Immediately after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we sprang into action. We began strategizing about ways to channel our grief into action and galvanize the young people in our network organizing around the dismantling of our civil and human rights. The Fixing Democracy initiative was created to ensure that the political discourse not only included but also prioritized the powerful, brilliant, and creative leadership of girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color. A truly just and representative democracy needs to reflect the people who are too often invisible and ignored in mainstream polling data–those who are closest to our social and systemic problems and, thus, their solutions.

From day one, Fixing Democracy was co-led with four youth leads as we partnered with Lake Research Partners and HIT Strategies, to conduct focus groups virtually and in-person in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles among young women, transgender, and gender-expansive Black, Latine, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Native/Indigenous people ages 16-25 who identified as young mothers, survivors of sexual exploitation, immigrants/refugees eligible to vote, having experience with adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s), and with the child welfare, foster care, juvenile/adult justice systems.

The focus group findings were sobering yet hopeful. Young people felt the country was on the precipice of civil war, finding it increasingly hard to navigate economic insecurity and healthcare access, to name just a few issues. Ultimately, participants shaped their ideal presidential candidate as a woman of color from a working-class background who was educated and forward-thinking. The nine detailed findings can be found here.

The initiative was developed as a two-phase strategy—research and message testing —however, when we were unable to raise the additional funds for the second phase, we turned lemons into lemon souffle and launched the Justice + Joy Rapid Response Education Fund to put resources in the hands of young people across the country.

After the 2024 presidential election, Justice + Joy and the Fixing Democracy leads convened a community gathering to hear from young people around the country. This evolved into a series of “Live and Learn” town halls titled “Project 2026” because, as usual, our leads were already thinking ahead. Currently, we are in the process of implementing a local-to-national strategy of long-term intergenerational civic engagement. Sign up for our newsletter stay up-to-date on the series.