Party Y - United States

Party Y's central strategy involves using its website to communicate with young voters and potential candidates, and to promote political involvement. The "all-partisan" database is designed to sign up young under-30 candidates around the United States (of any political affiliation or level of office) and to link them up with young voters in their area. The site also features a number of discussion forums and chat rooms.

Party Y is working to create a marketing campaign/reality TV show (January - May 2004) designed to seek out charismatic young political candidates to runfor Congress (in November 2004) and then to showcase their talents to viewers around the country. A traveling political road show, featuring a contest at each stop, is the central feature of this proposed project. To this end, Party Y has set up a core Party Y project team, which consists of young activists and organisers with experience in the field of youth voting and civic engagement. This team will approach high-profile political advisors, potential media partners, academic institutions, and youth organisations to ask for their help in organising the road show.

In preparation for the arrival of the road show, events will take place at various schools and institutions across the United States. The purpose of these events is to encourage youth to nominate their top contenders for a political contest by the time it rolls through town. Following the road show, a final political convention will be held on the Mall in May 2004 in Washington, DC, USA. At this Mobilizing America's Youth (MAY) Million Youth Rally, high-profile celebrity judges from various fields (politics, music, movies, sports, etc.) will select ten final party representatives. These young people will be provided with start-up funds and media resources to run their own congressional campaigns in their local towns or cities; a reality-style TV programme will track their progress.

Once all final road show logistics and promotional materials are in place (new website, radio/print/TV ads, etc.), a national ad campaign will be launched. The campaign will emphasise the Party Y vision, party membership guidelines, congressional candidate criteria, contest entry guidelines, the road show timetable, celebrity supporters, musical attractions, etc. A live CD/DVD may be produced; songs, speeches, and the like may be recorded and sold to raise funds for Party Y candidates' congressional campaigns and youth charities. One additional proposal to help support these candidates is a process that allows young voters to call in or vote online to select Party-Y-endorsed candidates. If any of the ten contest winners are elected into office, the TV programme will cover the political lives of newly-elected candidates as they set up their new offices in Washington.

To support this effort, young people who are running - or planning to run - for office can join the Young Candidates Network (YCN) by clicking here. YCN is a collaboration between Reform America Inc. and YouthElect that links all candidates (aged 30 and under) from all parties and for all levels of office. The goal is to create more awareness and support for their campaigns, the issues they represent, and for youth participation in politics more generally. The YCN is an all-partisan effort that is designed to enable young candidates to share best practices from the campaign trail, solicit advice, and generate local and national media attention. After the election, the YCN will remain active to continue the coordination of young leaders and the expansion of youth power in the political process.

The National Youth Platform - sponosred by Youth In Action - is a nationwide survey that will be conducted to determine the central concerns and solutions of youth in the USA. The results will be presented to Presidential Candidates at the National Youth Conventions of 2004. Prior to these conventions, a website will enable youth worldwide to contribute their ideas for improving their own nations and the world. Youth delegates will summarise these top issues and solutions to create National Youth Platforms. These documents will be presented to candidates for national leadership and other officials within each nation (the platform will later be distributed to all middle and high schools to encourage and award youth action related to these issues).

Youth, Political Development.

Out of 435 seats in the House of Representatives, only 1 member (Adam Putnam, 28, R-FL) is under the age of 30. Even with a minimum age requirement of only 25 (and the largest teen generation in USA history presently reaching voting age - over 35 million first-time voters) nobody is stepping forward. The present political system, in the minds of organisers, no longer appeals to young Americans. As a result, they have lost faith in their government's ability to lead them and have turned away from the voting booths. Since 1972, youth voting in the United States has dropped from 50% to 32% (according to the Center for Voting and Democracy), despite concerted efforts to reverse this trend. Over 30 million voters under the age of 30 chose not to participate in the 2000 presidential election, and many more did not cast their ballot in the 2002 midterm election. 35 million "Gen Y-ers" are presently reaching voting age: this age group is the largest unclaimed block of voters in the country.

Party Y is also coordinating efforts with emerging and established political youth parties in Bosnia, Slovenia, Zambia and Mexico.