CYN Summit | Harnessing Civic & Political Power as a Young Nebraskan

Senator Adam Morfeld & Amanda Barker, Nebraskans for Civic Reform Author

12/19/2016 Added

56 Plays

Description

We will discuss how young Nebraskans create civic and political power in their communities and their state in the 21st century, with particular emphasis on strategy and why it matters. In addition, we’ll provide an overview of the 2015 Nebraska Civic Health Index, which provides important data on needs, strategies and the path forward for creating stronger communities.

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[00:00:06.554]How do we get young people, in particular,
[00:00:10.377]and older people, too,
[00:00:11.624]more engaged in our communities
[00:00:12.819]to take charge and take leadership?
[00:00:15.373]And then, once that's done,
[00:00:18.172]Kinzie's actually here today,
[00:00:19.401]she's part of our Voting Rights Program,
[00:00:20.903]so the other 20% of what we do is
[00:00:22.405]voting rights investigation, litigation,
[00:00:25.291]observation, and advocacy.
[00:00:27.543]The whole goal is to make sure that
[00:00:29.318]our elections are non-partisan, accessible, and modern.
[00:00:33.687]That way, when people get really excited,
[00:00:35.189]engage in their community and their democracy,
[00:00:37.220]we have an election system that's reflective of them,
[00:00:39.708]and that is open and accessible.
[00:00:41.688]Come on up front, guys,
[00:00:43.190]we have a smaller group,
[00:00:44.282]well, this is gettin' to be a big group, actually.
[00:00:45.989]Still feel free to tweet, text, all that stuff.
[00:00:50.230]In any case, that's Nebraskans for Civic Reform.
[00:00:53.761]We've grown a lot since I founded it in 2008,
[00:00:56.035]and actually, Amanda was one of the founding board members
[00:00:58.288]and we swiped her from the board and
[00:01:00.063]she's workin' for us full-time now,
[00:01:01.769]and our whole goal is to great a more modern
[00:01:03.544]and robust democracy for all Nebraskans.
[00:01:06.552]All right, I'm gonna start this off
[00:01:08.073]talking a little bit about civic health today
[00:01:10.318]because that's what I get to do for a job
[00:01:12.251]and what I like to tell people,
[00:01:14.094]when Adam's not around usually,
[00:01:16.005](Adam laughing) so this is a rare instance,
[00:01:17.182]is that I get to help empower people
[00:01:18.452]to be better citizens.
[00:01:19.434]And that's what civic health really is all about.
[00:01:22.233]So, why?
[00:01:23.066]Why does civic health matter?
[00:01:24.336]Why am I talking today about it
[00:01:25.966]at a Connecting Young Nebraskans summit?
[00:01:28.296]Essentially, I heard a lot of these same themes
[00:01:31.167]come through in our lunch-time talks earlier today
[00:01:34.030]and of course, obviously, the morning sessions, as well.
[00:01:37.102]But really, communities are stronger
[00:01:39.901]when we own them together
[00:01:41.130]and so much of the change that occurs happens
[00:01:43.587]on a very local and community basis.
[00:01:45.977]And as young Nebraskans, as young leaders,
[00:01:48.571]you are very much poised to make that change,
[00:01:51.438]to be the change maker in your community.
[00:01:54.215]Obviously, research and studies have shown that
[00:01:56.922]thriving and resilient economies
[00:01:58.688]come out of strong civic health or
[00:02:01.837]communities where there is strong civic health.
[00:02:03.220]There's also more accountable
[00:02:04.701]and representative government,
[00:02:05.878]people that are better equipped
[00:02:08.070]to represent you and your needs
[00:02:09.678]as a constituency, come on in,
[00:02:11.317]when we have strong civic health.
[00:02:14.376]And, of course, there's higher trust in neighbors
[00:02:16.573]and high social capital,
[00:02:18.144]so there's nothing that we as young Nebraskans love more
[00:02:21.830]than other great people, right?
[00:02:24.151]We're social creatures, we're a social generation.
[00:02:26.813]So all of these happen when there is
[00:02:28.716]high civic health or a strong civic health foundation
[00:02:32.138]in your community.
[00:02:33.094]So that's why we're gonna talk about it today.
[00:02:34.477]That's why it should matter.
[00:02:36.737]And I am gonna use some data from
[00:02:40.014]the 2015 Nebraska Civic Health Index,
[00:02:42.198]which is something that Nebraskans for Civic Reform
[00:02:44.724]and my predecessor published in April of last year.
[00:02:48.069]And before you say, "Gosh, Amanda,
[00:02:49.981]"that sounds super boring,
[00:02:51.414]"you're using U.S. Census Bureau data
[00:02:54.077]and you think it's gonna be interesting?"
[00:02:56.398]Bear with me, allow me to prove my point,
[00:02:58.582]it's actually pretty interesting stuff
[00:03:00.084]and I think you'll find it fairly fascinating.
[00:03:04.112]If not, just tell me and tweet something different.
[00:03:08.344]There are four indicators of civic health.
[00:03:11.348]Essentially, this kind of breaks down
[00:03:12.714]the hows of civic health, because really,
[00:03:15.990]what is civic health?
[00:03:17.560]I like to begin by drawing this parallel.
[00:03:20.359]So you think about your physical health
[00:03:22.407]and there are some elements of your physical health:
[00:03:24.592]eating well, you know, relatively healthy,
[00:03:28.005]exercising regularly,
[00:03:29.985]getting a good night's sleep or going to the doctor.
[00:03:32.900]Those are all components or indicators that you're living
[00:03:35.358]a physically healthy life.
[00:03:37.543]Similarly, there are four indicators that you are living
[00:03:41.024]a good and health civic life, as well,
[00:03:43.891]and the first one up is social connectedness.
[00:03:47.908]This is pretty exciting because
[00:03:49.839]the Census Bureau data showed us that
[00:03:52.365]Nebraska is pretty darn good
[00:03:54.959]in terms of social connectedness,
[00:03:56.798]and you can see the numbers for yourself up here.
[00:03:59.942]So let me ask you this question.
[00:04:01.756]How many of you, in a typical month in the last year,
[00:04:06.086]have had dinner with members of your household,
[00:04:09.363]whether that's a friend or a roommate
[00:04:10.797]or a family-member, multiple times a week?
[00:04:14.347]What about maybe just once a week?
[00:04:18.101]Once a month?
[00:04:20.218]Not at all, great.
[00:04:21.515]Okay, so you're exemplary, obviously,
[00:04:23.351]is what we knew.
[00:04:24.615](Adam laughing) But as you can see,
[00:04:25.764]in this top one, eat dinner
[00:04:26.597]with members of your household frequently,
[00:04:28.555]92.7, nearly 93% of Nebraskans
[00:04:31.969]say that they do that regularly,
[00:04:33.778]which ranks freakin' second in the nation.
[00:04:36.679]Don't ask me who's first, because we don't care.
[00:04:38.454](audience laughing)
[00:04:40.024]Quite frankly.
[00:04:41.116]So we're extremely good about being connected,
[00:04:43.574]remaining connected with people,
[00:04:44.939]we often do it around the dinner table or a lunch table,
[00:04:47.875]which there's no shame in that.
[00:04:50.469]But we also, even if we don't eat with them,
[00:04:52.739]we also see or hear from them frequently,
[00:04:54.838]again, making sure that as we're going about
[00:04:58.016]our day-to-day business, we're not just in silos.
[00:05:01.636]We trust most or all of our neighbors,
[00:05:03.805]again, we're just outside the top 10 in that.
[00:05:06.262]You will see one outlier here and that is
[00:05:08.028]doing favors for neighbors frequently,
[00:05:10.495]we're ranked 41st.
[00:05:11.416](audience laughing)
[00:05:12.714]I have a theory about that, though,
[00:05:14.625]despite what the data says,
[00:05:16.741]Nebraskans are pretty helpful and nice people, generally.
[00:05:21.110]I think we underreport that on the whole.
[00:05:23.978]By grabbing the mail for your neighbor, you're thinking,
[00:05:27.186]"Oh, that's not a favor,"
[00:05:28.210]it is technically a favor.
[00:05:29.848]Most people will think if it as a favor.
[00:05:31.419]Nebraskans are just like, that's just what we do.
[00:05:33.603](audience laughing) So take that
[00:05:35.037]with a grain of salt there.
[00:05:36.948]And again, the reason social connectedness matters
[00:05:40.362]is because, in a democracy,
[00:05:41.727]it's a government by the people and for the people,
[00:05:44.406]people being the base unit.
[00:05:46.475]So don't let anybody tell you
[00:05:47.703]that hanging out with your friends,
[00:05:49.069]spending time with your family,
[00:05:50.298]is not strengthening that civic fabric.
[00:05:52.482]It very much is.
[00:05:54.394]Simply by doing that, you're making and creating
[00:05:58.148]a more connected community which will help pay off
[00:06:00.333]down the road.
[00:06:01.562]So that's social connectedness,
[00:06:03.336]Nebraskans do that very well.
[00:06:05.316]Confidence in institutions
[00:06:06.407]is the second civic indicator
[00:06:08.093]to talk about today and, essentially,
[00:06:10.488]it's how much confidence we have in our schools,
[00:06:12.570]our financial institutions, our media,
[00:06:16.222]our corporations, our government,
[00:06:18.543]that they're doing a good enough job,
[00:06:20.728]that they have what's in our best interest at heart
[00:06:23.322]and are actively working towards that.
[00:06:25.165]So, again, you can see that we rank in the top 10
[00:06:26.803]in terms of school and media,
[00:06:28.169]fourth and fifth, not bad,
[00:06:29.807]schools at pretty darn high, 90%, nine out of 10,
[00:06:33.357]so a good indicator that our public schools
[00:06:35.883]are doing great, or at least we think they are.
[00:06:37.931]And then, again, in corporations,
[00:06:39.637]we're just a little bit outside the top 10 but not bad.
[00:06:42.709]The confidence in institutions matters because
[00:06:45.031]institutions, beyond what's just listed up here,
[00:06:48.666]obviously, they help support your democracy,
[00:06:51.652]they help support your community
[00:06:53.223]in ways that a individual can't.
[00:06:55.407]They give that group power.
[00:06:57.319]So when you are participating either as a parent
[00:07:00.800]by going to your school community fair
[00:07:04.077]or going to parent-teacher conferences,
[00:07:06.125]either by reading your and being an active consumer
[00:07:09.550]of your local media, again,
[00:07:11.297]you're helping strengthen that civic health
[00:07:13.128]in your community, so it does matter.
[00:07:15.244]So we do pretty well in confidence in institutions.
[00:07:17.770]The third one is community engagement,
[00:07:20.637]and we're kind of a nyeh on this one,
[00:07:23.231]to be quite frank with you.
[00:07:25.441]We're somewhere in the middle of most of them,
[00:07:27.600]but this is where I think a lot of people
[00:07:29.124]don't think about civic health.
[00:07:31.150]Civic health very much comes down to these
[00:07:33.358]community engagement-spectrum type of activities.
[00:07:36.251]Volunteering, a big one.
[00:07:39.161]The estimated value of a volunteer hour
[00:07:41.755]in 2013 was $20.13.
[00:07:44.554]Not many people get paid that much,
[00:07:46.761]so if a volunteer hour is worth
[00:07:48.391]twenty dollars and some change,
[00:07:50.576]just imagine the value you're bringing to your community
[00:07:53.989]when you are volunteering.
[00:07:56.037]Working with neighbors,
[00:07:57.176]charitable giving, that is an act of community engagement.
[00:08:00.073]You're kind of putting your money
[00:08:01.656]where your belief system is, right?
[00:08:03.610]You wanna help improve something with resources.
[00:08:07.096]Attending a public meeting, and let me ask this one,
[00:08:10.646]I think I know what I'm gonna get,
[00:08:11.943]but how many of you, in the last 12 months,
[00:08:14.469]have attended a public meeting?
[00:08:17.063]Only about 10%, one in ten Nebraskans
[00:08:20.476]attend a public meetings, and it's less nationwide
[00:08:23.139]and we're seeing that decrease pretty regularly,
[00:08:26.074]partially because sometimes public meetings
[00:08:28.122]happen at two o'clock on a Tuesday
[00:08:29.897]and how many of us can get there?
[00:08:31.945]So that may need to change in the future
[00:08:33.788]if we want to continue to get some
[00:08:36.079]good community engagement.
[00:08:37.543]And the one thing I do want to point out to you all,
[00:08:40.766]Nebraska is in the top 10
[00:08:42.609]for holding leadership roles in organizations,
[00:08:46.637]which is very impressive to me
[00:08:48.821]and also not surprising in the least.
[00:08:51.415]When you are involved in your community,
[00:08:53.122]you're naturally gonna find yourself
[00:08:54.760]coming to a leadership role,
[00:08:56.467]especially as a young leader in Nebraska.
[00:08:59.586]So, community engagement is another key indicator,
[00:09:01.928]again, we do okay on this, probably definitely
[00:09:05.137]some room for improvement.
[00:09:06.844]And then, finally, political involvement.
[00:09:09.096]I think this is what most people default to
[00:09:10.940]when they think about community engagement,
[00:09:13.739]it's just, "Oh, how involved politically am I?"
[00:09:16.742]And it is important, it's actually where
[00:09:18.995]we rank the worst out of the four civic indicators,
[00:09:22.135]so that's why Adam's here to talk about it.
[00:09:24.661]But also, I think it's important to think about voting,
[00:09:27.938]registering to vote, especially in an election year
[00:09:30.191]and a big one.
[00:09:31.488]Others that I don't think people think about,
[00:09:34.765]just discussing politics
[00:09:36.471]with friends and family frequently.
[00:09:38.246]I know everybody says you're not supposed to
[00:09:39.475]discuss religion or politics.
[00:09:41.318]I disagree. (audience laughing)
[00:09:42.820]I think you absolutely should discuss it,
[00:09:44.868]you should discuss it in a very civil, respectful manner
[00:09:48.023]because otherwise, you're not gonna have
[00:09:50.140]the conversations that move these things forward.
[00:09:52.802]And it happens, again, on the local level
[00:09:54.782]in your home, in your community centers.
[00:09:58.536]And finally, buying or boycotting a product
[00:10:01.404]is also political involvement
[00:10:03.520]and I think that millennials are particularly primed
[00:10:05.704]for buying or buycotting.
[00:10:08.572]Essentially, you're voting with your dollar,
[00:10:10.027]you do or you do not believe in the product
[00:10:11.802]or the service that this company is providing
[00:10:14.465]and so you either buy or buycott what they're doing.
[00:10:18.824]So, that's just an overview of, again, civic health
[00:10:21.349]in Nebraska, where we stand, where you can see yourself
[00:10:23.944]as a part of that civic fabric, how you can improve that.
[00:10:27.766]Kind of towards the end, I wanna give you an exercise
[00:10:31.043]or I wanna do an exercise with you called
[00:10:32.682]Community Asset Mapping so you can walk out of here
[00:10:35.148]with a tangible plan to impact something
[00:10:38.098]in your community based on
[00:10:39.854]these four indicators. (Adam coughing)
[00:10:40.687]But first, Adam is gonna talk to you
[00:10:42.830]about political involvement.
[00:10:44.805]So go ahead.
[00:10:45.693]Yeah, thank you, Amanda.
[00:10:46.922]So this is where we kind of get to the interactive
[00:10:49.175]or engaging part, and I'm gonna just pass out
[00:10:52.902]this right there, actually,
[00:10:55.182]I didn't see you sneak in there.
[00:10:56.835]And I'm gonna take one, too.
[00:11:02.083]So first off, when it comes to
[00:11:05.112]political involvement in Nebraska,
[00:11:06.776]millennials are ranked the lowest.
[00:11:09.208]That being said, there's a lot of different ways
[00:11:10.957]that you measure political involvement.
[00:11:13.155]And I'm gonna move around a lot
[00:11:14.243]'cause I've got a lot of coffee,
[00:11:15.331]whatever they put in my coffee over there,
[00:11:17.187]has just got me goin' here.
[00:11:19.171]So, in any case, millennials rank really kind of the lowest
[00:11:23.907]when it comes to political involvement
[00:11:25.379]and that's not something that's necessarily
[00:11:28.067]unique to Nebraska, and I think it depends on
[00:11:30.499]the way that you define political involvement.
[00:11:33.315]So, for instance, millennials in particular,
[00:11:36.131]are less and less likely to identify with institutions
[00:11:40.739]because we care more about causes and individuals.
[00:11:43.811]And let's think about that, why is that?
[00:11:45.539]Well, it used to be, 30 or 40 years ago,
[00:11:48.475]that what would happen is if you're really passionate
[00:11:50.121]about a certain issue or cause,
[00:11:51.456]you'd join something, like the Sierra Club
[00:11:54.272]or the Democratic Party or the Republican Party
[00:11:56.000]or the Green Party or, you know,
[00:11:57.792]name X organization there.
[00:11:59.264]And then what would happen is you'd be
[00:12:00.928]a part of an affinity group of some sort.
[00:12:02.976]They would send out information,
[00:12:04.384]they would organize meet-and-greets and all that stuff,
[00:12:07.136]you'd be on the mailing list, right?
[00:12:09.568]These days, information has become much more democratized,
[00:12:12.384]for better or for worse, it's almost like
[00:12:15.220]it's information overload sometimes, right?
[00:12:17.128]Particularly with politics.
[00:12:18.778]So people are identifying less and less
[00:12:20.698]with political institutions and, for me,
[00:12:22.938]rightfully so.
[00:12:24.154]I'm, obviously, if you look me up,
[00:12:25.690]I'm a pretty progressive guy,
[00:12:26.970]but I don't really enjoy the party politics.
[00:12:29.338]I don't enjoy it,
[00:12:30.298]I don't really connect with it all that much
[00:12:32.410]and I think a lot of the younger people
[00:12:34.138]in the legislature with me feel pretty much
[00:12:36.226]the same way in many cases.
[00:12:38.170]And so, what I want to talk to you today about
[00:12:41.924]is the importance of being politically involved
[00:12:45.063]and, particularly, running for office,
[00:12:47.175]because, the bottom line is,
[00:12:49.436]is if you're not at the table,
[00:12:51.243]then you're on the menu.
[00:12:52.459]And if you're not invited to the table,
[00:12:53.867]you should bring a fold-up chair
[00:12:55.915]because, the bottom line is,
[00:12:58.411]is that young people, if we're going to move
[00:13:01.931]and advance our state forward and particularly
[00:13:03.851]attract more younger people to our communities,
[00:13:05.963]whether it's out west or
[00:13:07.371]whether it's in Lincoln or Omaha
[00:13:09.035]or greater Nebraska, wherever the case may be,
[00:13:11.878]young people have to be in positions of political power,
[00:13:15.115]because that's where the decisions are made,
[00:13:16.843]that's where the resources are allocated,
[00:13:19.787]and that's how we determine how we're moving forward
[00:13:21.835]as a state.
[00:13:22.731]And I don't care if you're as conservative as whatever,
[00:13:25.995]or as progressive as whatever,
[00:13:27.659]young people bring a valuable perspective
[00:13:31.051]and I see it in the Legislature.
[00:13:32.331]There's not very many of us,
[00:13:33.611]there's absolutely nobody under 30 anymore.
[00:13:37.707]When I first came in, I was 29, now I'm 31.
[00:13:40.843]But we need to have those voices at the table.
[00:13:43.595]And so, when you're thinking about running for office,
[00:13:48.139]I handed out just a few different pointers right away
[00:13:52.171]because I hear a lot of excuses for why
[00:13:53.963]you don't run for office.
[00:13:56.852]I'll give you an example of one of the things
[00:13:58.863]that was recently advanced, online voter registration.
[00:14:02.775]Nebraskans for Civic Reform worked on that for seven years.
[00:14:06.159]We finally convinced the Secretary of State
[00:14:08.143]and a bunch of people that the Internet
[00:14:09.487]wasn't just a fad, it wasn't going away,
[00:14:13.168]and that was actually part of the problem,
[00:14:14.446]was convincing them that the Internet was gonna be here
[00:14:17.353]and was a shocking barrier to getting this policy passed
[00:14:20.846]that I had never expected.
[00:14:22.510]And so, we were able to get
[00:14:23.820]online voter registration passed
[00:14:25.045]mainly because there were a
[00:14:26.732]group of bipartisan legislators
[00:14:30.357]that were younger at the Capitol that said,
[00:14:32.149]"Hey, listen, we file our taxes online,
[00:14:34.261]"we do stuff at the DMV online.
[00:14:36.309]"Why can't we register to vote?"
[00:14:37.693]Not only that, it's more secure and accessible, right?
[00:14:41.725]Because you have to have an ID and all that stuff.
[00:14:43.453]I'm not gonna get into the voter ID stuff, but
[00:14:45.309]the bottom line is, is it's a more secure type of system
[00:14:48.381]and it's more accessible.
[00:14:50.109]Look at what just happened the last few weeks.
[00:14:53.053]In one weekend, we had 10,000 people
[00:14:55.101]register to vote online.
[00:14:56.893]And it was just because Facebook found out
[00:14:59.325]that you could register to vote online
[00:15:00.673]and they just sent out a message to everybody on Facebook.
[00:15:04.573]One of the reasons why young Nebraskans
[00:15:07.261]don't engage as much is because, oftentimes,
[00:15:08.861]it's a highly mobile population.
[00:15:11.933]And because it's a highly mobile population,
[00:15:14.045]you don't get re-registered,
[00:15:15.261]you're a first-time voter,
[00:15:16.413]you don't understand that,"Hey, listen,
[00:15:17.885]"I just moved down the street and I've gotta re-register,
[00:15:20.765]"otherwise I can't vote,"
[00:15:21.725]and then you show up on election day and you can't vote.
[00:15:24.552]And so there are structural barriers,
[00:15:25.743]but the problem is that a lot of our government services
[00:15:28.578]won't be modernized and won't be
[00:15:30.690]brought to where people are at
[00:15:32.162]unless there's young people advocating for it.
[00:15:34.234]I'll give you an other example.
[00:15:35.234]Uber's a great example, Uber and Lyft.
[00:15:37.410]Has anybody ever used Uber and Lyft?
[00:15:39.202]Show of hands, here.
[00:15:40.546]Yeah, a lot of people, right?
[00:15:41.930]Up until last year, it was illegal in Nebraska
[00:15:44.860]to, number one, be a driver for Uber and Lyft,
[00:15:46.768]and then, number two, to even use Uber and Lyft.
[00:15:50.661]And for a year or two, we had to convince the,
[00:15:52.581]"Well, why don't you just use a taxi?"
[00:15:54.505]Well, number one, there's not a lot of taxis around.
[00:15:56.869]Number two, the barrier to entry for a taxicab driver
[00:15:59.265]is actually pretty high.
[00:16:01.005]And then number three, that's not how people
[00:16:02.696]are communicating and travelling and doing things.
[00:16:06.152]And so it was myself in a van on the way
[00:16:09.672]to the Department of Corrections
[00:16:10.696]after a riot down there to go view it.
[00:16:13.680]I had 15 legislators in there for an hour and a half,
[00:16:16.584]and all of them were like, "What is this Uber thing?"
[00:16:18.696]So I pulled out my phone and I showed them.
[00:16:20.872]There's a bunch of oohs and ahhs, and like,
[00:16:22.856]"You just push this and you can
[00:16:24.360]"actually see live when it's coming,"
[00:16:26.568]But it was because myself and Senator Tyson Larson,
[00:16:29.128]a person that's very ideologically different than me,
[00:16:32.200]were explaining to senators how important this was
[00:16:34.632]and how it actually decreases the number of drunk drivers
[00:16:37.064]and other things because it makes
[00:16:38.728]transportation more accessible.
[00:16:40.264]But it took young Nebraskans
[00:16:41.480]explaining some of those things
[00:16:43.016]and being in positions of power to do that.
[00:16:45.512]And there's countless other stories.
[00:16:47.624]How many people in here have thought about
[00:16:49.800]running for office?
[00:16:51.492]I wanna tell you right now, nobody is too young
[00:16:53.472]unless you don't meet the constitutional requirements.
[00:16:55.724]Nobody is too young to run for office.
[00:16:58.387]I have seen, and I'm using an identifier here
[00:17:03.985]but think of it universally,
[00:17:05.896]I've seen wise old men,
[00:17:08.832]I've seen foolish old men,
[00:17:10.333]I've seen wise young men,
[00:17:11.494]I've seen foolish old men,
[00:17:12.654]I've seen wise women (laughs),
[00:17:14.634]old women and vice versa.
[00:17:16.742]Age is a poor proxy for wisdom.
[00:17:19.242]It really is, and I tell you this because
[00:17:21.870]all perspectives in our elected bodies
[00:17:24.537]are important perspectives.
[00:17:26.444]So do not let anybody tell you
[00:17:28.492]that you are too young for office
[00:17:30.745]or this person's been waiting in the wings
[00:17:32.362]and they have all this experience.
[00:17:34.282]Well, good for them,
[00:17:35.115]they can go make their case to the voters.
[00:17:36.343]I'm gonna make my case to the voters,
[00:17:38.391]and that's what a democracy is.
[00:17:40.029]And so, number one, don't let age hold you back
[00:17:46.831]because all of those perspectives are really valuable
[00:17:51.135]in any elected body.
[00:17:52.978]The other thing that I'll tell ya' is
[00:17:54.898]I knocked about I think it was around
[00:17:57.122]14 or 15 thousand doors over two years for my election.
[00:18:01.979]And I thought there was gonna be a lot of people
[00:18:03.958]that were like, "Oh, you're really young."
[00:18:06.689]I got a lot of jokes, I got a lot of, "How old are you?"
[00:18:09.147]I'm like, "Well, I meet the constitutional requirements,"
[00:18:12.286]and I got a lot of that, right?
[00:18:14.122]And most people, 80, 90% were really,
[00:18:20.744]they thought it was very refreshing that
[00:18:22.041]somebody young was running for office.
[00:18:23.953]And it's because a lot of those people
[00:18:26.554]are afraid that young people don't care
[00:18:28.803]and that they're checking out.
[00:18:30.574]And when you're going door-to-door,
[00:18:32.075]we can talk about this day on the road,
[00:18:33.646]you're not just going to anybody's door,
[00:18:35.079]you're usually going to regular voters
[00:18:37.127]and these are fairly informed people
[00:18:38.424]that are really afraid that young people are checking out
[00:18:41.087]and that, also, young people are leaving the state.
[00:18:43.954]And that's something that, time after time,
[00:18:46.138]as I meet with business leaders,
[00:18:48.664]as I meet with political leaders,
[00:18:50.371]as I talk to people at their doors,
[00:18:52.419]they're acutely aware on how important
[00:18:54.603]young Nebraskans are and they're scared of losing us.
[00:18:58.017]And that's my next point, is that as young Nebraskans,
[00:19:02.044]we have a lot of political power and I don't think
[00:19:04.775]we ever realized it.
[00:19:06.072]When we're down at the Capitol at a committee hearing
[00:19:08.120]and people are coming up to testify,
[00:19:10.510]we have a lot of people,
[00:19:11.534]and I don't think lobbyist is a dirty word, actually,
[00:19:13.726]because lobbyists represent really important interests
[00:19:16.517]and they give good perspective and counterpoints, right?
[00:19:20.646]But oftentimes, lobbyists will come up and,
[00:19:22.976]you know, we see them every day
[00:19:24.742]and the testify pretty much every day
[00:19:26.380]on one side of the issue or not.
[00:19:27.882]When a young person comes up and testifies on an issue
[00:19:30.476]who's not a lobbyist, or just a regular Nebraskan,
[00:19:34.504]the committee stops what they're doin'
[00:19:36.279]and they pay a little closer attention.
[00:19:38.191]And I've seen it time after time,
[00:19:39.691]particularly when young Nebraskans do that.
[00:19:41.986]So don't think and don't discount
[00:19:43.761]the power of young Nebraskans' voices.
[00:19:46.488]Some of the other issues that people brought up,
[00:19:48.745]and I just wanna address 'em and I kind of printed off
[00:19:50.997]a quick sheet and guide to follow along and,
[00:19:54.069]Amanda, give me a time check,
[00:19:55.162]when you need your time. Yup, you're fine.
[00:19:56.527]Yup, you're fine. Okay.
[00:19:58.438]Some of the important considerations
[00:20:00.056]when you're running for office is time.
[00:20:02.435]And that was brought up a few different times here.
[00:20:05.240]It takes a lot of time.
[00:20:07.288]There's no doubt about that.
[00:20:08.926]Whether you're runnin' for city council,
[00:20:10.701]particularly when you're running for a district race
[00:20:12.339]or a race where you can actually knock those doors,
[00:20:14.319]you gotta take some time in the evening
[00:20:17.869]and go door-to-door and connect with people.
[00:20:20.600]And that does take time, and so
[00:20:22.511]you do need to be thinking about that.
[00:20:24.491]For me, it was a really good time for me to run
[00:20:27.836]because I don't have any kids or significant other
[00:20:32.068]or anything like that, so I can be selfish with my time.
[00:20:35.072]Whereas, for some people, they waited until they retired
[00:20:37.325]to be able to run, and that might be
[00:20:39.578]their life circumstance,
[00:20:40.619]that might be your life circumstance,
[00:20:41.831]you can get involved in other ways.
[00:20:43.742]I'll tell you, though,
[00:20:44.903]that people with families and kids,
[00:20:47.155]those people that are in office and were able
[00:20:49.818]to make that sacrifice and do that
[00:20:51.388]are some of the most powerful voices down the Legislature
[00:20:54.050]because those are people who represent a demographic
[00:20:57.668]that is not well-represented down there.
[00:21:00.126]Work situation, sometimes you gotta talk about it
[00:21:02.925]with your employer, especially if you work for an agency
[00:21:06.133]or a government entity or something like that.
[00:21:10.686]Sometimes that is a consideration that you have to take
[00:21:12.939]and you have to run that by them.
[00:21:14.645]When you identify offices, you have to think about
[00:21:16.762]what issues are you really passionate about.
[00:21:18.537]And I want you to skip down to the bottom there.
[00:21:22.018]What are the top three issues that you really care about
[00:21:26.865]in your neighborhood, in your community,
[00:21:28.299]whatever it may be?
[00:21:29.596]Write down those here as I'm kind of droning on and talking.
[00:21:34.561]Write those down and, once you get done,
[00:21:38.686]if you look at that issue and go,
[00:21:40.119]"I don't really actually know what office
[00:21:43.989]"would be most effective to address those issues,"
[00:21:46.323]feel free to email me, and my email's at the top.
[00:21:50.412]Because I'll be happy to to explain
[00:21:52.679]the different offices that you should consider.
[00:21:54.937]But whatever you do, whatever office
[00:21:57.258]you're interested in running for,
[00:22:00.679]make sure it's not just running to run for an office,
[00:22:04.211]which I see people do sometimes,
[00:22:06.046]make sure it's an issue you're passionate about,
[00:22:07.898]and make sure it has the ability
[00:22:09.399]to address those issues.
[00:22:10.355]Because, I'll tell you what, being in office is,
[00:22:13.223]I think, a really fulfilling, awesome experience.
[00:22:16.966]It's every day, I meet somebody new.
[00:22:19.697]Every day, I learn something new, and it opens up
[00:22:22.359]all kinds of different opportunities.
[00:22:24.202]It'll probably be one of the best experiences of my life,
[00:22:25.977]particularly the Nebraska Legislature
[00:22:27.820]since we're so unique in many ways.
[00:22:30.210]But if I didn't care about the issues that I was addressing,
[00:22:33.167]it'd be a real drag because there's a lot of late nights
[00:22:36.763]and you don't get paid very well,
[00:22:38.811]and a lot of local offices,
[00:22:39.835]you don't get paid anything at all.
[00:22:41.064]So the $12,000 a year in the Legislature really looks good.
[00:22:46.289]When running for office, it's all about relationships.
[00:22:50.304]And this goes to a little bit about
[00:22:52.557]what Amanda's gonna talk about is civic health.
[00:22:54.944]It's all about relationships.
[00:22:56.339]It's about rebuilding relationships in the community
[00:22:58.844]and showing that you're willing to listen and learn.
[00:23:02.530]There's so many people that go to the door
[00:23:04.531]and knock on that door and tell people
[00:23:07.138]exactly what they're gonna do,
[00:23:08.764]and they don't ask them, "What do you care about?"
[00:23:11.106]It's a huge mistake.
[00:23:12.928]And so when you're going door-to-door, for instance,
[00:23:15.010]I would say, "Hi, my name's Adam Morefeld.
[00:23:16.819]"I'm running for the Legislature," and if there was
[00:23:19.482]some kind of identifier, I could tell they were a teacher,
[00:23:21.393]you know, there's all this technology that you can do now,
[00:23:23.842]and they have the names and whether they're a teacher
[00:23:25.626]or union worker, whatever, you know,
[00:23:27.833]I would say something about education, but I could talk
[00:23:29.958]your ear off, what are you concerned about?
[00:23:32.279]And I'd listen, and half the time they'd be like,
[00:23:34.054]"Oh, I'm just concerned about taxes," or
[00:23:35.423]"I'm just concerned about well-funded education,"
[00:23:37.126]or whatever, you go, "Okay, great, thanks,
[00:23:38.901]"here's my cell phone if you have any other questions,
[00:23:40.607]"have a great day."
[00:23:42.041]You've built a relationship there,
[00:23:43.270]you've listened to them and so running for office
[00:23:45.796]is all about building relationships
[00:23:47.844]and you can do that through
[00:23:49.687]the community-leadership positions and the other things
[00:23:51.735]that you're doing in your community right now.
[00:23:53.510]The other thing that I'll bring up is the raising money.
[00:23:56.923]Somebody brought up raising money.
[00:23:58.971]Listen, I am not rich.
[00:24:01.497]I did not come from a wealthy family at all.
[00:24:04.979]After my student loans,
[00:24:06.818]I have negative net wealth, you know.
[00:24:08.733]And definitely after my mortgage,
[00:24:10.781]but some people would say that's an investment.
[00:24:14.662]And I didn't come from a political family, either.
[00:24:16.765]What I did do, though, was in college,
[00:24:19.905]I got really involved in politics and in my community
[00:24:22.977]and I got passionate about it.
[00:24:26.186]And then I learned how to do it.
[00:24:27.414]And that's the other thing is,
[00:24:29.872]number one, you don't need a ton of money,
[00:24:32.261]to go back to that question, stay on track with that,
[00:24:34.685]because you already have networks in your community
[00:24:37.381]whether it be family and friends that will give you
[00:24:39.293]25 or 50 bucks.
[00:24:40.911]And so what you do is you host a house party,
[00:24:42.959]usually somebody hosts it for you.
[00:24:44.802]They invite your friends and you raise $500, $1,000
[00:24:48.954]or $2,000 and you start building momentum in that sense.
[00:24:52.243]And when you're askin' for money,
[00:24:54.018]Nebraskans don't like to ask other people for money
[00:24:56.698]and it was the worst part about starting a nonprofit
[00:25:00.162]for me at first because I had to ask people for money
[00:25:02.365]and I wasn't used to that.
[00:25:03.457]But the worst thing that can happen is what?
[00:25:06.324](audience murmuring)
[00:25:07.157]They say no and that's not that bad of a thing
[00:25:09.601]because they usually feel bad about it,
[00:25:12.127]and they'll do something else for you down the road,
[00:25:14.107]whether it be volunteer or maybe
[00:25:15.813]they'll give you money down the road,
[00:25:17.179]and so that's the worse thing that can happen.
[00:25:19.909]And in the scheme of our lives, that's not all that bad.
[00:25:22.832]A lot of other things can go worse.
[00:25:24.893]So don't think that you have to have a lot of money.
[00:25:27.350]Also, I think that campaigns, in particular, are about,
[00:25:32.082]number one, building connections in the community
[00:25:33.904]which you can naturally do outside of the political realm.
[00:25:36.784]Then, number two, listening to people
[00:25:38.614]and being authentic about that,
[00:25:39.775]not telling people exactly what you're gonna do
[00:25:41.686]but asking and listening.
[00:25:43.734]But then, three, it's about building that momentum.
[00:25:46.610]And if you do those things,
[00:25:48.112]if you're going out in the community,
[00:25:49.332]you're going door-to-door,
[00:25:50.335]you're going to the community forums,
[00:25:51.585]you're talking about your vision for whatever it is
[00:25:53.565]and you're listening,
[00:25:54.862]and then you're doing some fundraising on the side,
[00:25:56.910]through friends, families and networks,
[00:25:59.677]people are going to see that you're organized,
[00:26:02.294]that you're intelligent, that you're thoughtful,
[00:26:04.479]and that will build momentum.
[00:26:05.844]And people will want to rally behind you,
[00:26:07.756]and you eventually get to that point.
[00:26:09.804]And so, don't think that it's insurmountable
[00:26:13.285]to run for office.
[00:26:15.060]Don't let somebody tell you,
[00:26:16.152]oh, I've got to wait in the wings
[00:26:17.859]or whatever the case may be,
[00:26:19.160]I gotta wait for so-and-so.
[00:26:20.726]Now, I ran for a term-limited seat
[00:26:23.457]so I didn't go against an incumbent,
[00:26:24.822]that's another story for another day.
[00:26:27.211]But, the bottom line is is that we need more
[00:26:31.171]young Nebraskans in positions of political power
[00:26:35.335]because we're the best-situated to understand
[00:26:38.134]exactly what's going to, number one,
[00:26:40.046]attract young Nebraskans to our communities,
[00:26:42.230]keep young Nebraskans here,
[00:26:43.664]and policies that allow young Nebraskans to be successful.
[00:26:47.418]Because, otherwise, when you elect somebody
[00:26:50.149]who's 40 years older than us,
[00:26:51.681]they have a different world view
[00:26:53.016]and they have different priorities.
[00:26:54.245]And rightfully so, and there's nothing wrong with that.
[00:26:57.590]But they aren't going to necessarily represent
[00:26:59.433]our interests moving forward.
[00:27:01.481]Not all the time, you get some exceptions.
[00:27:04.280]So, the thing that I want you to walk away from,
[00:27:06.392]if you haven't already figured it out,
[00:27:08.832]is consider running for office.
[00:27:10.812]And if you have doubts about it
[00:27:11.836]or you have questions or concerns
[00:27:13.543]and you want me to help you put together a campaign plan,
[00:27:16.205]I'm more than happy to do that
[00:27:17.912]whether you're a Republican or a Democrat
[00:27:19.546]or Green Party or Socialist or Communist or whatever,
[00:27:23.846]I'm more than happy to guide you through that process
[00:27:26.270]and talk a little bit more about that
[00:27:28.113]because those voices are
[00:27:29.833]incredibly important to Nebraska
[00:27:31.652]and remember, if you're not at the table,
[00:27:34.314]you're on the menu,
[00:27:35.202]and if they don't invite you to the table,
[00:27:36.977]pull up your folding chair and
[00:27:38.683]bring your voice to that table.
[00:27:41.209]Because things aren't going to change on a large scale
[00:27:43.530]unless we're in the positions of power.
[00:27:45.988]And so, thank you very much.
[00:27:47.422]I'm gonna hand it over to Amanda
[00:27:48.825]to talk about some of the base book.
[00:27:50.494]Great, so as we're finishing up here
[00:27:52.746]in the last 10 minutes,
[00:27:55.697]I thought we would give you a different way
[00:27:59.028]to activate your community engagement,
[00:28:01.759]your political involvement,
[00:28:03.534]sorry, I probably should have taken a few more
[00:28:05.582]and passed them back,
[00:28:10.483]and really come away, again, with a how, right?
[00:28:13.253]How to do this, aside from necessarily running for office,
[00:28:16.598]but if change starts at a local level
[00:28:19.632]and if it starts with you,
[00:28:21.377]how do I do that?
[00:28:23.180]So, we do an exercise,
[00:28:26.115]it's fairly simple and straightforward,
[00:28:27.822]I promise it won't take a lot or ask a lot from you,
[00:28:30.297]but it's called Community Asset Mapping
[00:28:32.805]and we think about your community's assets
[00:28:35.331]and your ideals and help you put in place, again,
[00:28:38.676]that activating action plan to get there.
[00:28:41.953]So start up there at the top where it says
[00:28:44.889]let's start with some context.
[00:28:47.005]Right underneath that paragraph,
[00:28:48.643]list your communities for me.
[00:28:50.964]And again, communities don't just have to be geographical,
[00:28:53.900]they certainly can be, it could be O'Neill,
[00:28:55.900]it could be Lincoln, it can be Ord,
[00:28:58.804]but it could also be your group of,
[00:29:03.112]a membership organization that you're a part of,
[00:29:06.044]the school community that you reside in.
[00:29:08.434]It can take a lot of forms.
[00:29:11.164]So take a minute and write down
[00:29:13.417]three to five communities or groups of people
[00:29:16.489]in which you are involved.
[00:29:19.425]Thinking about those communities,
[00:29:22.782]the next paragraph below that,
[00:29:24.841]list the things that are assets.
[00:29:27.640]What is going well in your community?
[00:29:30.166]What is a strength about your community?
[00:29:32.419]Or communities, it can be many.
[00:29:34.194]Again, across all those communities.
[00:29:36.378]If you were to tell someone about your community,
[00:29:39.860]what would you tell them?
[00:29:41.021]What would you brag about?
[00:29:42.318]What would you use to represent your community?
[00:29:46.652]Those are all your community assets.
[00:29:50.133]They can be physical assets.
[00:29:51.430]"Oh, we have a great community center."
[00:29:53.478]"We have a YMCA,
[00:29:56.706]"beautiful trees,"
[00:29:58.545]there's nothin' wrong with that,
[00:30:00.047]home of Arbor Day, right?
[00:30:03.255]They can also be cultural assets, right?
[00:30:05.487]"I think we have good group of young leaders."
[00:30:07.897]"I think we have an excellent arts scene in Bedford."
[00:30:13.905]Similarly, list some ideals.
[00:30:16.362]What would make your community ideal
[00:30:18.888]in which to live, right?
[00:30:23.872]Areas you can improve, if you want to think about that.
[00:30:30.378]Where are you not yet that you want to be?
[00:30:33.927]What would wow you?
[00:30:35.292]That's another way to think about it.
[00:30:38.227]I can ask questions for days, just so you guys know.
[00:30:42.460]So what are your assets and what are your liabilities?
[00:30:45.054]And then, of those, I know I'm going fast,
[00:30:47.717]I promise, you can do this over and over again,
[00:30:49.765]that's why we have similar ones on the back, too,
[00:30:52.154]pick one of those assets or liabilities
[00:30:54.338]or ideals, rather, and put it in
[00:30:57.679]that center, round asset or ideal circle
[00:31:01.728]in the middle there.
[00:31:04.254]You may ask why would I map an asset?
[00:31:06.438]It's already great, why do I need to improve it?
[00:31:08.623]There's always a way to maximize a strength, right?
[00:31:12.036]So it can be an asset.
[00:31:13.060]It could be an ideal, something that you absolutely
[00:31:15.176]want to see changed, again, to improve your community
[00:31:17.361]for the future.
[00:31:18.248]So either one is fine, and then, to the box
[00:31:20.936]directly to the left of that, it says implications.
[00:31:23.915]And this is the why.
[00:31:24.870]Thank you, Simon Sinek, for your book.
[00:31:27.533]Why does this matter?
[00:31:30.059]If you were to tackle this issue in your community,
[00:31:32.653]and if you were to take action on it tomorrow
[00:31:35.725]or next week or next month,
[00:31:37.841]why would it matter?
[00:31:39.001]Would it help create a better social connectedness
[00:31:42.073]in your community?
[00:31:43.097]Would it help build confidence in your institutions?
[00:31:46.169]Would it create higher community engagement?
[00:31:49.173]Or does it help increase the political involvement
[00:31:52.791]of you or your community members?
[00:31:55.455]You don't necessarily just have to couch it
[00:31:57.638]in those four civic indicators, but that, again,
[00:31:59.818]might give you a framework or a structure for doing so.
[00:32:03.436]But talk to us about the why,
[00:32:05.254]why this matters if you were to take on this opportunity.
[00:32:09.170]Up top, there's that action step.
[00:32:11.628]By up top, I mean of this little diagram here,
[00:32:14.086]the tall, skinny box.
[00:32:17.635]Action steps, this is where you put pen to paper,
[00:32:21.663]you put action to the pavement.
[00:32:24.189]What would you do to help develop
[00:32:28.148]this asset or this ideal?
[00:32:30.401]Again, they can be very actionable items,
[00:32:32.449]it could look like call the mayor or
[00:32:35.658]it could look like talk to another young person
[00:32:40.983]in my community who would also be interested in this.
[00:32:44.191]It can be planning, it can be active.
[00:32:46.239]It can be short-term, it can be long-term,
[00:32:48.765]but write down at least three action steps
[00:32:53.185]that would be helpful in achieving
[00:32:55.023]this community asset or ideal,
[00:32:58.914]'cause things don't happen without action,
[00:33:00.757]as we all know.
[00:33:02.327]And then, finally, in the box to the right,
[00:33:05.003]it says partners.
[00:33:06.560]And this is something we've learned
[00:33:08.471]through a lot of community impact projects
[00:33:10.861]that we've done or programs that we've done
[00:33:13.455]over the last eight years, and that is
[00:33:15.913]partners are pretty critical
[00:33:17.346]in achieving some of these things.
[00:33:18.780]Again, it could be an individual,
[00:33:20.077]it could be an organization or a group,
[00:33:21.783]it could be a whole system or an institution.
[00:33:25.227]So start listing partners, people who can
[00:33:28.440]either provide resources for your plan or your project,
[00:33:33.507]it could look like a partner who provides
[00:33:36.374]awareness of your project, right?
[00:33:39.307]'Cause awareness, at some point will be key
[00:33:41.492]for others to adopt this or for this to be lasting change.
[00:33:46.066]It can look like supportive partners,
[00:33:49.138]so people who are helping you do the on-the-ground work.
[00:33:54.962]And I know the first time that I did this,
[00:33:56.852]it was fascinating, it was an excellent exercise,
[00:33:59.378]I was like, "Yeah, cool, I can do this,"
[00:34:01.699]and then I thought, "I really wanna do it again."
[00:34:03.610]Different community, different asset, and that's fine.
[00:34:06.205]As a young person, you're not just isolated in a silo,
[00:34:09.481]so you're gonna want to do this again
[00:34:10.915]and there's space on the back.
[00:34:12.334]It's a fairly straightforward model,
[00:34:13.836]thinking about these three, four steps,
[00:34:17.454]you can do this over and over again for various communities.
[00:34:20.902]You can facilitate this within your communities,
[00:34:23.530]if you wish, by all means.
[00:34:26.056]Any questions for Adam or I?
[00:34:28.373]The property tax issue combined with
[00:34:30.353]state aid for education is a big issue in a lot of rural,
[00:34:34.130]that's the one we're hearing about a lot.
[00:34:35.996]I don't necessarily, I'm not quite sure that
[00:34:40.438]that's the issue that a lot of young rural folks
[00:34:43.032]bring and talk to me about, but then again,
[00:34:45.968]I represent a pretty urban district.
[00:34:49.784]One of the things that I've worked on,
[00:34:51.566]both in Red Cloud and other places, is trying to bring
[00:34:55.047]more state investment and resources into
[00:34:57.573]building up tourism infrastructure throughout the state
[00:35:00.850]and being able to provide more opportunities
[00:35:02.761]for people to come to Nebraska and enjoy
[00:35:05.526]or come to rural Nebraska and enjoy
[00:35:07.011]or to bring families and provide opportunities
[00:35:10.339]and infrastructure for that.
[00:35:12.728]And so that's one issue that
[00:35:13.758]I've worked on that's statewide.
[00:35:16.688]The other thing that's gonna be coming up this year,
[00:35:18.441]and I just was seeing the Twitter updates,
[00:35:20.647]is that we're gonna have about
[00:35:21.815]a half a billion dollar budget shortfall
[00:35:24.158]because of commodity prices going in the tank.
[00:35:27.925]And so that's going to impact our ability
[00:35:30.314]to have resources to do some of the things
[00:35:32.840]that we wanna do,
[00:35:35.880]to have the edge, so yeah.
[00:35:37.778]That's what comes to mind right away,
[00:35:39.621]I'm sure there's a bunch of others, yeah.
[00:35:41.366]Like urban versus rural?
[00:35:42.522]Yeah, and it's interesting
[00:35:44.229]since we have a non-partisan legislature
[00:35:46.149]and I could go into long detail about why it is,
[00:35:49.349]but it really is truly a non-partisan body.
[00:35:52.122]It's mostly, disagreements fall along ideological lines
[00:35:56.816]and often, urban versus rural,
[00:35:58.693]particularly with the tax situation going on right now.
[00:36:01.513]And so I think that the way that you frame it is,
[00:36:04.678]first, you have to contact your elected official,
[00:36:07.385]and I'm surprised how few people contact us, actually,
[00:36:10.610]and so when they do contact us and they're a constituent,
[00:36:13.259]we listen, we really do.
[00:36:15.391]And so when you're emailing your state representative
[00:36:18.213]or whoever it may be, state that
[00:36:21.439]you're a young Nebraskan and you're from a rural area
[00:36:25.010]and you're about growing Nebraska for everyone.
[00:36:29.050]Listen, we're either all going to thrive together
[00:36:32.266]or we're gonna die together.
[00:36:33.590]The urban areas are dependent upon
[00:36:35.311]success in the rural areas,
[00:36:37.162]and the rural areas are dependent upon
[00:36:38.715]success in the urban areas in Nebraska.
[00:36:40.906]And if you don't believe that,
[00:36:41.942]come and talk to me afterwards
[00:36:43.141]'cause I can give you some good examples.
[00:36:45.118]And so, for me, that's the attitude that I take
[00:36:48.114]when I'm looking at issues is that
[00:36:49.469]this shouldn't just be an urban issue or a rural issue,
[00:36:51.762]'cause if rural Nebraska is strong,
[00:36:53.335]then urban Nebraska is strong.
[00:36:55.355]And talk about that, about how you want the entire state
[00:36:57.543]to be strong and that this issue, for this reason,
[00:37:01.518]strengthens the entire state,
[00:37:02.910]and if you can find an urban hook there,
[00:37:04.984]if you're talking to an urban senator,
[00:37:06.309]that's always good, too.
[00:37:08.325]Hopefully, the rural senator gets it right away.
[00:37:12.069]But be proud that you're a young Nebraskan, too,
[00:37:14.949]and let them know that because
[00:37:16.389]we don't hear from a lot of young Nebraskans
[00:37:18.520]and so I think the tendency is to, as politicians,
[00:37:22.955]is to listen to older Nebraskans
[00:37:25.086]because they hold the political power
[00:37:26.353]because they're ones that are the most politically active.
[00:37:29.376]And so we have to use our voices more.
[00:37:33.023]Does that make sense, or is that too anomalous?
[00:37:35.539]Okay, you can email me if you have other questions.
[00:37:37.209]I'm actually gonna jump in,
[00:37:38.042]I know, Yeah, go for it.
[00:37:38.875]and answer the question for the Legislator.
[00:37:41.526]As a person with a rural background
[00:37:42.816]who now is an urban constituent, I think,
[00:37:46.018]and it goes back to the
[00:37:46.851]social connectedness of Nebraska,
[00:37:51.648]nearly everybody in an urban setting or urban situation
[00:37:55.177]has some sort of rural tie, right?
[00:37:57.538]"Oh, my grandpa's a farmer," or
[00:37:59.094]"My dad's a farmer," or, shoot,
[00:38:00.994]my parents both grew up in Mullen,
[00:38:03.990]so there's nearly someone in every urban area
[00:38:06.870]that has a connection to rural Nebraska
[00:38:09.001]and if you work to find that and
[00:38:10.959]understand that there's common ground there,
[00:38:13.206]you'll be a lot farther off
[00:38:14.761]and keep perpetuating that narrative
[00:38:16.662]when you're talking in the political realm, as well.
[00:38:20.636]The biggest employer in my urban district is
[00:38:22.422]Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
[00:38:24.783]Best paying jobs, 2,000 of them, I can tell you right now,
[00:38:27.721]the commodity prices going down,
[00:38:29.967]it's gonna impact our employment there
[00:38:34.172]and how many people we have.
[00:38:35.209]So, there's ties.

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CYN Summit | Harnessing Civic & Political Power as a Young Nebraskan

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