New project seeks to engage young Iowans

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS – Christian Fong understands the tone of politics turns off many young Iowans.

Their lack of involvement costs them and causes the frustrations that all too often cause them to leave Iowa, the Cedar Rapids businessman said Thursday.

“And if the regular people are filtered out of the process, all we are left with is people yelling at one another,” he said. “We're asking whether we, in Iowa, can rescue the political dialogue. If it's going to shift, we have to start it.”

So in an effort to engage the “Next Generation” in an authentic discussion of ideas, solutions and outcomes to restore the Iowa Dream, Fong is kicking off the Iowa Dream Project. 

“While the Iowa Dream is different for every Iowan, we believe the core foundations of having access to a superior education, access to a good paying job and the opportunity to live in vibrant, healthy communities is everyone's dream,” said Fong, the former chairman of the Gneration Iowa Commission, said. “That's why we've started the Iowa Dream Project.”

The lack of involvement results in policy decisions that favor older Iowans and work against the interest of Gen X and Millennials – 18- to 45-year-olds, said Fong, chairman of the Iowa Dream Project.

“When Gen X and Millennials don't vote, politicians don't talk to us, nor are they held accountable to represent us,” according to Fong, who briefly ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. “That turns into anti-youth policy (which) is part of the reason young people leave Iowa, leading to our fourth-worst-in-the-nation ‘brain drain' rate.”

The Dream Project is about taking the conversation about politics and policy to young Iowans in a place where they are comfortable. One avenue is the projects. Web site, www.theiowadreamproject.com. It also will reach its target audience with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to help Iowans to organize. 

Fong has raised $100,000 to fund the project, which will promote conservative solutions to the challenges in education, job creation and community renewal. It will organize and activate Iowa's Next Generation of conservative thinkers, opinion leaders and “doers” to make permanent change in Iowa's landscape.

Although younger voters heavily favored Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, Fong said Iowa Gen Xers voted for Republican John McCain over Obama. Both Gen Xers and Millennials self-describe themselves as being more conservative than liberal, he added.

“There hasn't been a candidate or a message to give them a reason to act on that,” he said.

The Iowa Dream Project will take a four-step approach to engaging young voters and changing outcomes. It will communicate with young voters, engage them in discussion of the issues they care about, encourage them to invest – time, talent or money – in the political process and, most importantly, vote.

He project's goal is to increase young voter turnout by 5 percent over 2006 – the last mid-term election.

That year, with a Millennial – Gov. Chet Culver – on the ballot, only 27 percent of Iowans younger than 35 voted, Fong said. About 70 percent of Iowans older than 50 voted.

“We're not trying to get to 70 percent this year, but if we can increase turnout by 5 to 10 percent, that's a success,” he said.