In hopes of encouraging young adults to become active in their communities, The American Democracy Institute will be hosting the Empower Change Summit on Saturday at Royce Hall.
The summit will include several guest speakers, including former President Bill Clinton and several workshops, said John Hart, founder and CEO of the institute.
Hart said he hopes the summit will help young people collaborate and pursue projects with others to become active in their local communities.
At the first Empower Change Summit in Chicago, a young woman in attendance was inspired to plan and host a conference for women in leadership at the University of Illinois, Hart said.
Now, Hart said students in Los Angeles will have an opportunity to become inspired as well and learn what it takes to make their creative ideas a reality.
“This is a place where they can learn how to lead (and) collaborate to have an impact,” he said.
Hart said he believes young people are often unfairly characterized as being uninterested or disengaged because they have not been politically or socially involved in the same ways as previous generations.
Though young people are less likely to organize rallies or protests against social policies they disagree with, Hart said he believes they have redefined the way they approach social issues.
“They engage in a different way,” he said. “They want to focus on solving problems.”
But, while young people often want to become involved in their communities and initiate change, they often struggle to transform their ideas into tangible results, Hart said.
Young people often have difficulty in pursing projects because they struggle to find partners to work with, Hart said. By collaborating with community members, the university and students, the summit will provide a mutual platform for those with ideas to meet people who are looking for projects.
“There are doers looking to be inspired,” he said.
Hart said he also hopes the guest speakers, such as Rafi Musher, a successful New York businessman who recently proposed a plan to replace current New York City cabs with fuel-efficient hybrid cars, will inspire participants to look to diverse areas ““ like business and politics ““ to solve current social problems creatively.
The summit will also include several workshops to educate and enable participants to get involved.
Hart said some of the workshops, like one on voter engagement, are staples of the annual summit while others, like the Ecology, Economy and Equity workshop, reflect the specific interests of the community in which the Summit is taking place.
D’Artagnan Scorza, UC student regent designate, said he worked with others to include the E3 panel.
Scorza said the panel would focus on issues that are already important to California students including combating the negative effects of global climate change, addressing inequities in access to resources for some groups, and access to higher education.
Justin Hotter, the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president, said he believes the event will provide a unique opportunity for UCLA students to meet with influential community members doing important work to solve existing social issues.
“You can always be more connected. There could very well be someone from L.A. you haven’t met,” he said.