WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to last Friday’s July unemployment report, OUR TIME – a national, non-profit membership organization founded and run by Americans under 30 – launched a national call to action and petition to their over 300,000 members demanding that Congress end the recess gaveled into effect last week and immediately return to Washington, DC to address the staggering unemployment rate amongst young American workers.
Matthew Segal, president and co-founder of OUR TIME, launched the petition through a national call to action email alert to OUR TIME’s membership, as well as through numerous social media and online platforms to remind young Americans that politicians in Washington also work for them and they can no longer allow the partisan rancor inside the beltway to drown out any discussion of issues of concern to them.
In the petition, titled “Vacation’s Over!” that was shipped all across the country to OUR TIME’s over 300,000 members, the organization calls on Congress to “CANCEL your vacation, head back to Washington, and get to work on behalf of your constituents”, by doing something to address this job crisis amongst America’s young workers. The petition calls out Congress’s role in fixing this mess is more than just to “sit on the beach, attend fundraising dinners, and spew talking points on cable TV?
The organization is profiled in Monday’s Washington Post and on MSNBC.com, urging Congress to recognize the precarious economic environment of young Americans and to concentrate their efforts on finding a solution. Segal, reminds government officials that young Americans aren’t just votes in an election; they are hard-working, tax-paying, small business-creating Americans that deserve a chance at creating a stable economic future for this country.
“You’ll see a rise in issue-oriented groups that tackle the priorities important to my generation – whether its social (marriage equality) or economic (jobs, jobs, jobs) – in the upcoming election.” says Segal. “The best ideas for how we advance these fights will rise to the top and capture young attention. It’s that simple. We’re not pawns for Democrats or Republicans, we don’t see politics in binaries, and we don’t care about how we impact the current two-party system. We’re concerned about issues — jobs and debt in particular.”
With last month’s launch of Buy Young, OUR TIME takes the initiative that Congress continues to neglect by support young entrepreneurship, grow small businesses and provide employment opportunities for young Americans – all essential components of boosting the county’s current economic state. Segal created Buy Young as an online marketplace aggregating hundreds of young companies to reinforce the fact that young Americans are major contributors to the success of the U.S. economy and key drivers of job creation. So far, the participating companies alone have created over 7,000 jobs altogether.
OUR TIME is a national organization founded and run by young Americans, leveraging pop culture, business partnerships, and online organizing to drive civic engagement through economic empowerment. To follow OUR TIME on Facebook go to: http://www.facebook.com/OurTimeOrg Or to follow OurTime on Twitter, go to: www.Twitter.com/OurTimeOrg
