Wild Card

    It is obvious that in this day and time, we need to be educated as a whole about politics and organizations going on around us. The world is changing daily with new trends, organizations, and political standpoints. The saying is true, the older you get the wiser you get and this is true with politics. Over time you learn more and more about yourself and what you believe. With things changing so fast, we younger folks need a little guidance along the way and this is where social media comes into play. Social media is the best tool that we have to communicate and educate. You can find almost anything on social media, which is helpful in politics. With a little help from social media, we can work every day to be better for ourselves and those around us. 

    Gen-Z for Change is a nonprofit organization that uses "the power of social media to educate our generation, encourage and mobilize civic participation, shift the political debate, and enact change." "Partnering with influencers, activists, and celebrities, we produce multimedia content on a variety of topics including COVID-19, climate change, systemic inequity, foreign policy, voting rights, and LGBTQIA+ issues." Through their organization, they have managed to reach millions of people over numerous talk shows. This organization was originally called TikTok for Biden but then got changed to Gen-Z for change. TikTok for Biden was originally made to help educate others in order to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Since then, the organization has switched to Gen-Z for change and has shifted its focus towards making a change in communities. This organization is a more left-leaning group but I think everyone could learn something from this organization whether they agree with them or not. Gen-Z for Change is dedicated to educating and encouraging other Gen-Z. 

"We educate our peers through timely explainer content about the news, legislation, and pressing issues that we care about."

"We encourage civic participation and mobilize our audience by keeping them informed and politically aware year-round. We encourage our audience to take action when appropriate through donations, calls to Congress, and voting in municipal elections."

"We shift the political debate by flooding TikTok with engaging progressive content that hits more FYPs than our opponents. We also only promote issues, organizations, and topics that WE, as young progressives, support. We aim to shift the conversation left by engaging more young voters in progressive ideologies."

"We enact change by working together, partnering with other organizations where it makes sense to create exponential impact, and by meeting our audience where they are with the information they need to make informed decisions in the voting booth."

    Gen-Z TikTok currently has 1.5 million followers, more than 500 content creators, and receives 1.5 billion monthly views. Their Instagram account has 59.8 thousand followers. Twitter has 66.8 thousand followers. Their Youtube account has 6.96 thousand subscribers. Lastly, their Facebook has 2.4 thousand followers. Altogether they have accumulated 540 million followers. Gen-Z has a core team of 12 individuals who each have a specific job that plays into this operation. Because of their large social media presence, they have been mentioned on ABC Nightline, NBC News, Teen Vogue, and many more. A specific story about a girl who was body-shamed sent Gen-Z soaring across the internet. Olivia Julianna is a 19-year-old Gen-Z activist who was mocked and body shamed by Rep. Matt Gaetz. While she managed to somewhat sabotage Matt Gaetz's tip line, he still managed to raise over $255 thousand. She proceeded to turn this insult into a fundraiser and ended up raising $1.3 million for women who are wanting abortions. It only took her 72 hours to reach the first $1 million. Another student activist also managed to get 500 students or more out of their classrooms to stand up for the "Don't Say Gay" Bill. This walk was initiated by an openly gay student by the name of Jack Petocz from Florida. I think it is easy to say that Jack got his point across through the vast number of students that stood by his side across the state. On their website, they have covered just about every issue that you can think of and everything you would need to know about it. 

    For the first time in history, Generation Z has just now welcomed a member into Congress for the very first time. Maxwell Alejandro Frost a 25-year-old Democrat who ran in the election for District 10 in Florida. Frost ran against Republican, Calvin Wimbish. In the election, Frost received 117,929 votes and Wimbish received 78,838. This gave Frost 59 percent of the votes and left Wimbish with 39.44 percent of the votes for Florida District 10. Part of his debate was about the importance of having a younger generation in Congress so not only we have a say, but so that he can introduce new ideas. Maxwell started his journey after the active shooter in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. Before he decided to run for Congress, Maxwell was a national organizational director for March of Our Lives which advocates for gun control History was definitely made through his success in the 2022 election.

    Overall, Gen-Z is a group of young politicians who are on a mission to educate others. They are using the power of social media to reach large areas of people. Anyone can choose to agree or disagree with the thoughts of Gen-Z but one thing we can all agree on is that whether you lean right or left, you will still learn something that you didn't know before just by taking a peek at their website. Politics are not for everyone, but it is organizations like this one that make it easier to understand what is going on in the world around us. You can't argue with hard work or a motivated generation. Let's face it, way over half of the world constantly has their head stuck in a phone, so why not put it to good use?