TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING

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I think we can all agree that in fact the best thing that we can do as global citizens is plant real and theoretical trees in whose shade we will never sit. As someone who provides care for young people, it’s my belief that empowering youth with fuel and resources to turbocharge their success happens through advocacy and enabling systems that allow them to innovate and energize society. Maybe this power is best felt when young people are active and involved at the policy and civic engagement level, ideally where all generations are passing and sharing batons and steering sociopolitical and economic levers sufficiently toward the issues of the youth and the future. For Sudhanshu Kaushik, this ethos has been a passion realized through intention and great purpose. He is the founder of the Young India Foundation, India’s first youth centered advocacy group and political action committee, with a focus on voter turnout, voter access, and youth rights and representation…a very large task in the world’s largest democracy with an incredibly young population. It’s also a task that’s been informed and fueled by his experiences as a youth growing up in the United States in the rural south and then as a college student. Sudhanshu is also the executive director of the North American Association of Indian Students, a non-profit group that serves to build community for the several hundred thousand Indian origin students at US colleges, through a network of college associations across the country. At his core, whether in the States or in India, Sudhanshu wants to make the world a more inclusive place for young Indians by ushering students and youth to engage in political discourse, run for office, and most importantly to vote. With elections coming in India in 2024, Young India Fundation is collaborating with the Election Commission of India to host voter registration workshops in 5000 colleges and universities through next May. We caught up for a candid conversation about a variety of things - from finding opportunities to reflecting on his own journey to lessons from the ongoing rants and battles in fighting the good fight, but I first wanted to know more about at least a perceived challenge in harnessing the power of youth