by Joelle Gamble · May 05, 2014 4:44 PM

“I was told the only way I could win my election was if I moved to a different district. The current political leadership in my community made it difficult for a newcomer to be viable in the election.” A couple days ago I heard yet another political candidate under 40 say this phrase.

We talk incessantly about how the “Millennial” generation is steering away from government and public service. Yet, we talk down to, push aside, or actively undermine young people who have the motivation to run for office in our system.

While it may be true that my generation is becoming increasingly disenchanted with our system of government, we are still civically engaged. More than eighty percent of young people engaged in community service in high school, a trend that we continue even after graduation. My generation is participating in civic life; it is government and our systems that need to change.

This change needs to come from the bottom up. We need to build local infrastructure for young people to be able to run for office, win, and change policy. Not only should those invested in young people’s political engagement support quality, diverse candidates now, they should also invest in the people who have the potential to become candidates later. LaunchProgress does this. LaunchProgress’ goal is not to build another generation of young people who only view office as a way to serve themselves. Instead, we work to elevate those who serve others into positions where they can maximize their impact. We should build infrastructure that doesn’t just throw money into elections but, instead, provides a training pipeline for young people who are not thinking about running now to still be well-positioned for elected office in the future. This is why we need LaunchProgress.

Joelle Gamble is National Field Strategist at the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network and a member of the LaunchProgress Action Fund Board of Advisors.