Hey Alliance Fam!

Today, Mental Health Action Day, we are centering how youth organizers in the Alliance Network fight to protect the mental wellbeing of our communities through issue organizing. This week, we explored how four key issues - abortion access, voting access, policing in schools, and student loan debt - impact the mental health of young people, and how youth organizers tackle these issues to create healthier communities.

Here’s a quick recap of Mental Health Week along with a few resources and actions you can take. You can read more from Mental Health Week on the Alliance Blog!

Abortion Access x Mental Health

Abortion access is a mental health issue. When people do not have resources or options to make decisions about their bodies, they experience fear, stress and anxiety.

The team at New Era Colorado has been supporting students organizing on campus to end the stigma around abortions, and they also helped pass the Reproductive Health Equity Act! Leaders from the network recently spoke with NPR to discuss the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade and how that decision could affect young people.

Voting Access x Mental Health

Did you know that states with more voting access and greater civic participation levels are healthier overall? Voting access is a mental health issue. 

MOVE Texas has always been a fierce advocate for voting rights. Even when an anti-voter law passed late last year, youth organizers did everything in their power to ensure Texan voters could register to vote, learn about what’s on their ballot, and make a plan to vote.

Policing in Schools x Mental Health

Police presence in schools fuels the school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline. At least 14 million students in the United States attend schools with police officers on site but not staff counselors, nurses, or social workers. Mental health providers in schools provide positive outcomes for students.

Take action by supporting Alliance orgs like Poder in Action, LIT, and Virginia Student Power Network who are working to dismantle the school-prison-to-deportation pipeline in their communities. Also, read more on Transformative and Restorative Justice and Mariame Kaba’s “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us” to learn about safer and healthier alternatives to policing.

Student Debt x Mental Health

Student debt weighs heavily on more than 44 million people in the United States. Our network isn’t only organizing to cancel student debt because it negatively impacts so many young people in our country, but because for many Alliance youth organizers, student debt affects them too. 

You can take action by joining our Dreams Not Debt campaign.

The Alliance is building a strong community of young leaders, and to do that we have to care for ourselves inside and out. So, what are you doing to take care of yourself this month? Here’s what some of the Alliance staff are doing to practice self-care.

This month, take the break you need and center your mental wellbeing! I hope these resources help you continue working with us to grow an unstoppable movement.

In Solidarity, 

Rebecca Gorena

Senior Program Director

The Alliance supports and scales the work of local organizations, building a movement of young people, by young people, and for all young people.

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