The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Biden’s agenda touted at national youth forum
Acting labor secretary highlights her youth policies.
In a ballroom at the Courtland Grand Hotel on Tuesday — just steps away from the Georgia State University campus — 26-year-old Daphne Frias encouraged the hundreds of her peers who gathered there to harness their superpower.
“For me, being a young person is my superpower,” she said. “Iunderstand that my youth and my generat ion are cha n ging t he world.”
The youth and disability advocate gave her remarks at the National Yo uth Employment C oalition’s annual forum, which was held in the capital city of Georgia — a crucial swing state in the upcoming pres- idential election where young voters could play a key role.
“We absolutely need youth voices to show up. But not only show up but to lead — giving us the spaces to have our voices be heard,” said Frias, who is from New York. “I think a misconception is that youth are the future. Youth are the right now.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dick- ens and Biden administration officials took the oppor- tunity to tout investments in youth employment — both in the south and nationally.
Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor Julie Su highlighted Presi- dent Joe Biden’s youth-re- lated policies, such as mass cancellation of $1.2 billion of student debt, and focus on topics that are top-of-mind
r younger generations, like climate change and mental health supports.
“President Biden under- stands the urgency; he shares it,” she said. “And that’swhy he’s put young people at the center of his agenda.”
Su’s visit is another in a string of stops from White House officials and federal politicians themselves as the Biden and Harris campaign worksto promote pol- icies enacted during the past four years.
Vice President Kamala Har- ris and First Lady Jill Biden have made recent trips to Georgia.
Joe Biden, too, is sched- uled to fly in to Atlanta this weekend ahead of the state’s presidential primary on Tuesday.
During his first term, Dick- ens has focused heavily on youth programs, particularly employment opportunities that will feed into the city’s workforce.
The mayor dubbed 2023 the “Year of the Youth,” which encompassed ini- tiatives from grants to early child care provid- ers to the city’s summer youth employment pro- grams. This past summer, the city helped more than 5,000 young residents land jobs at an average of $17 per hour.
“When you askwhat does a community that best supports its young people look like, we think it looks like the ATL — we think it looks like Atlanta,” Dickens said Tuesday.
Atlanta is taking part in the National Youth Employment Coalition’s Youth Champion Communities Mayors Challenge Framework program, which works nationwide to help communities better set up their young residents for economic success.
Josh Morrow, 22, from Indianapolis, who sits on the National Youth Employment Coalition’s youth council, said his interest in youth employment came as he watched his friends struggle against economic or social barriers that kept them out of the workforce.
“There’s just not enough — whether it’s college, high school, or even certification — pipelines to actual tangible jobs that last a long time and that actually care about the employees, not just as a number but also as a person,” he said.