Fixing Democracy
Strengthening youth-led civic power for the future
Why This Work Matters
Girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color are already shaping their communities, organizing for change, and imagining more just futures. Yet their experiences and priorities remain largely invisible within mainstream political discourse, national polling, and the institutions that claim to represent them.
The civic and political power of Generation Z cannot be ignored. Nearly 50 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in 2026, and their participation has already influenced elections and public debate on issues shaping their lives and futures. Gen Z voters also participated in the 2022 midterm election at a higher rate than Millennials and Gen X did at the same age. CIRCLE: Gen Z’s power in 2026, CIRCLE: comparative turnout
Young people’s frustration with political systems does not mean they are disengaged. It signals that democracy must offer more meaningful, accessible, and community-rooted ways for them to participate, create change, and be heard.
Justice + Joy’s Approach
Fixing Democracy is shaped and led by Gen Z and Gen Alpha leads working to redefine and strengthen long-term civic participation rooted in their lives, values, and communities. Young people guide the initiative’s research, political education, community conversations, grantmaking, and collective action—creating accessible pathways for their peers and communities to exercise their power during elections and far beyond them.
Grounded In Research
The Research: Understanding Where Young People Stand
In 2023, Justice + Joy launched the first phase of Fixing Democracy in partnership with Lake Research Partners and HIT Strategies. This foundational, groundbreaking research centered young women and transgender and gender-expansive young people of color whose experiences are often absent from mainstream polling—including young mothers, immigrants and refugees eligible to vote, survivors of sexual exploitation, young people affected by child welfare and youth legal systems, and those who had experienced childhood adversity.
Their insights continue to shape the initiative. Young people affirmed that local change can feel more tangible than national politics—and that civic participation must be accessible, community-rooted, and connected to the issues affecting their everyday lives.
The findings also laid the groundwork for the next phase of Fixing Democracy: moving resources directly into the hands of young people, creating opportunities for community-rooted civic action, and sustaining engagement beyond a single election.
Rapid Response Education Fund
The Rapid Response Education Fund was created as a vehicle for young people to put resources directly into the hands of other young people across the country. Through micro-grants, the Fund supports young people responding to urgent issues affecting their communities, bringing people together, and creating accessible pathways into civic action.
In its first funding round, four Fixing Democracy youth leads reviewed nearly 100 proposals and awarded grants ranging from $50 to $500 in 25 states. Young activists used the funding to host creative, locally grounded gatherings where people could learn, ask questions, make voting plans, and connect civic participation to their everyday lives.
A second round of grantmaking will launch in 2026–2027, creating new opportunities for young people to resource civic action shaped by their peers and grounded in their communities.
Community-Building Conversations
Community-Building Conversations in August and September 2026, in Atlanta, New York, St. Louis and Portland, Oregon offer space for young people to process the political landscape, learn together, strengthen relationships, and imagine what sustained civic engagement can look like beyond a single election or moment of crisis.
Growing out of reflection sessions with Rapid Response Education Fund grantees and post-election community gatherings, these conversations connect local experiences to a longer-term, intergenerational civic strategy. Young people come together not only to respond to what is happening, but to shape what comes next.
Fixing Democracy Community Gathering
“I learned that I am not alone in my fears, in this current national crisis or in my hopes for positive change. I’m happy we all have interest in connecting with community members and beyond. As I look for a new role to work directly in civic engagement and reproductive justice, I am filled with so much hope for our future working together! We can make everything we want happen one step at a time, one person at a time.”
- Participant
Invest In Youth-Led Democracy
Democracy grows stronger when young people have the resources and opportunities to step into their leadership, bring others into action, and shape the decisions affecting their lives.
