About Us

Harnessing young people’s political power to co-create a Colorado that serves all people. 

New Era is the leading voice for young people in Colorado politics and one of the most effective youth civic engagement organizations in the country. We work alongside our peers to grow our generation’s power. We fight for a better Colorado for everyone, not just for a privileged few. Since day one, we set out to bring our progressive and diverse generation into the political world—not to get in line and stick with the status quo, but to take charge and reshape our democracy to work better for everyone.

New Era Colorado staff in 2023.
The team making it happen!

Our generation knows that our democracy is about people, not politics or parties (political parties, at least). Lifting up our communities, and fighting for progress, justice and equity must be our guiding principles. When we’re engaged together, we can accomplish anything—we can transform our state, our country, and our future.

How we do it

Building power for our generation requires political engagement at every level: Registering voters, getting out the vote, passing progressive policy, and training new leaders. We do it all, we do it well, and we make it fun.

When young people show up at the polls, we’re demanding that our elected officials prioritize the issues that matter to us. When young people lead the fights on the issues impacting us the most, we pass policies that actually make a difference and we change the conversation. And when our generation sees our democracy working for us, we’ll get more engaged.

We’ve been at it since 2006, but we still feel like we’re just getting started. So far, our results speak for themselves: We’ve registered nearly 200,000 young people to vote and turn those voters out at rates much higher than their peers in local, state, and national elections alike! We’ve trained hundreds of young leaders, who are doing big things across the state and the country. And we’ve passed policies like the Colorado Votes Act, Student Loan Servicer Accountability Act, Climate Action Plan, and so many more.

How we
do it

Building power for our generation requires political engagement at every level: Registering voters, getting out the vote, passing progressive policy, and training new leaders. We do it all, we do it well, and we make it fun.

When young people show up at the polls, we’re demanding that our elected officials prioritize the issues that matter to us. When young people lead the fights on the issues impacting us the most, we pass policies that actually make a difference and we change the conversation. And when our generation sees our democracy working for us, we’ll get more engaged.

We’ve been at it since 2006, but we still feel like we’re just getting started. So far, our results speak for themselves: We’ve registered nearly 200,000 young people to vote and turn those voters out at rates much higher than their peers in local, state, and national elections alike! We’ve trained hundreds of young leaders, who are doing big things across the state and the country. And we’ve passed policies like the Colorado Votes Act, Student Loan Servicer Accountability Act, Climate Action Plan, and so many more.

Our Approach

A new generation needs a new approach to politics. Young people are not here for partisan cheerleading: We care about progress, we care about justice, and we care about action. Transforming democracy to work for our generation means bringing everything back to the issues that are important to us and removing barriers to participation, which is exactly what we do.

We know our generation—as the largest voting bloc in Colorado—is powerful. And we know our efforts to activate that power work: voter turnout rates for young people doubled from 2010 to 2018. As New Era continues to grow, so will young Coloradans’ engagement in our democracy. And in this case, we’re pretty confident that correlation equals causation.

We have a successful track record because we’re persistent. We talk to tens of thousands of young people every year, making sure they know how, where, and when to vote. We follow up with texts and emails to answer their questions and make sure they know the value of their voice. And then we keep them engaged year-round, holding elected officials accountable, passing policy, and getting their peers involved. We train our generation to become champions around the issues that impact all of us.

Inspired? Join us.

And now for some legal jargon: New Era Colorado Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is affiliated with, but should not be confused with New Era Colorado Action Fund, a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. They’re good people too. Good, glad we got that cleared up.