work at MNYC and organize here.

We’ve already talked a little bit about what we do as part of our reintroduction, but we thought we’d share more on how we do that work. Our work is super interconnected, and just about everything we do somehow supports something else we’re doing.

We started with our Pledge Card, one of the first places most people come into contact with MNYC. This lets us know what issues matter most to people, which drives our issue advocacy. Pledging is also a chance for folks to register to vote.

Pledging is a way for us to learn about what people feel they need to know to be informed voters. We take that information and share it—if one person has a question, other people have it, too. Registered voters are also the audience for “get out the vote” or GOTV work. This involves advocating for young people to vote for the policies and initiatives that will benefit them. You may see this in the form of ads, door knocking, or voter guides.

We take pledge card data to drive our issue advocacy work. Based on what you share with us, we do deep dives on the issues, so people better understand them. We work with other organizations on those issues, too, to build groups that increase our chances of making substantial change. We also use those issues to create and advocate for solutions. This usually looks like lobbying, but can also take the form of community-driven issue campaigns, like the HENS and Yes 4 campaigns we’ve been working on!

Our fellows support all this work. Each year, we host a fellowship focused on building the skills of young people. We teach them about organizing and politics, from the history and theory of organizing to how best to mobilize an audience or pass a ballot initiative. Our fellows have the chance to practice what they’ve learned by doing door knocking, registering voters, and planning events on topics related to their interests.

And this is just the beginning! All our work connects, and all of it aims toward one thing: creating a more representative and just Minnesota for all.

We’ve already talked a little bit about what we do as part of our reintroduction, but we thought we’d share more on how we do that work. Our work is super interconnected, and just about everything we do somehow supports something else we’re doing.

We started with our Pledge Card, one of the first places most people come into contact with MNYC. This lets us know what issues matter most to people, which drives our issue advocacy. Pledging is also a chance for folks to register to vote.

Pledging is a way for us to learn about what people feel they need to know to be informed voters. We take that information and share it—if one person has a question, other people have it, too. Registered voters are also the audience for “get out the vote” or GOTV work. This involves advocating for young people to vote for the policies and initiatives that will benefit them. You may see this in the form of ads, door knocking, or voter guides.

We take pledge card data to drive our issue advocacy work. Based on what you share with us, we do deep dives on the issues, so people better understand them. We work with other organizations on those issues, too, to build groups that increase our chances of making substantial change. We also use those issues to create and advocate for solutions. This usually looks like lobbying, but can also take the form of community-driven issue campaigns, like the HENS and Yes 4 campaigns we’ve been working on!

Our fellows support all this work. Each year, we host a fellowship focused on building the skills of young people. We teach them about organizing and politics, from the history and theory of organizing to how best to mobilize an audience or pass a ballot initiative. Our fellows have the chance to practice what they’ve learned by doing door knocking, registering voters, and planning events on topics related to their interests.

And this is just the beginning! All our work connects, and all of it aims toward one thing: creating a more representative and just Minnesota for all.

We’ve already talked a little bit about what we do as part of our reintroduction, but we thought we’d share more on how we do that work. Our work is super interconnected, and just about everything we do somehow supports something else we’re doing.

We started with our Pledge Card, one of the first places most people come into contact with MNYC. This lets us know what issues matter most to people, which drives our issue advocacy. Pledging is also a chance for folks to register to vote.

Pledging is a way for us to learn about what people feel they need to know to be informed voters. We take that information and share it—if one person has a question, other people have it, too. Registered voters are also the audience for “get out the vote” or GOTV work. This involves advocating for young people to vote for the policies and initiatives that will benefit them. You may see this in the form of ads, door knocking, or voter guides.

We take pledge card data to drive our issue advocacy work. Based on what you share with us, we do deep dives on the issues, so people better understand them. We work with other organizations on those issues, too, to build groups that increase our chances of making substantial change. We also use those issues to create and advocate for solutions. This usually looks like lobbying, but can also take the form of community-driven issue campaigns, like the HENS and Yes 4 campaigns we’ve been working on!

Our fellows support all this work. Each year, we host a fellowship focused on building the skills of young people. We teach them about organizing and politics, from the history and theory of organizing to how best to mobilize an audience or pass a ballot initiative. Our fellows have the chance to practice what they’ve learned by doing door knocking, registering voters, and planning events on topics related to their interests.

And this is just the beginning! All our work connects, and all of it aims toward one thing: creating a more representative and just Minnesota for all.

We’ve already talked a little bit about what we do as part of our reintroduction, but we thought we’d share more on how we do that work. Our work is super interconnected, and just about everything we do somehow supports something else we’re doing.

We started with our Pledge Card, one of the first places most people come into contact with MNYC. This lets us know what issues matter most to people, which drives our issue advocacy. Pledging is also a chance for folks to register to vote.

Pledging is a way for us to learn about what people feel they need to know to be informed voters. We take that information and share it—if one person has a question, other people have it, too. Registered voters are also the audience for “get out the vote” or GOTV work. This involves advocating for young people to vote for the policies and initiatives that will benefit them. You may see this in the form of ads, door knocking, or voter guides.

We take pledge card data to drive our issue advocacy work. Based on what you share with us, we do deep dives on the issues, so people better understand them. We work with other organizations on those issues, too, to build groups that increase our chances of making substantial change. We also use those issues to create and advocate for solutions. This usually looks like lobbying, but can also take the form of community-driven issue campaigns, like the HENS and Yes 4 campaigns we’ve been working on!

Our fellows support all this work. Each year, we host a fellowship focused on building the skills of young people. We teach them about organizing and politics, from the history and theory of organizing to how best to mobilize an audience or pass a ballot initiative. Our fellows have the chance to practice what they’ve learned by doing door knocking, registering voters, and planning events on topics related to their interests.

And this is just the beginning! All our work connects, and all of it aims toward one thing: creating a more representative and just Minnesota for all.

We’ve already talked a little bit about what we do as part of our reintroduction, but we thought we’d share more on how we do that work. Our work is super interconnected, and just about everything we do somehow supports something else we’re doing.

We started with our Pledge Card, one of the first places most people come into contact with MNYC. This lets us know what issues matter most to people, which drives our issue advocacy. Pledging is also a chance for folks to register to vote.

Pledging is a way for us to learn about what people feel they need to know to be informed voters. We take that information and share it—if one person has a question, other people have it, too. Registered voters are also the audience for “get out the vote” or GOTV work. This involves advocating for young people to vote for the policies and initiatives that will benefit them. You may see this in the form of ads, door knocking, or voter guides.

We take pledge card data to drive our issue advocacy work. Based on what you share with us, we do deep dives on the issues, so people better understand them. We work with other organizations on those issues, too, to build groups that increase our chances of making substantial change. We also use those issues to create and advocate for solutions. This usually looks like lobbying, but can also take the form of community-driven issue campaigns, like the HENS and Yes 4 campaigns we’ve been working on!

Our fellows support all this work. Each year, we host a fellowship focused on building the skills of young people. We teach them about organizing and politics, from the history and theory of organizing to how best to mobilize an audience or pass a ballot initiative. Our fellows have the chance to practice what they’ve learned by doing door knocking, registering voters, and planning events on topics related to their interests.

And this is just the beginning! All our work connects, and all of it aims toward one thing: creating a more representative and just Minnesota for all.