Good friends are good for your soul. Friends can help you celebrate good times and provide support during bad times. Friends prevent loneliness and give you a chance to offer needed companionship, too. Friends can also make the best business partners. Take GaoZong and Mai Shoua for example, two great friends coming together to put a voice on social injustice from the youth generation.
These super millennials are the host of Hear Us Out podcast, produced by Youthprise where they invite youth to speak their truths and break down social justice issues. They discuss everything from race to mental wellness, politics, and singing out of key in a drive-thru lane. The podcast launched on April 3, 2018, and they have an amazing lineup in store.
Mai Shoua, a student at Century College, has been passionate about social injustice since high school, she told rolling out: “I was part of a high school crew and the main purpose was decoding injustice by growing plants with the intention of providing more organic foods to the community. It started my freshman year of high school and I knew then this is what I wanted to do.”
GaoZong currently attends Saint Paul College and is a future filmmaker and scriptwriter. GaoZong told rolling out: “I’ve always been in the music and filmmaking side of the spectrum so my start was a little different. When I was offered the opportunity to host a podcast, I immediately contacted my best friend Mai Shoua to partner with me.”
So the convergence of community relief and savvy technology was the birth of an amazing force to bring awareness to today’s most talked about issues in the youth community. Youthprise partnered organizations provided grants to ensure the projects were able to run smoothly and efficiently.
Gao and Mai say nobody ever listens to the youth directly when they voice their opinions so they created a platform that allows a safe haven to get their voices heard. The duo also voiced they feel while they are supported by the fellow youth generation, they lack support from the older generation. We talked about the march in Washington, D.C., that was organized and produced by the youth bringing support in massive numbers as well as the nationwide high school walkout. “We agree with them taking a positive stance for change, I feel like it’s the youth making a statement,” said Mai Shoua.
“I feel it was a great move, however, since that happened, we’ve had three more school shootings. So it comes down to the youth taking action but the adults need [to be] following through with it,” said GaoZong
Studies show millennials (according to the PEW Research Center) cast 34 million votes in 2016, nearly double the number they cast in 2008. However, that generation was eclipsed in voting by the 35.7 million Gen X voters (ages 36 to 51 in 2016).
Combined, millennials and Generation Xers cast a slight majority of total votes cast, more than Boomers and older voters for the first time in decades. Which means, not only are they young and brilliant, they are our future leaders and their voices are loud and clear so it’s time to pay attention.
Be sure to follow Youthprise and Hear Us Out on Facebook and IG to stay up to date with the latest news targeting our youth.
