CLT Engage started in 2023 as a way to connect young people in Charlotte to the issues that matter most to them and the political process that can actually make an impact. We built CLT Engage to respond to four realities:

Young people are underrepresented in our government and in political activism. Very few elected positions are held by people under 35, so young people’s interests are often overlooked at all levels of government. Younger generations also tend to have a harder time finding deep involvement in political activism due to economic and time constraints.

We’ve lost touch with the local issues. As the media landscape has come to focus more on national-level politics, citizens, including young people, are less engaged with the issues that affect their communities specifically. This can make it more challenging to understand the levers of power that exist to remedy those issues and make young people feel unable to be part of the necessary change.

Many young people in Charlotte aren’t from here. Many young people are transplants to Charlotte and aren’t very aware of the state- or city-specific issues that affect this community. This group is often interested in making a positive impact, but realizes it’s difficult to find an easy “on-ramp” to Charlotte-specific engagement and connection. Transplants want to feel more “from” Charlotte and enrich their new home, but learning how to help can be challenging.

Young people aren’t committed to one political party or another. More than our parents’ generation, young folks are more frustrated by the two-party system and are more focused on the issues. Most young folks agree on a wide range of issues, from affordable housing to making progress on climate justice, but don’t see loyalty to one party as a mechanism to make real change.