Reflecting on Organize for Democracy: Jessalyn Welch

Blue Future teamed up with Grassroots Democrats HQ to create a compensated program to train young people in virtual organizing, which we called Organize for Democracy. At the conclusion of the program, we asked our wonderful participants to write a reflection on their time in the program.

I came across Blue Future and Grassroots Dems HQ in the thick of my graduate program. I had been searching for a way to continue my education on organizing tactics while also putting those skills to make a difference. The youth organizing position fit my wants perfectly! I’ve had other organizing experiences but upon interviewing and gaining more information on what this experience would be like I knew that I would learn a lot while simultaneously making an impact.

When our work began, I was nervous and excited for what was to come. I knew the leaders of Blue Future had amazing plans for us and I was egar to begin. Coming into the first meeting everyone was welcoming and ready to start learning and making our first phone bank call. I appreciated the time they took to get us to meet other youth and to learn about their passions to see how varying interests and passions come together to fight for our democracy. To me, that connected me to the others in this cohort and kept my morale high over eight weeks. After our first training session and reading about the candidate we were volunteering for I was hyped up and ready to make the first call. Once I got into the groove of things, phonebanking became one of the most exciting parts of my days.

We didn’t just learn about phone banking, we heard from other youth organizers about their stories and how they got to where they got. In addition to that, we learned about the importance of fundraising which was my favorite session! I LOVED when the candidates we were campaigning for spoke with us. It made me feel that they genuinely heard and cared about youth. There was one particular candidate that gave us her personal number and she spoke about how she was running to set up things so that when it is our time we can easily transition. That is something I will never forget. Oftentimes candidates can seem so unreachable and out of touch, but having them join our meetings proved those thoughts to be wrong.

I enjoyed my time with Blue Future and hope to continue working with them on the Alumni level. I think it is important to get as many young people as possible involved in our democracy. It is our duty to change our society for the better and make it a better place to live for future generations. Blue Future has provided an amazing opportunity for youth across this country to learn how to make a difference in our democracy, and for that, I thank all involved! I have learned so much over these past two months and I have already started to implement these skills into my everyday life.