AGE and Mobilize have recruited an ideologically balanced panel of prominent youth activists—the Youth Council—to serve as delegates. Most are not experts in retirement, health policy, or macroeconomics. However, all are committed to taking a long-term perspective on federal budget policy, based on a careful consideration of the facts. They are approaching this task in a spirit of collegiality and non-partisanship; common generational interest; intellectual curiosity; and the willingness to compromise in the larger national interest.
YOUTH COUNCIL
Delegates
Executive Director, National Conference on Citizenship
Chief Executive Officer, Mobilize.org
Director of Operations, Roosevelt Institution
Staff Writer,
Fast Company Magazine & Author
Executive Director, America’s Future Foundation
Founder,
Champions of Hope
Co-Founder/Co-Chair, Generation Change, Inc.
President &
Co-Founder, Association of Young Americans
Co-Founder & Chair,
Students for Saving
Social Security
David Smith, 27, is the Youth Entitlement Summit chair. Smith is Executive Director of the National Conference on Citizenship, a federally chartered corporation founded in 1946 to encourage a more active, engaged citizenry. He founded Mobilize.org in 2002, where he served as executive director until March 2008. He is also the co-founder and Vice Chair of the Youth Policy Action Center, and serves on the boards of Common Sense California, Mobilize.org, Prepare the Future and Americans for Generational Equity. He has an A.B. in political science from UC Berkeley.
Maya Enista, 24, is CEO of Mobilize.org, an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people. Mobilize.org has assisted in the formation of more than 200 student volunteer teams on college campuses in 40 states. Enista has seven years of non-profit experience in youth activism and coordination. She served as East Coast Coordinator for Rock the Vote and as National Field Director for the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project, a 13 state campaign that registered over 300,000 new voters. She graduated in 2005 from Rutgers University.
Caitlin Howarth, 23, is Director of Operations of the Roosevelt Institution a national network of campus-based student think tanks dedicated to delivering sound, progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups at all levels of government as it organizes, trains, and empowers the next generation of progressive leaders. Howarth has served with Roosevelt as Junior Editor in Chief of the Roosevelt Review Summer 2006, Chair of the Editorial Board 2006-2007, and as Policy Director for UVA Chapter. She joined the full time staff after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2007.
Anya Kamenetz, 27, is a staff writer at Fast Company magazine, and the author of "Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young." The magazine series, on which the book was based, was nominated for a Pulitzer. Kamenetz writes a blog focusing on the economic upheavals facing people in their 20s and 30s: soaring student loan and credit card debt; surfing an increasingly uncertain job market with stagnant wages but without health benefits or pension plans; fighting international competition; and facing the economic risks of baby boomers' retirement. She has a B.A. in literature from Yale.
David Kirby, 26, is Executive Director of American’s Future Foundation, a non-profit organization that works with conservative and libertarian professionals in their second stage of development, generally in their 20s and 30s, and helps move them into leadership positions in think tanks and government. Kirby has been the executive director of America’s Future Foundation since June 2005. He previously was a government affairs associate at the Cato Institute, where he managed Cato's Capitol Hill briefing program, and interned for Senator Ted Kennedy. He has Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University.
Melissa Martin, 32 is the Founder of Champions of Hope, a global team of youth dedicated to tackling personal, community, and global challenges through service. The organization focuses on engaging disadvantaged youth in community service, in the belief that volunteer work helps them to develop the strength and determination to overcome personal hardships. Martin also is CEO of SplashLife, a for-profit new media, marketing, and entertainment company dedicated to youth empowerment. She is a graduate of the University of Denver Law School.
Kouri C. Marshall, 25, is National Vice-chair of the political action committee of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, a national organization committed to serving the African-American community. He is also Co-founder and Co-chair of Generation Change, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to unite young leaders while encouraging them to be civically engaged. Marshall is active in Democratic politics and currently serves as a 12th Congressional District Alternate-Delegate for the Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign. He is completing his MPA at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Luke A. Repici, 30, is the president and co-founder of the Association of Young Americans, nonpartisan non-profit organization working to help young Americans (18-35) become better informed and more engaged in public policy issues—focusing not only the immediate impact of policy decisions, but also implications years and decades down the road. Repici earned his law degree from Villanova and practices law at White and Williams LLP in Philadelphia. He is a volunteer for the Homeless Advocacy Project, and worked as an intern in the Congressional office of Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich in 1997.
Patrick Wetherille, 25, is Co-Founder and Chair of Students for Saving Social Security, a non-profit educational organization that advocates for retirement reform that is fair to younger generations. Wetherille is currently completing a Master of Public Policy at Georgetown University and will be starting an MBA program at Harvard in the fall. His BA is from Haverford College.
Michael Linden, 27, is the Director of Tax and Budget Policy for First Focus, <http://www.firstfocus.net/> a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making children a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. Michael was the lead author and analyst for Children 's Budget 2008 <http://www.firstfocus.net/pages/3391>, a comprehensive guide to all federal spending on children and youth. Michael also spent several years working directly with children and young people of all ages as a youth group director in Chicago. Michael has a B.A. in political science from Brown University and a masters degree in public policy from UC Berkeley.
Chief Executive Officer, Generation Next
Affiliations are listed for information purposes only and do not act as an endorsement of the Youth Entitlement Summit.
Michael P. Davidson, 27, CEO of Generation Next, a network of executives and entrepreneurs committed to empowering individuals and causes to provide long-term solutions to challenges. Davidson currently is an Advisory Board Member for Mobilize America's Youth and does Government Relations for the real estate development firm, Makar Properties. Prior to joining GenNeXt, he was Director of the California Government Accountability Council of the Performance Institute, a free market think tank based in San Diego, CA and Washington, DC. He has a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley.
Director of Tax and Budget Policy,
First Focus
