The Youth Caucus Steering Committee voted to support efforts underway in multiple states and caucuses to add a sex work decriminalization amendment to the Green Party US platform. The next cycle of platform amendments will be considered in 2018, though submission of amendments will begin within a few months.

We encourage all Young Greens to engage your local and state parties on this topic, and when specific language arises, to sign on as co-sponsors to the amendment.

Currently, we are signing onto the amendment originally coming out of the Illinois Green Party, though will be suggesting some small edits before it is submitted to the GPUS Platform Committee. 

Based on feedback from Young Greens organizers across the country and looking at student union dues models elsewhere in North America, the Youth Caucus Steering Committee has set the annual dues at $10. For many of those on college campuses, you can think of it as $5 a semester. Several of our campus chapters have already indicated that they will collectively raise this money for their campus members.

Dues is a model used in unions (including student unions) and elsewhere on the Left to encourage member investment in an organization and a funding model separate from corporate or PAC donors.

We are now accepting self-nominations for certain open Young Green Steering Committee positions. 

Open positions up for election at this time:
--2 Co-Chair positions
--1 Secretary position
--1 Alternate Delegate to the National Committee position

Please find out more about each of these positions in the by-laws (linked above) and then fill out the nomination form by 12am Eastern on Saturday April 15th. The nomination form can be found here: ygus.org/nomination

Newark, New Jersey was recently selected as the site of the Green Party's annual national meeting to be held from July 13-16. Please mark this on your calendar and follow updates on the Facebook event page.

The water protectors at Standing Rock mobilized their community and supporters around the world, raising consciousness around the need to protect Mother Earth. Not surprisingly, the Standing Rock protests were initially sparked by indigenous youth, who have since organized the International Indigenous Youth Council (IIYC). The IIYC inspires youth to take action in their communities to protect the land, water, and treaty rights, to act locally to overturn any and all social and spiritual injustices. They were formed in response to the call of Youth from the Sacred Stone Camp for resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and are made up of indigenous youth from all nations, tribes, and races.

The proposed changes to the Young Greens by-laws have passed.

Ultimately, the vote was 32 YEA vs 4 NAY.
41 people voted.

Four people voted but indicated they were not eligible to vote (either by not being signed up on our website, not being of age, or not being a state party member). Those votes were 2 YEA vs 1 NAY vs 1 ABSTAIN.

One person voted YEA but after the 12:00pm EST deadline on Friday, February 17.

Below are the new by-laws (edited and passed by the Steering Committee) that must be voted on by the entire caucus.

As an emergency vote, the 3-day voting period will end Friday, February 17 at 1pm Eastern Time. 

You can vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FZR9BR7

Current by-laws found here: http://ygus.org/about/bylaws/

Major changes:

1. Split elections. 2 elections held yearly (February & August) for 4 steering committee members ensures continuity instead of electing everyone at in July.

2. Implementation of dues set at $10 yearly. Dues is already a Young Greens policy, this sets a reasonable number. Will not affect voting privileges until fully setup (ie. will be in place for August elections of 4 Steering Committee members–not the elections that will happen immediately after this by-laws vote in February, if they pass)

3. Explicitly makes the caucus anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, intersectional, and politically independent in our interpretation of the GPUS Platform and in our own leading values.

4. Defines a two-tiered campus program of Young Greens chapters that receive primary support alongside affiliate chapters that are inclusive of Greens and support the 10 Key Values and Platform. 

5. More clearly defines the jobs of the Steering Committee roles and underlines that required work of these elected positions as 10 hours a month minimum. It encourages anyone running for these positions to understand the required minimum work, and allows for the removal of officers who are not putting in the minimum required work.

The Youth Caucus and the Green Party US have both endorsed the Million Student March. The Green Party is the only national party that supports all demands. Please join us on 3/30 for a conference call to organize for the march

You’ve heard the statistics, right? Nationwide education debt is at about $1.2 trillion dollars – an amount that keeps too many of us trapped living paycheck to paycheck while we make our monthly student loan payments. Meanwhile, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost US taxpayers upwards of $1.6 trillion dollars and immeasurable death and devastation to the people of the Middle East. The system is rigged to favor the banks, the military contractors, and the for-profit colleges. Don’t you agree it’s time to change the system?