The Millennials Initiative 2018

July 2018 The Millennials Initiative 2018 New Voices and Ideas on Care, Community, Technology, and Civic Engagement Reid Cramer, Braxton Bridgers, Becky Chao, Emma Coleman, Christian Hosam, Roselyn Miller, Jenny Muñiz, Aaron No�ke, Dillon Roseen, Myacah Sampson, & Spandana Singh Millennials Initiative Last edited on July 10, 2018 at 9:32 a.m. EDT Acknowledgments The editors would like to thank the Citi Foundation for its generous support of this work. We have particularly enjoyed working with our thoughtful program o�cer, Julie Hahn Hodgson. Many additional thanks and much appreciation are extended to the many hands that made this fellowship opportunity as impactful as possible: New America’s Events, Production, Editorial, and Communications teams and central sta�; our program partners Better Life Lab, Cybersecurity Initiative, Family-Centered Social Policy, Education Policy, Open Technology Institute, Political Reform, Public Interest Technology, and Resource Security; the Millennial Public Policy Fellowship working group: Emefa Agawu, Awista Ayub, Sade Bruce, Alieza Durana, Emily Gallagher, Vivian Graubard, Simone McPhail, Eric Null, Chayenne Polimedio, Sabia Prescott, Brandon Tensley, and Liz Woolery; and, �nally, the ten 2017-18 Millennial Fellows for eleven months of hard work, engagement, and growth. newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/ 2 About the Author(s) Aaron No�ke is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow at Reid Cramer is director of the Millennials Initiative at New America. He was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is New America. Previously, he served as the Asset a recent graduate from Occidental College, where he Building program's research director and as a co- majored in philosophy, politics, and economics. director of New America's Next Social Contract Initiative. Dillon Roseen is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow in New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative. Roseen, from Braxton Bridgers is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow Peachtree City, Ga., was a Fulbright Scholar in in New America’s Resource Security program. A Fort Amsterdam where he conducted research on the Washington, Md. native, Bridgers has a bachelor’s intersection of law, politics, and international security. degree in international a�airs with a minor in law and public policy from Northeastern University in Boston, Myacah Sampson is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow Mass. in New America’s Family-Centered Social Policy program. Sampson is from Farmington, N.M. She Becky Chao is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow in holds a B.A. in public policy and ethnic studies from New America’s Open Technology Institute. Chao is a Brown University. native New Yorker who graduated from Duke University, where she studied public policy studies, Spandana Singh is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow in linguistics, and economics. New America’s Open Technology Institute. She is a recent graduate of the University of California, Emma Coleman is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow in Berkeley. New America’s Public Interest Technology program. She received a BA from Stanford University in international relations and comparative studies in race and ethnicity. About New America We are dedicated to renewing America by continuing Christian Hosam is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow in the quest to realize our nation’s highest ideals, New America’s Political Reform program. Hosam honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid graduated with honors from Wesleyan University in technological and social change, and seizing the 2015 with a bachelor's degree in African American opportunities those changes create. studies and government. Roselyn Miller is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow for About Millennials Initiative New America’s Better Life Lab. Miller, a Long Beach, Calif. native with roots in the Bay Area, holds a The Millennials Initiative at New America will examine bachelor of arts in anthropology from Stanford the challenges facing this generation of young adults University. (born between 1980 and 2000) as they aspire to assemble the basic building blocks of success— getting an education, �nding a job, managing Jenny Muñiz is a Millennial Public Policy Fellow for �nances, buying a home, raising a family, and New America’s Education Policy program. A native of engaging socially and politically in a community. Compton, Calif., Muñiz has most recently spent time working as a bilingual teacher in San Antonio Public Schools as a Teach For America corps member. newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/ 3 Contents Introduction The Case for Crafting a Millennial Public Policy Agenda Part I: Millennial Public Policy Symposium A Note from the Director New Perspectives on Communities of Care Promises and Perils of Technology and Big Data Policy Engagement and Political Activism Expanding the Table: Intergenerational Activism and Policy Change Part II: Policy Research Papers Independent, Not Alone: Breaking the Poverty Cycle through Transition-Age Foster Care Reform Data Sharing as Social Justice: How an Improved Reentry Process Can Smooth the Transition for Formerly Justice-Involved People Making the Case for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Supportive Teaching Standards The Context of Tradition: Evolving Challenges in Federal Indian Policy Public Policy and the Poor People’s Campaign: Reducing Inequality through Political Action newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/ 4 Contents Cont'd A Public Interest Test in Merger Review Beyond Access: The Future of Voting Rights in the United States Solutions for the Health Care Cybersecurity Workforce of the Digital Age Taking Down Terrorism: Strategies for Evaluating the Moderation and Removal of Extremist Content and Accounts Gridlock: Enhancing Disaster Response E�orts Through Data Transparency in the Electric Utility Sector Part III: The Millennial Public Policy Fellows Selected Pieces from the Direct Message Blog Millennials and the Climate Change Dilemma The Politics of Antitrust Enforcement Restorative Justice for the #MeToo Movement? A Generational Take on the Politics of Precarity Meritocracy, the American Dream, and Other Fairy Tales What Dreamers Can Teach Us About Civic Education Intervening in the Economy for Gun Reform Crap, I Forgot to Go Incognito! Dismantling the Digital Poorhouse I Couldn't Spot a Fake News Story. Can You? newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/ 5 Introduction This volume, edited by Reid Cramer and S. Melody Frierson, is the product of the collective efforts of the 2017-18 Millennial Public Policy Fellows and their colleagues in the Millennials Initiative and throughout New America. It begins with an article making the case for crafting a public policy agenda informed by the experience of those coming of age in the wake of the Great Recession. Part I presents material from the one-day April 2018 symposium focused on the cross-cutting issues of care, community, technology, and civic engagement, including summaries of the proceedings and panel discussions. Part II features the policy research of the Millennial Fellows, with each paper highlighting a pressing national issue, analysis of prevailing dynamics, and a set of policy recommendations. Finally, Part III includes short biographical sketches of each fellow and selections from The Direct Message, the blog of the Millennial Initiative. newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/ 6 The Case for Crafting a Millennial Public Policy Agenda by Reid Cramer Millennials have come of age in a time of economic uncertainty. Even though they bear no responsibility for the financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession, which began over a decade ago, they have to live with its consequences. The precariousness unleashed by stagnant incomes, rising debts, and eroded assets has complicated life decisions, reordered aspirations, and made navigating the road to adulthood more arduous. Dramatically altered prospects for an entire cohort of young Americans is setting up a generational reckoning that may eventually rewrite the social contract. Crucially, Millennials’ issues are everyone’s issues. Millennials are not just the future—they’re already here and poised to exert their influence as the largest generation. They’re the young adults powering our workforce. They’re the consumers and, increasingly, the producers steering our economy. They’re the people deciding if, when, and how to start families, and assuming responsibility for raising the country’s most prized resource: the children of the next generation. Dramatically altered prospects for an entire cohort of young Americans is setting up a generational reckoning that may eventually rewrite the social contract. Despite this outsized role, there’s a growing disconnect between the conditions facing Millennials and prevailing public policy. Individuals are increasingly saddled with risks that had previously been collectivized, and the economy is seemingly erecting more roadblocks to financial security rather than opportunities to build wealth. This misalignment between social policy and lived experience threatens to undermine the potential of an entire generation. Consequently, there’s a growing imperative to develop a set of policy ideas that can respond to current conditions, align with prevailing attitudes and behaviors, and create new pathways of progress for the rising generations. newamerica.org/millennials/reports/millennials-initiative-new-america-2018/

Load more