YI Rocky Mountain is a leader in creating economic opportunity for young adults by amplifying their voices in the political process. We pass state policies and initiatives, and train diverse cohorts of young adults to effectively advocate for their community’s needs, focusing primarily on health care, higher education, basic needs, civic engagement, and the workforce. We are committed to expanding opportunities for young adults from low-income and historically underrepresented communities. YI Rocky Mountain has:

  • Provided over 900 hours of in-depth advocacy training to more than 200 young adults through YI’s paid YAP;
  • Reached 1,000+ young Coloradans in person and an additional 250,000+ online with important consumer information on health care and higher education;
  • Connected youth with hundreds of state and local lawmakers working on YI’s core issues, including providing over 150 testimonials to state legislative committees;
  • Placed 40+ media stories written by or featuring the accounts of YI’s youth leaders on economic security issues facing young Coloradans;
  • Provided guidance and oversight for institutions of higher education, the state legislature, the Department of Higher Education, and the Governor’s Office on CARES Act spending;
  • Developed and implemented the Healthy Minds and Hunger Free Checklists for college campuses;
  • Developed a mental health advocacy toolkit called Evokate to engage young adults, from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds, in a process of understanding effective advocacy;
  • Produced multiple policy and research products related to achieving gender equity in Colorado apprenticeships, a policy roadmap for supporting student parents, recommendations for increasing young adult use of preventive health care services, and Women in the Workforce.
  • Produced “Dismantle to Rebuilt: Colorado’s Young Adult Pulse,” a blog series on how we engage young adult voices throughout our annual policy agenda development. CO Agenda Banner

Policy

The Rocky Mountain Young Invincibles office is committed to advancing policy benefiting young adults in higher education, health care (with an emphasis on mental health care), workforce development, and civic engagement. Our policy priorities are guided by the needs of young adults in Colorado. We regularly survey our network, and continuously solicit feedback from young adults throughout Colorado to ensure that we hold young adults furthest from power and privilege at the center of our work.

Research

We’ve produced various policy and research products related to achieving gender equity in Colorado apprenticeships, a policy roadmap for supporting student parents, and recommendations for increasing young adult use of preventive health care services. In our most recent report, Women in the Workforce, we researched the future of women’s involvement in the workforce and found that the child-care crisis, brought on in part by the pandemic’s effects, had a massive impact on women and families, especially in marginalized communities in Colorado. 

If you’re interested in partnering or joining our work in Colorado or the Rocky Mountain Region, we’d love to hear from you!

Contact information:
Melanie Kesner
(505) 270-7179
melanie.kesner@younginvincibles.org
303 E. 17th Avenue
Suite 400
Denver, CO 80203

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