4/6/23 Getting to work in Colorado’s Capitol with our youth, helping them learn to advocate for their planet! CO Rising is grateful for the partnership with Journey Through Our Heritage from Metro State University, Protégete, Mi Familia Vota, New Era Colorado, GreenLatinos, Environmental Learning for Kids, Chispa LCV, and The Weekly Issue El Semanario to make this great event happen.
Today, 65 young people advocated for environmental justice at the Colorado State Capitol! Students came from Aurora Central High School, Sheridan High School, Empower Community High School, Environmental Learning for Kids, and MSU Denver to participate in Protect Our Future!: A Student Environmental Justice Advocacy Day.
The student lobby day is intended to bring new youth advocates to the state capitol and give them the resources they need to protect their futures in the legislature. The state capitol can be a very imposing and overwhelming place, and often youth feel unprepared and unwelcomed.
The common narrative of youth being lazy and uninformed is a self-fulfilling prophecy that intentionally causes damage by hurting the self-perception and leadership development of young activists that have the lived experience to inform policy solutions. Demystifying the capitol will help create comfort from a young age, ensuring we have life-long advocates that are normalized into political and elections work.
