About Us

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

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

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.

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 policies that young people care about, and training new leaders. We do it all, we do it well, and we make it fun through a multi-pronged approach: organizing communities of young people across the state to recognize their power, mobilizing them to utilize their power, breaking down systemic barriers to accessing power, and electing young, empowered leaders into office.

We believe in harnessing young people’s power in numbers; while young people might not have the economic power of older generations, we have a critical mass. That means when we show up, we force our elected officials to prioritize the issues that matter to us. We change the conversation. And when our generation sees our democracy working for us and individuals’ actions making an actual impact, 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 close to 250,000 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, 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 policies that young people care about, and training new leaders. We do it all, we do it well, and we make it fun through a multi-pronged approach: organizing communities of young people across the state to recognize their power, mobilizing them to utilize their power, breaking down systemic barriers to accessing power, and electing young, empowered leaders into office.

We believe in harnessing young people’s power in numbers; while young people might not have the economic power of older generations, we have a critical mass. That means when we show up, we force our elected officials to prioritize the issues that matter to us. We change the conversation. And when our generation sees our democracy working for us and individuals’ actions making an actual impact, 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 close to 250,000 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, and so many more.

Our Political Home

Our current systems make it harder for young people to influence decisions and create a more liberated and collective future. That’s where New Era Colorado’s leadership development program steps in!

Whether people join us by donating $5 a month or by attending an event, they are considered family in our political home. Our leadership development model develops passionate advocates into organizing leaders, giving young people the opportunity to deepen their engagement with our work. Since establishing a system to track people’s level of engagement with us in 2024 (cue our ladder of engagement) and developing more intentional opportunities to get involved, we’ve seen 8,000 people take some form of action with us!

Basically, it’s a political house party (…yes, we actually have some!). Where do you want to be in our home?

Artistic visualization of New Era Colorado's political home.

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. 

We know our generation, as the largest voting bloc in Colorado, is powerful. And we know our efforts to activate that power work: young people we register to vote or engage in our issue advocacy work, have turned out to vote 10-15 points higher than overall youth turnout in the state since 2020! 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. And then (since we know voting won’t be the only thing that saves us) we strive to facilitate that political home by keeping 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. Our political home exists to build power for the long term, and our hope is that one day, young people will maintain the house for generations to come.

Inspired? Join us.

Building political power via our sister organization

New Era Colorado Action Fund (NECAF) is a separate but sisterly organization building youth political power across Colorado. NECAF is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that organizes our generation with a little extra spice, especially during elections and at the state Capitol.

NECAF’s peer-to-peer political organizing reaches across the state, builds enduring power, and gets results. Their work takes many forms: lobbying elected officials to pass policies impacting our generation, organizing to win some of the most important fights in our state, and educating peers about which candidates will fight for our future or what the ballot measures we’re voting on actually mean.

New Era Colorado Action Fund LogoTo learn more and connect with New Era Colorado Action Fund, click here!

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.

Building political power
via our sister organization

New Era Colorado Action Fund (NECAF) is a separate but sisterly organization building youth political power across Colorado. NECAF is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that organizes our generation with a little extra spice, especially during elections and at the state Capitol.

NECAF’s peer-to-peer political organizing reaches across the state, builds enduring power, and gets results. Their work takes many forms: lobbying elected officials to pass policies impacting our generation, organizing to win some of the most important fights in our state, and educating peers about which candidates will fight for our future or what the ballot measures we’re voting on actually mean.

New Era Colorado Action Fund LogoTo learn more and connect with New Era Colorado Action Fund, click here!

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.