Cyrus Nuval
Contributing Writer
Virginia21, a group known for advocacy on political issues affecting youth in Virginia, will be opening a student chapter here at VCU.
“By starting a Virginia21 Club at VCU, we hope to be closer to VCU students and encourage them to speak out and be a powerful instrument of change,” said Virginia21’s Deputy Director Austin Mills.
Mills said Virginia21, founded in 2002, has always been active at VCU. Despite not having an actual club at VCU, the group has received a lot of support from the university, the Student Government Association and the student body itself. By starting a Virginia21 Club, the organization plans to formalize the already active relationship.
According to the organization’s website, Virginia21 is a completely nonpartisan organization whose primary focus is to solve the political issues, or issues that have political roots, that affect students and young people in Virginia. They are the only such group in the country. Issues addressed range from affordable higher education,to finding a job and making government work for the students. Virginia21 seeks to give young people the necessary information, access to legislators and policy makers, and encouragement to express their grievances, opinions and ideas to the public.
Mills said one of the organizations’ major victories is the What’s Your Number event, which collected 10,000 signatures to prompt the state to spend an additional $230 million dollars to support higher education. 1,000 of the signatures came from VCU, he said.
Jerry Solomon, a VCU senior and the president of the VCU Virginia21 Chapter said she hopes distributing information will get more students involved in the political process.
“This is not an organization that will be limited to political science students,” she said. “Our main mission is to speak on behalf of the ordinary student, and the way that students can formulate a political opinion is if they are informed.”
The group plans to ready students for the next Virginia General Assembly session, which convenes Jan. 9, and encourage young people to let themselves be heard.
“It is really an outlet so that students can realize that they are not too young to reach out to politicians themselves, and that they do not have to sit back and wait for the decisions of politicians. They can help be a deciding factor on important issues in Virginia,” Solomon said.
The Virginia21 VCU chapter hopes to host events like a debate and election viewings in the coming months, and are seeking to bring policy makers to the students through a lecture series on topics like student debt. At some point, however, they hope to bring the students to the legislators.
“We also plan on giving members of the Virginia21 Club and other interested students the opportunity to go to Capitol Hill and sit in on General Assembly committees and be present on Virginia21 Lobby Day,” Mills said.
Virginia 21 has been working closely with the current Monroe Park SGA officers, former SGA officers and sorority and fraternity leaders and representatives, Mills said. He said he hopes the already-established VCU Young Democrats and College Republicans clubs will help the fledgeling club reach students.
“Student debt, higher education affordability, open job markets for graduating students and campus safety affects students of all political philosophies, and solving the matter should be in the interest of all political parties,” he said.
The next big project that Virginia21 has in the works is the Statewide Student Survey, which will ask students all over Virginia their opinions on student debt, campus safety, financial aid and career center effectiveness. The results will be compiled into the nonprofit’s first State of Virginia Youth report.
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