FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2018
Contact: Aileen Berquist
Email: press@futurecoalition.org
Youth Movement Launches New Coalition With #WalkoutToVote GOTV Campaign
Youth leaders across the country are rallying students to impact new voter turnout in the midterms
Washington DC – After launching a historic wave of youth activism across the country, leaders of the youth-led gun reform and climate justice movements are joining together with other youth activist groups to form the Future Coalition. Founded by young activists, for young activists, today the Future Coalition kicks off their inaugural initiative #WalkoutToVote, a GOTV campaign with the goal of getting every eligible young person to vote in this year’s midterm elections. Following a surge in youth voter registration this fall, high school and college students of all ages will walk out of their classrooms on election day and march to the polls to cast their ballots. Prior to launch, over 500 individual student-led walkouts have already been registered in schools across the country.
The Future Coalition member organizations include: Activism on the Road, B.R.A.V.E., Bridge the Divide, Bulletproof Ballot Project, Chicago Fuerte, Orange Generation, Indivisible Students, March on the NRA, Moco4Change, National Die In, National School Walkout, Parents Promise to Kids, Peace Warriors, Shattering the Silence, S.T.O.R.M., Student Voice, Team Enough, Zero Hour, and 50 Miles More.
“The young people of this country recognize that we have real power as activists and as voters, and we are ready for change to be made,” said Ke’shon Newman, member of the B.R.A.V.E. Youth Leaders of St. Sabina. “The wave of activism that we’ve been seeing over the last few months is not just a blip. We are in the midst of a youth movement, a revolution, and we are ready to put in the work, as individual organizations and as part of a coalition of youth, to create the change we want to see.”
“Last spring, youth across the country discovered their voices by walking out of class,” said Lane Murdock, founder of National School Walkout. “But this time we’re not just walking away from something, we are walking to something. All our voices together at the polls will make an impact like we’ve never seen.”
“On November 6th, the voice of young people in this country will be heard loud and clear when we cast our ballots together,” said March For Our Lives organizer, David Hogg. “You will hear us marching to the polls, and you will see the impact we have when we cast our ballots. And we’ll make this impact because we’re not afraid to work together to make it happen. The youth movement isn’t about one issue or one group. It’s about working together for a better future.”
From Zero Hour Executive Director Jamie Margolin: “We did not create the systems of oppression we are fighting, but we are inheriting a dying planet and a chaotic dangerous future because of them. Our lives are being jeopardized by industries and special interests, like fossil fuel and the gun lobby, that put profits over the wellbeing of people, especially the youth who will have to clean up this mess. We’re fed up, and we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
The Future Coalition is a national network and community for youth-led organizations to share resources, ideas, and a common goal of making the future a better, safer, and more just place for everyone. Young people are not just our future—they are the present, and the Future Coalition empowers them with the skills and support they need to make a difference in their communities and our country.
The Future Coalition is sponsored by March On, a political organization comprised of women-led political activist groups that grew out of the women’s marches of January 21, 2017. They have come together as a united force to take concrete, coordinated actions at the federal, state, and local levels to impact elections and take our country in a better direction.
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