The Young Adult Program’s Campus Chapters initiative is an opportunity for students to become engaged in advocacy with FCNL on their college campuses. Throughout their school year, students work with staff to receive the most up-to-date policy updates, lobbying strategies, and tools to engage their community in the most effective way. In its second year, the program has grown from four chapters to ten, continuing to develop more advocates. In this new year, the program has prioritized connecting the Campus Chapters to our larger network of advocates, facilitating intergenerational and cross-program advocacy.
“I learned that even when the government is shut down, we can still make our voices heard during these times.”
The Campus Chapters program aims to develop the next wave of young adults into leaders that are agents of change in their communities. This leadership was especially clear with high school chapters at Friends School of Baltimore and Sidwell Friends School. The leaders at FCNL’s two high school chapters were persistent with their advocacy even when the government shutdown threatened their plans. With early and regular outreach, our Friends School of Baltimore chapter leaders successfully scheduled a meeting with Rep. Johnny Olszewski’s (MD-2) office in October at his Baltimore district office in the middle of the shutdown.
At Sidwell Friends, chapter leader Sophie reflected, “it wasn’t easy scheduling the meetings due to the shutdown, but persevering and continuing to follow up got the meetings scheduled. I learned that even when the government is shut down, we can still make our voices heard during these times.”
Both the Friends School of Baltimore and the Sidwell Friends School chapters were intentional about developing the leadership of the underclassmen in their chapters, inviting younger students to take on speaking roles and behind-the-scenes organizing roles during the lobby meetings that they scheduled. Building off their first semester successes, both chapters are already planning ways to continue building the leadership skills of their chapter members in the spring. Although FCNL will not continue to onboard high school chapters, these two groups have been pillars of participation in the program.
One of the major successes of the year is the broadening of Campus Chapters beyond the Young Adult Program. In this effort, both North Carolina chapters in particular have made intergenerational connections within our Advocacy Teams. Western Carolina University had a member-level visit with Representative Chuck Edwards (NC-11) where they lobbied on refugee resettlement alongside the lead of North Carolina Advocacy Teams, Bob Lackey. As for the chapter at Guilford College, in preparation for their visit with Senator Ted Budd’s (NC) office to push for humanitarian immigration efforts—North Carolina Advocacy Teams trained the chapter on how to best navigate the meeting.
University of Buffalo has been a standout chapter this semester, and a pinnacle of leadership development within the program. Buffalo has built upon the foundation that was laid out in the program to a systemized lobbying effort. This system gamified their advocacy through their “Levels to Lobby” initiative:
- Level One prompted participants to attend an FCNL hosted training.
- Level Two provided a practice session with the Chief of Staff of their office, who they have formed a solid working relationship with throughout the program.
- Level Three was to put all of this training into practice by lobbying an office that is not as amenable to their migration ask.
The Campus Chapter program is full of motivated young adults that have taken initiative to perform at every turn. Through this program, FCNL has been able to harness this energy into creating advocacy plans that assist students in reaching their advocacy goals.
