April 2026 Newsletter

“Our Power”

“What we have been waiting for was never something to find, it was already ours.”

Hello: Step Right In

This month’s issue is packed with updates we are excited to share and truly hope you will find helpful. We also recently moved our newsletter and email marketing to a new platform. If you had previously unsubscribed but are still receiving this email, we sincerely apologize. This was an unintended result of migrating our contacts, and you can unsubscribe again at any time using the link at the bottom of this email.

Make Real Moves With The Effective Collective

You can probably name at least one thing in your community or the world that needs to change, but knowing what is wrong and knowing how to organize to change it effectively are two very different things.

A recognized leader in social change, Joe McCannon has spent years studying and documenting a compendium of tactics and tools that have moved millions of people into real, coordinated action, and USYF is now working to place this compendium, named Next Generation Combination, into the hands of young people.

The tactics inside the compendium are real and proven. Examples include a digital walkout where more than 200,000 people deleted a single app in protest and forced a corporate response; an influencer storm where creators across audience sizes aligned on one cause and raised over $30 million in ocean cleanup funding; and a pooled debt relief where small individual donations combined to clear more than $22 billion in medical debt for 14 million Americans.

This is what Our Power looks like in practice. It is not power that must be handed to you, but power you already hold—used collectively in a way that creates results at scale. The Effective Collective is coming, and it will offer that same kind of practical guidance, laid out clearly, so you can identify the tool or tactic that fits the change you want to make and put it into action.

Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn to be among the first to know when Next Generation Combination becomes available, so you can access everything it has to offer.

We Are On Track

• Team Meetings: Three team meetings took place during this period, one of which welcomed new board member Cristina Theriault, a people and systems expert, while another brought Joe McCannon back to the table to map out our next steps on Next Generation Combination together.

Cristina Theriault

Board Member

• New Role: Our volunteer Justice Obisike has taken up the role of Project Coordinator, bringing his background in youth advocacy and project management to help lead our programs with a deeper level of focus and direction.

• Social Media: We celebrated Women's History Month, International Women's Day, and World Water Day through a series of posts on our LinkedIn and Instagram pages, bringing our audience into these important global conversations.

You Should Mark These

• April 14–16: 2026 ECOSOC Youth Forum

  The United Nations is bringing young leaders to its headquarters in New York for three days of direct conversations with world governments on building a more fair and sustainable future guided by the Sustainable Development Goals.

  
  

  Follow the forum and learn how youth voices are shaping global policy here.

  
  

• April 10 – May 10: Youth Service Month | Global Youth Service Day (April 24–26)

  Youth Service America is inviting young people across the country to design and lead community service projects that address real local needs during this month-long national celebration.

  
  

  Find ideas, plan a project, and register your participation here.

  
  

• April 22: Earth Day 2026 — "Our Power, Our Planet"

  EARTHDAY.ORG is calling on communities, schools, and organizations everywhere to organize cleanups, teach-ins, town halls, and demonstrations to defend and advance environmental protections that benefit everyone.

  
  

  Find or register an event near you here.

  
  

• April 20 – May 1: 25th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

  The United Nations will convene this global session to address the health and rights of Indigenous peoples worldwide, with special focus on the effects of conflict on Indigenous communities and their futures.

  
  

  Learn more about the session and its themes here.

You Could Use These

Blueprints for Change

A free, downloadable library of strategy guides written by experienced organizers that breaks down, step by step, how to plan and run a successful social change campaign, covering everything from how to build a coalition to how to run a digital advocacy push.

Each guide is written for people who want real results, not just awareness. Check it out here.

DoSomething.org

The largest global platform built specifically for young people who want to take action on the issues they care about, where you can join an existing campaign, start your own, and connect with millions of other young people who are already working on the same problems.

Membership is free, and campaigns cover everything from climate to education to economic justice. Check it out here.

Ballotpedia.org

A free, comprehensive, and nonpartisan database that tells you who represents you at every level of government, how they have voted, what is on your ballot, and what elected officials across the country have said and done on the issues you care about.

It is a reliable starting point for you if you want to understand who actually holds power in your community and whether they are doing what they promised. Check it out here.

Question of the Month: Tell Us

“If you already believe that young people have the power to change this country, what do you think is actually getting in the way of more of them doing it?”

A survey found that 76% of young Americans believe their generation has the power to change the country, yet fewer than half of those same young people say they feel well-qualified to take part in political life.