Rep. Sara Jacobs Pens Teen Vogue Op-Ed Calling on Democrats to Win Back Young People By Delivering on Housing and Child Care
Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51), one of the youngest Members of Congress, penned an op-ed for Teen Vogue, calling on Democrats to win back the support of young people by addressing two of their biggest costs: child care and housing.
Read Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Op-Ed Here
In part, Rep. Sara Jacobs wrote:
“Younger generations like mine don’t really trust institutions or those in power — and for good reason. I was in seventh grade on September 11, 2001, and then watched as the US spent billions of dollars and deployed millions of service members to fight the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the Great Recession years later, I was getting ready to graduate from college, and many of my friends couldn’t find a job or afford somewhere to live. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so many young people missed out on big and little things, such as learning in a traditional classroom, attending school dances, graduation, getting first jobs. We don’t trust that our leaders know how to get us out of the messes they got us into. And all the while we’re told that our opinions don’t matter as young people, to wait our turn; that we’re lazy, entitled, and ungrateful…
“For previous generations, one of the best indicators of a strong economy was low unemployment. If you had a job, you and your family could generally get by. What we’re seeing today, though, is that even while unemployment is down (which is good!), people with a job can’t afford the basics. It makes sense that Gen Z and millennials, like most Americans, named the cost of living and inflation as their top voting concerns ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“An even more recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that young Americans care about inflation even more than older adults. And yet, even with Democratic control of Congress and the White House, we failed to address the two biggest costs for young people, costs that are still outpacing inflation and making it harder for young people to make ends meet: housing and childcare.”
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