In USA Today’s article titled “Homeschooled teens helped win key Senate races,” a teen civics organization established by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) called Generation Joshua (GenJ) was highlighted for leading a new younger generation of young adults to get involved in their communities – to bring about social change.

Mobilizing youth to make a difference

HSLDA describes the teen movement as a vehicle to get students to take action steps that help improve America through prepping youth  in ethics training, legal knowledge and community service.

“Since 2003, GenJ has trained thousands of young people in citizenship, constitutional law and Christian leadership,” the nonprofit legal organization explained. “It has also provided real-world opportunities for these youths to put their training into action through volunteer voter education efforts and campaigns for homeschool-friendly candidates.”

Getting ready for November’s election, students were mobilized across the nation to get involved in the voting process.

“This year, GenJ fielded 12 teams in eight states for the five days leading up to the Nov. 8 election,” HSLDA reported. “Eleven of the dozen candidates that GenJ supported won.”

Credit where credit’s due

USA Today’s Ledyard King expressed he was very impressed that the young conservative activists were the ones who likely tipped the scales for candidates in particularly close U.S. Senate races, including those for Florida’s Marco Rubio, Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and Missouri’s Roy Blunt.

“All four outperformed independent polls in the last week of the campaign,” King asserted in his article. “[There is] compelling circumstantial evidence [of a] surge of … turnout in key areas where the homeschoolers strategically blanketed neighborhoods.”

HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris, who founded General Joshua, also gave credit where credit was due for conservatives getting out the vote.

“They pulled off a get-out-the-vote effort that was more effective than any other ground game in the nation,” Farris impressed.

The great influence of the teen group’s election effort was also pointed out by Generation Joshua Director Joel Grewe, who points out that their effectiveness is largely due to the fact that voting adults are often surprised by the composure and thorough grasp of issues that GenJ’s young volunteers demonstrate.

“Campaigns regularly tell us that one of our volunteers is worth two of any other volunteer they work with,” Grewe shared. “When you get a passionate and well-spoken teen knocking on your door, it strikes your curiosity and gets past the cynical barrier caused by politics today. Then the teen says, ‘I can’t vote – but you can.’ People respond when they realize others are depending on them.”

Hard work and education

Grewe added that the election volunteer effort took involved much time and preparation. He noted that 720 GenJ volunteers were sent out this year to connect with more than 680,000 voters across America – meaning that each teen spoke with approximately 779 voters in just several short days.

“It’s great to have someone else say, ‘Yes, this really is incredible,’” the GenJ’s leader expressed. “Frankly, we already have more opportunities to train and teach than we have the financial resources for.”

Despite what has been showcased following the election results, Grewe stressed that educating teens to become godly and contributing members of American society reigns supreme.

“If you’re an American citizen, it’s your responsibility to be a caretaker of freedom,” Grewe elaborated. “But if you don’t understand your freedoms and how to keep them, then we won’t keep them. It’s our job to equip the next generation. They will go into all kinds of fields, but each one will be able to recognize when their freedoms are being threatened and know how to effectively stand up and say, ‘That’s enough!’”