Students and young Americans have long played an important role in the Democratic Party—perhaps never more so than in Barack Obama's historic campaign. While young people and students represent our next generation of leaders, they realize that we can’t wait to tackle America’s foremost challenges. Just as we learned in 2008, students know that if we work hard enough, and if we fight long enough, we can finally bring change to Washington and to our country.
Over the past 18 months, students and young people have embodied the spirit of that movement for change—from their work on health reform to student loan reform and more.
The Democratic National Committee’s Youth Coordinating Council—commonly known as the Youth Council—was made an official council of the Democratic National Committee in December 2005, with a goal of increasing involvement of young people in the Democratic Party.
Every year since its creation, the Youth Council has become more and more active and has helped maintain high participation rates and foster greater political involvement. Young people have had new opportunities to become more active with local and national Democrats, and help shape our party across the country for decades to come.
