Siddarth Narayan wants the president's ear.
He knows many young adults are cynical about politics -- they don't believe their opinions are heard and they aren't sure how to enter the political process. But he's working to change that.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Narayan, 18, a North Allegheny High School graduate from Wexford, is leading the Pennsylvania chapter of the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council, a group seeking to create a panel of 16- to 24-year-olds that would advise the president and federal policymakers on issues affecting teenagers and young adults.
"There's nothing really (for youth) at the executive level that's as important as some other committees we have. That's a real issue," he said.
As an intern in state House Speaker Mike Turzai's office, Narayan helped usher a resolution through that chamber declaring state support for a Presidential Youth Council.
The measure is not binding, but its 183-0 approval is "huge for perception," Narayan said.
"A lot of young people feel their voices aren't being heard in the political process, and probably rightfully so," he said. "This resolution should show people that the government cares and that even an 18-year-old can spearhead a way to really make a change in politics."
When state lawmakers signed off on the idea in June, Pennsylvania became the fourth state to offer support. New Jersey became the fifth when it approved a similar measure in July.
Youth political participation is highest online with more than 35 percent signing an online petition and 20 percent advocating for a candidate on Facebook, according to a 2015 Harvard Public Opinion Poll of Americans ages 18 to 29.
Outside of that, only 8 percent of that age group had participated in a government- or issues-based organization. Only 6 percent of Republicans and 8 percent of Democrats had volunteered for a political campaign, the poll found.
"What I think happens is oftentimes we do not have a constructive approach to listening to what young people have to say," said Turzai, R-Marshall.
PLAN FOR SUCCESS
The national campaign's strategy is to build support for the creation of a council at the state and federal levels. State directors, such as Narayan, work to pass supportive resolutions in their state House.
"I thought, 'Here's somebody who wants to be engaged and he's making the case that not enough young people are involved with the political or governing process -- or have a sense of the political or governing process,' " Turzai said. "It was not hard to be proactively supportive of his idea when you meet someone like Sidd because these are young people who want to be engaged."
Local level directors with the campaign are simultaneously lobbying their congressmen to become co-sponsors of House Joint Resolution 47, which supports establishing the youth council. Fifty-four representatives, including Pennsylvania Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick and Charlie Dent, have joined as co-sponsors of that proposal.
But U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, raised questions as to the effectiveness of such a panel amid the backdrop of about 1,000 other advisory councils and committees providing input to the executive branch.
"That age group is as important as any other in America to feel they have a voice and feel they have our ears," Murphy said. "To that extent, good, but I also (caution) there's already a lot of these (panels). ... I hope that such groups also work with us as members of Congress."
OFFERING AN OUTLINE
Under the proposal, 24 young adults would be appointed to the youth council by congressional leaders and the president based on age, policy participation and the diversity of their backgrounds, according to the federal resolution.
There's no set agenda for the council, but Narayan thinks college costs, climate change and wealth equity would be three leading contenders.
College tuition and other educational expenses "are probably the issue that affects us most," he said.
And the minimum wage will be another key issue as more and more teens work to help support themselves, he said.
Narayan said he plans to work toward passage of supportive resolutions in the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures when he begins his tenure as a student at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University this fall. He plans to study international economics.
"I think it's going to be a lot easier this time because I know exactly how to do it," he said.
Original article credited to Kari Andren. You can contact her at kandren@tribweb.com.