Young Voices discovers, nurtures, and promotes independent communicators and creators ages 18-35.
We work with unconventional young thinkers from a variety of backgrounds working in policy, journalism, innovation, and academia. We provide them with free media training and placement services for articles, broadcast interviews, and public speaking opportunities.
What sets us apart is our commitment to ideological pluralism. We work with political independents who don’t fit neatly on the left-right spectrum. The most interesting people rarely do.
We help rising changemakers get where they want to be.
As a direct result of our specialized trainings and robust network, our alumni are leading newsrooms, writing books, hosting TV shows, and more.
Are you next?
"From my time working, writing, and doing TV/radio for Young Voices, I developed a sense of voice and an ability to weave story, heart and evidence to my delivery. From becoming a published author, TV commentator and show host, Young Voices prepared me for all of it."
Stephen Kent
Public Relations Specialist, Consumer Choice Center
"Young Voices has equipped me with the tools to succeed in various aspects of the media space. Their training, expertise, and overall support are unmatched."
Cooper Conway
MPP Candidate, Pepperdine University
“Over the course of four years, I went from writing for my student newspaper, to becoming a regular political broadcaster on national television and radio programs, and from there, I became a news editor at one of the world's biggest newspapers. The training, guidance and wealth of connections that Young Voices provided was invaluable in spearheading my career. If you are an aspiring journalist, policymaker or commentator, then you must join the Contributor Program."
Bill Bowkett
Assistant News Editor, Daily Mail
“Thanks to the resume and confidence I was able to build as a Young Voices contributor, I'm now an editor at Reason, the premier libertarian media outlet. Without Young Voices, I would be nowhere near as sure of myself and my professional path as I am now."
Fiona Harrigan
Associate Editor, Reason Magazine
“Young Voices has taken my writing to new heights. They helped me transition from academic to popular writing and get published in outlets like National Review and the Wall Street Journal. Thanks to Young Voices, doors are opening for me as a public intellectual that I couldn't have gotten through on my own."
Alexander Salter
Assoc. Professor, Texas Tech University
“During my transition to law school, Young Voices has been truly instrumental, allowing me to leverage what I learn in the classroom in my writing. During my first semester, I published op-eds about issues that are important to me in national publications, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post.”
Rachel Chiu
J.D. Candidate, Georgetown University
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This is the election cycle in which the Democratic Party, via Tim Walz, has incorporated the phrase "Mind your own damn business." Srisha Raj says, Gen Z isn't taking the bait and rejects the idea that willful ignorance equals freedom.
The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing Pharmacy Benefit Managers to determine their impact on the healthcare market. Patrick Hanks warns that the FTC studies are leaning on slant more than reason.
ABOUT MOVING FORWARD: Young Voices sponsors a weekly radio show for our contributors to discuss pressing policy issues and their latest work. Moving Forward with Young Voices is hosted by Bryan Hyde and broadcasts on Radio St. George 100.3FM (KDXI-LP), a terrestrial radio station in Utah. It is also available to stream as a podcast on over 40 platforms including Podbean, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
ABOUT MOVING FORWARD: Young Voices sponsors a weekly radio show for our contributors to discuss pressing policy issues and their latest work. Moving Forward with Young Voices is hosted by Bryan Hyde and broadcasts on Radio St. George 100.3FM (KDXI-LP), a terrestrial radio station in Utah. It is also available to stream as a podcast on over 40 platforms including Podbean, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Since 2017, Young Voices has offered select cohorts of our writers a unique opportunity to explore specific policy issues through our "Policy Fellowships" program. These fellowships provide in-depth learning guided by lectures and mentorship from scholars at leading think tanks. I’m excited to announce that this fall, Young Voices will be launching our largest batch of fellowships to date, featuring three programs and 23 fellows. Read more about them below:
Middle East History and Peace Fellowship In the wake of the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war, much of the public conversation is driven by historical misunderstandings. To address this, Young Voices is launching a fellowship designed to equip our writers with the historical context and knowledge needed to engage more thoughtfully on this issue. Kicking off with a summit in New York City next month, seven fellows will learn from historians, activists, and reporters. They will continue their education through four virtual briefings and are expected to publish three op-eds before the fellowship concludes in March.
Social Mobility Fellowship Last fall, Young Voices debuted a fellowship focused on tackling tough domestic policy issues such as poverty, crime, and social mobility. The program yielded great results, with two fellows securing ongoing reporting positions. This year, we’re bringing the fellowship back, beginning in November with an opening summit in Washington, DC. Eight fellows will receive training in original reporting and will be expected to produce two feature stories on social entrepreneurs addressing the challenges of social mobility.
Markets and Morality Fellowship In partnership with the Acton Institute, Young Voices is offering an exclusive fellowship for eight of our top writers. These fellows will attend an invite-only retreat in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they will explore the intersection of markets and morality. Through guided discussions and a Liberty Fund-style symposium, participants will delve into the ethics of a free society, with a focus on the ideas of Adam Smith.
We’re looking forward to sharing the results of these fellowships as they conclude early next year. These programs are a testament to the continued growth of Young Voices' network of communicators for liberty. To learn more about Young Voices' recent accomplishments and future plans, check out our annual report linked below.
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, RealClearPolitics, New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and more!
I’m thrilled to share with you Young Voices’ 2023-2024 Annual Report. For the 11th consecutive year, we’ve expanded our media reach, continuing to amplify the message of liberty across the globe. Check out the report here.
Over the past year, Young Voices:
Reached a record-breaking 90.7 million viewers through over 1,900 media appearances, including written publications, TV, radio, podcasts, and speeches.
Hosted 19 events with 1,025 participants, including debates, networking happy hours, and book tour events.
Expanded the Dissident Project to classrooms nationwide, launching a high school essay contest and welcoming a new class of speakers to share their stories of escaping tyranny and finding freedom in America.
Facilitated new job opportunities for several of our writers, including positions at the New York Post, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and the Manhattan Institute.
Launched a new website, joinyv.org, designed for simplicity and to attract new talent, featuring a searchable talent page and event archives.
Set three new records for applications to our programs, Tier 1 media hits, and donations received.
These achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the support of dedicated individuals like you. Here’s to reaching even more milestones for freedom in the media!
Are you inspired by what you see? Click here to give a tax-deductible donation to support our work empowering the next generation of leaders for liberty.
Happy Labor Day Weekend! The dog days of summer may be coming to an end, but Young Voices has not been sleeping. We hosted two big gatherings in New York City this past week — a speakers training for our new Dissident Project class and a panel with three student reporters on what's to come with campus protests. Check it out!
Meet the Dissidents: An Evening with the Dissident Project The Dissident Project is Young Voices' speakers bureau connecting U.S. immigrants who escaped tyrannical regimes with high schoolers at no cost to schools. We welcomed seven new Dissidents from China, Cuba, Iran, and the former USSR last weekend and honed their public speaking skills to share their compelling stories about the importance of freedom to young audiences across the country. We also hosted a reception last Saturday night four our donors, partners, and friends to meet our new Dissidents in person. We have big plans for the fall!
The Left's Campus Playbook: Protests, Tactics, and Future DirectionsLast night, I hosted a panel with three Young Voices student journalists who made a splash on college campuses this past school year. Jonas Du from Columbia, Lexi Boccuzzi from Penn, and Tahmineh Dehbozorgi from GWU sat down to explore the recent anti-Israel protests on college campus, dissecting the philosophical, institutional, and free speech ramifications of the protests. We were joined by a number of Young Voices supporters and partners, including our friends at The Fund for American Studies and the David Network. Click here to listen to a recording of the talk.
Thank you to everyone who came out, and we hope to see more friends at future gatherings!
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in the Washington Examiner, The American Conservative, Reason, American Mind, The Dispatch, and more!
Young Voices is thrilled to announce the arrival of a powerful new Dissident Project speaker class for the 2024-2025 school year. This year, we’re welcoming seven inspiring voices who are ready to share their incredible stories with high school students across the United States.
Next week, these brave speakers will gather in New York City for our annual Dissident Training Summit. At the retreat, they'll refine their public speaking skills and learn how to effectively share their experiences highlighting the importance of freedom for America’s youth.
Our new speakers hail from all corners of the world, including the People’s Republic of China, Iran, Cuba, and Russia. One dissident even brings a unique perspective from the former USSR, vividly recalling the breadlines and oppressive realities of a communist regime. Many of these courageous individuals are also successful entrepreneurs, showcasing how the American dream can become a reality when given the opportunity to thrive.
We can’t wait to see the impact this class of dissidents will have as they engage with students across the nation, sparking critical conversations and inspiring a deeper appreciation for the freedoms we often take for granted.
The Dissident Project is welcoming a new speaker class for the 2024-2025 school year. These incoming dissidents from countries including the People’s Republic of China, Iran, Cuba and Russia will take their testimonies into highschools across the country to share with the next generation of American students what it was like to live under totalitarian regimes.
Next week, our dissidents will be joining us in New York City for our Dissident Training Summit. Over the course of the summit, our new class will enhance their public speaking skills, film social media content, deepen their understanding of our program and learn how to effectively share their unique stories with student audiences across the nation.
We look forward to seeing how their stories will impact young Americans in the effort to dispel the allure of authoritarian ideologies. Here are our incoming dissidents for the 2024-2025 school year:
Alvin Hailin
People’s Republic of China
Alvin Hailin was born and raised in Beijing, but he and his family never held a Beijing "Hukou” — a registration in a caste-like system restricting Chinese citizens from freely moving and living within their own country. This eventually stimulated Alvin to attend an international high school in Beijing and prepare for admission to American universities.
During high school, Alvin learned to secretly use a VPN to access the Internet beyond the Great Firewall. This allowed him to discover facts hidden by the Chinese government and understand freedom and democracy through observing Taiwanese elections.
In the fall of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Alvin began his studies at UC Santa Barbara but had to complete his entire freshman year remotely from China. During this time, he experienced the Chinese government's increased implementation of digital authoritarianism under the guise of pandemic control. In April 2021, Alvin's WeChat account was suspended after he criticized President Xi Jinping's incompetency in a group chat with nearly 200 members. Subsequently, local police officers threatened him, stating that he and his family would face severe consequences if he continued to express dissent against the Communist Party, the Chinese government, and their leaders.
Upon arriving in the United States, Alvin joined Young Americans for Freedom, aspiring to share his story with more Americans. He also became a Christian while overcoming his traumas. Alvin plans to graduate from UC Santa Barbara with a double major in Applied Mathematics and the History of Public Policy and Law in the spring of 2025. He intends to apply to law schools and become a lawyer in the future.
Alvin Guo
People’s Republic of China
Alvin "Chenhao" Guo is a defector from Communist China. He was an underground Christian, sharing Christianity and political criticism, and helping people evade Internet censorship as a high school student. He defected from Communist China after becoming a conscientious objector in 2018 at the age of 19.
Having witnessed the absolute deprivation of individual rights, rule of terror, and unrestricted oppression, Alvin sees America heading in a similar direction. He loves America and does not want it to become like Communist China. As a student leader on college campuses, he has been writing articles for multiple influential media outlets, organizing demonstrations, exercising freedom of speech, and working with legislators to protect American freedom. Alvin Guo recently graduated from Brigham Young University and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). He is the current president of the Utah College Republicans and a member of the College Republicans national board.
Alvin is an educator, entrepreneur, and advocate of capitalism who believes in “Faith & Flag.”
Eliza Volkova
Russia
Liza is currently a senior at the GW School of Business and already owns and operates her own business. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and has previously lived in Moscow, Russia. She graduated high school at the age of 16 and found a passion for entrepreneurship. Before becoming a student at GW, Liza organized conferences in Moscow to promote her education startup, Campus Education. She is an official member of the Youth Council of the World Liberty Congress.
Shay Khatiri
Iran
Shay Khatiri is a vice president and senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, where he studies the geopolitics of Eurasia. Trained as a military strategist at the Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, he has been widely published in prominent journals and newspapers on issues ranging from foreign policy to American patriotism. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Golbon Marandiz
Iran
Golbon, a cybersecurity student and community activist from Seattle, has recently brought Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) to Washington to fill a gap in the libertarian community. She is a passionate advocate for free speech and free markets. As a former political and religious refugee exiled from Iran, Golbon is now a fervent champion of liberal ideals. She currently serves as a data analyst intern at the American Heart Association, a student at the University of Washington-Seattle, and the chapter leader for LOLA.
Janna Blanter
USSR
Janna left the USSR in 1976 as a teenager, but the memories of the horrors she experienced remain vivid. She recalls bread lines, family members in gulags, and a pervasive fear of authority. Now, Janna serves as an adjunct faculty member and a board member for an oil drilling company, drawing on her past to educate and inspire others about the importance of freedom and human rights.
Gabriela Blanco
Cuba
Gabriela Blanco was born and raised in Havana, Cuba, under the communist regime that has ruled for over 6 decades now. Her family experienced the consequences of this terrible system firsthand; from having her great-grandparents’ business stolen and nationalized, to being separated from her father for over 10 years. At 23 years old she moved to the Cayman Islands by herself, where she lived for 7 years. In 2019 she came to the United States and was reunited with her father and siblings after nearly a decade apart.
During her journey she accepted Christ as her savior, and alongside her husband they traveled the country as testimony speakers for the Gideons International, an organization devoted to spreading the gospel around the world. She is also actively involved in ministry and her local church community in Austin, Texas.
Gabriela holds a master’s degree in Event Management from Falmouth University in the UK, has extensive experience managing large events of 30,000+ attendees and is currently a Project Management consultant for the largest sports field construction company in the US. She is also a mother of one. Her family and her faith remain her biggest passions, both directly impacted by the Cuban authoritarian regime. Gabriela is a voice for freedom, God, and family values and the effects of communist and socialist practices on family and life.
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in the Toronto Sun, National Review, Houston Chronicle, City Journal, Chicago Tribune, and more!
The world is watching Venezuela right now as protesters take to the street to rise up against a sham election giving dictator Nicolas Maduro a third term. Daniel Di Martino, founder of Young Voices' Dissident Project, reacted to the news with a powerful Fox Business appearance yesterday, diving into the opposition's proof of a stolen election and what might be next for his troubled home country.
"Venezuela when I was a kid was still the richest country in Latin America. I had to leave my country because my family went from making several thousand dollars a month like most Americans to making $100 a month in 2016. That's what the average Venezuelan makes today in the country. What's going to happen in Maduro remains in power — which I think is the likely outcome given that he has all the guns, and the Venezuelan population does not — what's going to happen is that we're going to see at least a million more people leave the country. We have a total humanitarian disaster." —Daniel Di Martino
The Dissident Project is empowering vital voices like Daniel's to tell the brutal truth about the tyrannical regimes they fled. In late August, we will welcome a new class of eight speakers from Cuba, Iran, Russia, Syria, and the former USSR for speaking and media training. Soon after, they'll be telling their stories and spreading the message of liberty to the next generation at high schools across the country and to the masses on TV, radio, and social media.
Events like last weekend's sham election in Venezuela highlight the need to empower freedom fighters like Daniel to make sure dictators don't define the narrative. With your help, Young Voices and the Dissident Project will continue to find and promote these bold freedom fighters for years to come.
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in Bitcoin Magazine, Orange County Register, Houston Chronicle, American Spectator, Deseret News, and more!
Young Voices mourns the tragic violence that occurred at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. In these challenging times, it is crucial for America to renew its dedication to public safety and order, fostering communities where candidates and voters can freely exercise their rights in peace.
Friend,
This past weekend, Young Voices was thrilled to be a part of FreedomFest in Las Vegas. The event was a fantastic opportunity for our network to connect, share ideas, and promote the values we stand for. Here are some highlights:
Eight Speakers on Panels: We had an incredible representation with eight speakers from our network participating in various panels, showcasing the expertise and diverse perspectives that Young Voices brings to the table. We’ll be posting clips from these talks on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and X in the coming days, so stay tuned!
Main Stage Presence: Alumni Sean Thema and Alexandra Hudson had the honor of speaking on the main stage, speaking respectively on civility and the "inside baseball" of Washington, DC.
Young Professionals Happy Hour: For the third consecutive year, we co-hosted a young professionals happy hour with America's Future and DonorsTrust's Novus Society. This year, we broke records with an astounding 145 attendees! It was a cool event — literally — being held at minus5 ICEBAR in a giant freezer. Click here to see photos from the event.
Dinner with Donors and Friends: We hosted an intimate dinner for 24 donors and friends, fostering deeper connections and expressing our gratitude for their unwavering support.
Video Testimonials: We also took the opportunity to record short video testimonials from our writers and alumni present. They’ll also be posted online in the coming weeks.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and made this event a memorable success. We look forward to continuing our mission and building on these achievements.
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in National Review, Orange County Register, The Diplomat, City Journal, Wall Street Journal, and more!
It's a busy and exciting month at Young Voices! We just accepted our fall classes for our Contributor Program and European Fellowship. Here are some fast facts about our new class:
We welcomed 70 writers to our writing programs — 45 in our flagship Contributor Program and 25 in our European Fellowship!
Our Contributors hail from 19 states across the US, as well as from the UK and 17 European countries. We even have a contributor based in Uganda!
With a 22% acceptance rate from 313 applications, this fall's roster of contributors will bring needed perspectives on hot-button policy topics such as economics, healthcare, education, free speech, and much more.
Our content team begins training our new writers next week! Soon we'll be helping them publish op-eds, make broadcast interview appearances, deliver speeches, and more.
Participants will also receive access to paid policy fellowships, off-the-record virtual policy briefings, and networking events in DC, New York, and beyond.
Here’s to a bright future for our fall Contributors and European Fellows and to their work promoting freedom and market solutions in the media.
Last week, the world last a true champion of liberty with the passing of David Boaz. As Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute for decades, David was operative in bringing mainstream attention to libertarian ideas through his books, interviews, and mentorship of rising libertarian leaders. I was one of them.
I met David 14 years ago on one of my first trips to Washington as a Campus Coordinator for Students For Liberty, and he was a good friend and mentor ever since, joining Young Voices Board of Advisors in 2017. Anyone who got to know David can tell you about his precision and wit. He had a top-tier B.S. detector, would always encourage people he cared about to be honest, knowledgeable, and thorough in their work. He pushed me to be a better professional and person, and for that I am forever grateful for.
This week, I had the pleasure of attending a conference Cato just threw in Buenos Aires called The Rebirth of Argentina and Beyond featuring the newly elected libertarian President Javier Milei. The crowd was electric, with over 500 freedom fighters in attendance fired up to fix their country, which has been battered by decades of socialist governance and hyperinflation. Just this morning, Milei’s reform package passed their Senate, despite the socialists’ constant attacks.
Decades ago, a country like Argentina would have seemed hopeless. But, it’s because of the work of freedom fighters like David Boaz at Cato and elsewhere that we’re starting to see real changes. I personally would be content with my life’s work if Young Voices had just a sliver of the impact that David had in promoting the ideas of liberty through empowering the next generation in the media.
Last Friday marked the deadline for Young Voices' Fall Contributor Program and the end of our Fiscal Year 2024. I'm pleased to report that 108 students and young professionals applied for our fall class.
This number is less than our last application haul of 132 — by intention, not accident! With approximately 40 slots per class, we shifted our marketing to attracting higher quality applicants through referrals rather than higher quantity through advertising.
We are nonetheless pleased to be in a position to be selective in our admissions and will be sure to engage with all of our applicants through invitations to policy briefings, events, and more. We are thrilled to continue growing our network of classical liberal communicators at a time when their voices are desperately needed.
Speaking of which, with June marking the beginning of a new fiscal year, I can report some initial figures from our past 12 months of media impact:
Young Voices' Content Team placed 1,765 total media hits reaching an estimated 87 million viewers.
The team placed 167 hits in what we define as Tier 1 media outlets, including BBC, Forbes, Fox, Newsweek, New York Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Telegraph.
We expanded locally as well as nationally. In total, Young Voices placed 96 hits in 48 state and local media outlets.
We're not just preaching to the choir, either. 35% of all media hits were published in center and left-of-center media outlets, spreading the ideas of liberty to millions of persuadable viewers.
With an incoming class in the near future and a new fiscal year just begun, we are excited to announce some major program initiatives in the coming weeks empowering tomorrow's leaders for liberty today. Stay tuned!
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in The Wall Street Journal, Toronto Sun, RealClearPolitics, City Journal, Orange County Register, and more!
This week on Moving Forward, the Young Voices radio show, we hear from contributors Joseph Bouchard, Ethan Brown, Noah Gould and Dissident Project Director Grace Bydalek.
There's no voice like the voice of experience when it comes to making the case against tyranny. Grace Bydalek, director of The Dissident Project, joins us to discuss how Young Voices is training speakers who've lived under tyranny to share their message.
ABOUT MOVING FORWARD: Young Voices sponsors a weekly radio show for our contributors to discuss pressing policy issues and their latest work. Moving Forward with Young Voices is hosted by Bryan Hyde and broadcasts on Radio St. George 100.3FM (KDXI-LP), a terrestrial radio station in Utah. It is also available to stream as a podcast on over 40 platforms including Podbean, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
ABOUT MOVING FORWARD: Young Voices sponsors a weekly radio show for our contributors to discuss pressing policy issues and their latest work. Moving Forward with Young Voices is hosted by Bryan Hyde and broadcasts on Radio St. George 100.3FM (KDXI-LP), a terrestrial radio station in Utah. It is also available to stream as a podcast on over 40 platforms including Podbean, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Check out the work of our Contributors as they get published in The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, Independent Women's Forum, Orange County Register, and more!
As protests rattle college campuses across America, Young Voices' writers are out on the ground covering the unrest. Last night, Young Voices contributor and Columbia student Jonas Du live tweeted the violent occupation of Hamilton Hall by a pro-Palestine mob, leading to appearances this morning on CNN and Fox News.
This is Jonas' second time on Fox in a week; Young Voices booked him last week when the Columbia encampment began. Contributors Lexi Bouccuzzi and Neetu Arnold have also been covering the protest at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dissident Project speaker Tahmineh Dehbozorgi has been on the scene at George Washington University, leading to multiple media hits.
Free speech is a bedrock American principle. While pro-Palestinian students have the right to protest peacefully, we're beginning to see many of these crowds devolve into violent mobs... like what happened at Columbia last night. That type of assembly, illegally breaking, entering, and occupying a campus building, is not tolerated by law.
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