As with any demographic, you need to keep your audience in mind as you develop your approach to organizing young adults, and you need to think about developing messages that will resonate with them. Organizers we interviewed said that there were definitely challenges involved in engaging young people on health reform, but they also suggested several tips that will help you hone your message and develop an effective strategy to engage this important audience.
Unravel the self-interest conundrum
Identifying the audience’s self-interest in your issue is a key element of good organizing, and this is especially true when trying to engage young adults. Organizers we spoke to agreed that getting young adults to identify their self-interest in health care justice and personally connect to the issue can be challenging, simply because many have not yet had significant experience with the health care system. Young adults are and will be affected by the Affordable Care Act in many ways, and the tricky part in engaging them more deeply in the issue is getting them to realize what the impact will be on their lives.
Organizers we spoke with agreed on two messages that will help young adults identif y their self-interest and pull them into health care advocacy: 1) frame the issue around equity, and 2) show them how the Affordable Care Act offers them stable access to coverage.
Connect people to coverage and then to information
Health insurance is more likely to be on the minds of young people who are nearing graduation or who are out of school. According to a recent Census Bureau report, more than 30 percent of people aged 18-24 are uninsured. Organizers suggest initially offering young adults something tangible by connecting them to affordable coverage, and then following up with a broader message about the law, telling them about their new rights under the Affordable Care Act.
Use an equity lens to discuss health care
College campuses are often places where students are engaged in broad conversations about the world and society at large, and themes involving social equity are part of ongoing dialogues. Matt Singer, Executive Director of the Bus Federation, urges advocates to take advantage of this mentality and talk about health care using the frame of civil rights and equality. To connect with young adults on campuses, talk about equal access to health care as a civil rights issue; emphasize how unjust the current system is; and highlight how quality, affordable care is critical to helping people live full lives. Erica
Williams, Millenial Strategy Director at the Citizen Engagement Lab, recommends creating talking points that are bold, dramatic, and personal to frame health care in this way.
Put a young face on the issue
Use personal stories to illustrate the real benefits of the Affordable Care Act for students. Because many young people have not yet had much experience with the health care system, it is important to show them what’s possible (in terms of improvements that are needed) and what their peers are experiencing (in terms of negative experiences they or their families have had). Emily Schlichting, student organizer
at the University of Nebraska, says that using stories has been an instrumental element of her work. It shows students that people just like them can be affected by problems with the health care system, and it helps them understand their stake in the issue.
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Connecting the Affordable Care Act to Campus Social Justice Movements
Engaging campus social justice groups, such as community of color, LGBTQ, and women’s rights groups, will enhance your outreach because their members may be more likely to do issue-based activism. To reach these students, you may want to frame the Affordable Care Act as a means of combating inequities in our health care system. We asked several national experts to provide advice on how to engage campus social justice groups—their answers are below.
Communities of color: Erica Williams of the Citizen Engagement Lab has dedicated her career to engaging young adults, particularly those of color. She advises advocates to talk explicitly about inequities in health care and the provisions in the health care law that are designed to address them. For example, advocates can talk about how a disproportionate lack of health coverage affects minority communities and how the health reform law addresses these disparities, which can make the issue more personal. She also suggests linking health care to current topics that are of interest to minorities, for example, health care and education, health care and unemployment, etc.
LGBTQ communities: Sam Menefee-Libey works at Campus Progress with young adults on LGBTQ issues. Over the years, he has learned that many campus LGBTQ groups’ activities relate to identity issues, such as sexuality and gender. He says that organizers have a great opportunity to show how health issues connect to identity issues. To successfully engage the LGBTQ community, Sam promotes the Affordable Care Act’s emphasis on cultural competency, particularly regarding sexual health and services for transgender people.
Young women: Eesha Pandit, who worked with Raising Women’s Voices and now works with Breakthrough, recommends engaging young women in health care advocacy by discussing two issues: (1) access to health care after graduation, and (2) the potential for contraception to be included as a free preventive care service. She adds that the current controversies in the news surrounding contraception can help you tie the Affordable Care Act to the reproductive rights issues that are often important to women’s rights groups. Eesha also recommends using the “health equity” frame beyond issues of race and ethnicity to include gender and sexual orientation when working with young women.
Tapping into the social justice movements on campuses can be a great way to organize and engage young adults. When speaking to campus social justice and equity groups, find a personal connection, be current, and determine what’s of most interest to those groups.
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