Follow along with Millennials Changing America!

Originally posted on the NetSquared blog.

The tour is underway, and you can follow along!

Millennials Changing America is a research tour that seeks to paint a portrait of millennial activism as it exists today by traveling throughout the United States talking with millennials of all backgrounds, ideals, upbringing, and political persuasions.

Check it out!

What is a ‘Millennial Activist’

Here’s how Alex Steed, the Millennial behind this project, describes it:

To put it simply, a millennial activist is someone who is:

a) an activist

b) a member of the millennial generation (Generation Y; those born between 1980 and 1992), defined by their digital connectivity

and thus:

c) integrates computer savvy into their service, civic participation, and activism.

Or in the words of someone who has been focusing on this topic for longer than I have, social entrepreneur and writer Allison Fine, “Young people, ages 15-29, who practice a nascent model of civic participation that combines immersion in social causes, idealism, digital fluency.”

A great example of a Millennial Activist is Alex Steed, who is developing and carrying out the MCA tour.  A freelance journalist and activist, he has worked with The Point, Change.org and even NetSquared.  Learn more about Alex here.

How to follow the MCA tour

Throughout October, November and December, Alex will be traveling around the country posting audio, video, observations of, and interviews with millennial activists.

With the content collected and created along the way, Millennials Changing America aims to:

• Inspire young, budding global citizens with the stories, techniques, and testimonials of millennial activists far and wide.
• Share with as large an audience as possible the empowering potential of interactive communication technologies.
• Highlight new and existing ways that young people are using the Internet to come together both on and offline.
• Shift reportage of activity within the millennial realm away from non-millennials.
• Observe what Internet activism and civic participation looks like beyond the well-covered campaigns of Rep. Ron Paul and Sen. Barack Obama.
• Pump some constructive and positive stories into the info-sphere.
• Dispel disproportionately reported stories about the dangers of Internet usage (without undermining efforts to ensure intelligent and cautionary usage).

Because the goal of the MCA tour is to ignite conversation and open dialogue, all of the media produced throughout the tour is posted and distributed in many different locations.  You can check out the MCA website and see an archive of all information, videos, and updates here.

Are you or do you know changemakers of the Millennial generation?  Let Alex know!