All I want to say to the younger generation:

[Chan790]

21. This has been my issue for years...

many/most/all of those groups do a terrible job engaging the youth...then when you bring them ideas to do so, they reject them because "that'll turn off our current volunteers." or "that's too edgy." or "that's not really the kind of organization we want to be." (My dream job is to get my firm (currently being run on shoestrings while I work shitty jobs to finance the startup) doing messaging/social-media/fundraising for NPOs, issue campaigns and political organizations, with an eye towards youth engagement off the ground.)

For an idea of what an effective youth engagement campaign looks like...look at the anti-teen-suicide organization To Write Love on her Arms. (http://twloha.com/) Everything they do is orientated to engaging youth where they are...they table at punk shows, they engage young artists and designers to create their promotional materials, they get endorsements and shout-outs from the voices that their target audience wants to hear from, they create fun viral social media to spread their message, they make the work fun and so it doesn't feel like work, they seek out youth where they are, they're open to any idea to spread their message and are largely youth-led, they're hip, they're fun and they're engaging...and when I bring any of that to an organization like the ones you're talking about...they want to neuter it. It's neither safe nor broad-appeal enough for them. (Realistically, you target different demographics in different ways with different events...sometimes you even use different campaigns and occasionally, different organizations.)

Above all else, talk less and listen more...you may not like what they have to say but it's going to be their world and not yours. Stop dictating agenda. What you think is important to the future isn't necessarily what they think is important and their main complaint is that y'all don't listen to them. They're not stupid...they know what they want.

You want to get the youth involved? Do it on their level and listen to them about how to do it. You aren't going to find the answer here...you might find the answer if you help the local HS start a Democrats club and where-ever they want to take it, let them run with it, put them in charge...you may end up getting 150 deeply-committed liberal 17 year olds to sign up at a tabling event to do GOtV at a shitty basement show of local bands called "Punk the f**k out for Hillary"...and that's great. The local Democratic committee might not love it...but they didn't have any idea how to get 150 17 year olds to do shit so who cares what they think?

When the PTB get pissed, tell your youth horde how to take over the Democratic Town Committee. Most places if 50 of them started showing up and voting and running for delegate, they're be an insurmountable bloc.