On Wednesday, June 7th, Sen. Chad Barefoot (R-18), Rep. Chaz Beasley (D-92), Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D-16), and Rep. Kyle Hall (R-91) came together at the North Carolina Legislative Building to announce the creation of the North Carolina Future Caucus. The Caucus, comprised of the legislature's youngest members, will provide a platform for lawmakers to share ideas and coalesce around issues that affect young North Carolinians.
North Carolina becomes the 18th state in the Millennial Action Project's State Future Caucus Network. They join a nation-wide movement taking place in statehouses across the country where millennial legislators are seeking to find common ground and create meaningful progress through government institutions.
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"With more than one and a half million millennials across the state of North Carolina, I'm thrilled that Reps. Beasley and Hall and Sens. Chaudhuri and Barefoot are working together to ensure that each of these voices is heard at the state capitol," said Steven Olikara, President and Co-Founder of the Millennial Action Project. "By uniting behind the issues that face their entire generation instead of allowing themselves to be divided by party lines, these young legislators will be able to create meaningful change that will benefit all North Carolinians."
"It is tremendously important that people who are going to be the future of our state feel like they have ownership in what we're doing," remarked Rep. Beasley.
"I want to do whatever I can to make sure that we can proactively include the voices of millennials and have them be part of the conversation so that we can have a shared prosperity for this state today and a shared prosperity for this state in the future," added Sen. Chaudhuri, whose district contains many millennial.s
The Future Caucus provides a space for members to create their own agenda of issues that matter to their young constituents. "One good thing about this caucus that we've established here is giving us that open dialogue," noted Rep. Hall. Caucus leadership discussed several policy areas they hope to see addressed in the coming session, including tax reform, higher education, public safety, and employment.
The evening prior to the announcement, caucus members came together for a cocktail reception to share ideas for the trajectory of their group.
