Half. Mr. Obama thank you, hey. Thank you. Hey. Ows it going . Please, everybody have a seat. Have a seat. We love you mr. Obama so whats been going on while ive been gone . It is wonderful to be home it at the rful to be university of chicago. Its wonderful to be on the south side of chicago and its wonderful to be with these young people here and what i want to do is just maybe speak very briefly at the top about why were here and then i want to spend most of the time that were together hearing from these remarkable young people who are i think representative of some amazing young people who were in the audience as well. Was telling these guys that it was a little over 30 years ago that i came to chicago. I had years old and gotten out of college filled th idealism and absolutely certain that i was going to change the world. But [laughter] i had no idea how. Or where or what ways going to be doing. So i worked first to pay off some student loans. And then i went to work at the city colleges of new york on their harlem campus with some student organizing and then there were a group of churches out on the south side who had come together to try to deal with the steel plants that had closed in the area and the economic devastation that had been taken place but also the racial tensions and turnover that was happening in these communities and so they had formed an organization. They hired me as what was called a Community Organizer and did i not really know what that meant. Or how to do it but i accepted the job and for the next three years i lived right here in hyde park but i worked further south in communities like oseland and west palm. Working class neighborhoods many of which had changed in ly from white to black the late 1960s, 1970s, and full of wonderful people who were proud of their communities, proud of the steps they had taken to try to move into the middle class but were also worried about their futures because in some cases their kids werent doing as well as they had. In some cases these communities had been badly neglected for a very long time. The distribution of City Services were unequal. Schools were underfunded. There was a lack of opportunity. And for three years i tried to do something about it and i am the first to acknowledge that i did not set the world on fire. [laughter] nor did i transform these communities in any significant way although we did some good things. But it did change me. This community gave me a lot more than i was able to give in return. Because this community taught when ordinary people working together can do extraordinary things. This community taught me that everybody has a story to tell, that is important. Is experience taught me that beneath the surface of differences of people there were common hopes and Common Dreams and common aspirations, common values that stitched us together as americans. So even though i after three years left for law school, the lessons that had been taught to me here as organizer are ones that stayed with me and effectively gave me the foundation for my subsequent political career and the themes that i would talk about as a state legislator and as a u. S. Senator and ultimately as president of the United States. Now, i tell you that history because on the back end now of my presidency, now that its completed, im spending a lot of time thinking about, what is the most important thing i can job. My next [laughter] convinced of is that although there are all kinds of issues that i care about and all kinds of issues that i intend to work on, the single most important thing i can do is to help in any way i can prepare the next generation of leadership, to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world. Because the one thing that im absolutely convinced of is that, yes, we confront a whole range of challenges from economic inequality and lack of opportunity to a criminal Justice System that too often is skewed in ways that are unproductive, to Climate Change, to issues related to violence. All those problems are serious, theyre daunting but theyre not unsoluble. Whats preventing us from tackling them and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life. It has to do with the fact that because of things like political jerry mannedering gerrymandering our parties have moved further and further apart and its harder and harder to find Common Ground. Because of money in politics. Special interests dominate the debates in washington in ways hat dont match up with what the broad majority of americans feel. Because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybodys listening to people who already agree with them and are further and further from enforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality that allows us to have a healthy debate and then try to find Common Ground and actually move solutions forward. 2004 that i said in there were no red states or blue states, they are a United States of america. That was an aspirational comment, but i think its [laughter] and its one, by the way, that i still believe in the sense when you talk to individuals theres a eople lot more people have in common than divides them, but obviously its not true when it comes to our politics and our civic life. And maybe more pernicious is the fact that people just arent involved. They get cynical and they give up and as a consequence we have e of the lowest voting rates in democracy and a further gap between whos governing us and what we believe. The only folks who are going to be able to solve that problem are going to be young people, the next generation. And i have been encouraged everywhere i go in the United States and also everywhere around the world to see how harp and astute and tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial our young people are. A lot more sophisticated than i was at their age. And so the question then becomes, what are the ways in which we can create pathways for them to take leadership, for them to get involved . Are there ways in which we can knock down some of the barriers that are discouraging young people about a life of service . And if there are, i want to work with them to knock down those barriers and to get this next generation to accelerate their move towards leadership. Because if that happens, i think were going to be just fine. I end up being incredibly optimistic. So with that, what id like to do is to have our panelists here today each tell them tell us a little bit about themselves and what ive asked them ahead of time i did give them the question ahead of time i asked them to describe for me what it is that they see among their peers that they think discourages voting participation, paying attention to some of the issues, getting involved, do they have some immediate suggestions of the kinds of things that would get young people more involved and engaged and discover their voices . Once weve gone through the entire panel, then were going to open it up and see how it works and hopefully it will be interesting. [laughter] ill find it interesting. Hopefully you find it interesting. All right. So were going to start with kelsey. Kelsey well, thank you, mr. President and good morning, everyone. Its an absolute honor to be with you all. Im auto senior at loyola university, chicago, where i spent the last four years studying marketing. Ive had the pleasure of being very involved on loyolas campus with a number of Different Things going on and looking forward to graduating in less than two weeks and pursuing my masters in Higher Education and student affairs. I think to answer your question, my passion for working with College Students does stem from the ability to work with activists and to work with Community Engagement and really understanding that College Students during that transformative time is the opportunity for students to learn about these important issues and really find their voice. Understanding that we cant just get discouraged when something doesnt go our way immediately but really being able to work towards that end common goal. President obama fantastic. Ok. [applause] [no audio] i grew up in milwaukee, wisconsin. I am a u. S. Army veteran. I major in sociology, minor in legal studies at roosevelt university. [applause] ramuel i focus on communitybased Collaborative Research projects. Weve worked on projects ranging from landlord tenant issues to Youth Leadership programs and currently were working on a project about the daily burr marketing in chicago. Its a pleasure to be here, mr. President. President obama fantastic. Tiffany good morning. Im tiffany. I was raised on the south side of chicago in a lowincome household. I graduated valedictorian and the top 10 from Kenwood Academy. Broncos in the house. Graduated number one from Chicago State University with my bachelors in chemistry. [applause] and graduated from chicago state a second time with my doctorate in pharmacy. Thank you. Im ive currently been a Community Pharmacy manager on the south side of chicago. And fort past three years. Nd im also author of 10 actics to tackling studying. Its for graduate and undergraduate success. [applause] max hi. Im max. You can see what they made me follow now. I have been involved in Civic Engagement and civic life here at the university of chicago through the institute of politics which has been, you know, an absolute blessing and a fantastic resource to all of us. The sum are after my first year here they gave stipends so that i think the number was 16 of us could go to des moines for the summer of 2015 to either work with certain press agencies or with campaigns. And i think that was a really eyeopening experience in terms of how to campaign directly and how far you can move the needle. Ive been involved on campus with Student Government and college republicans. President obama fantastic. [applause] hello, everyone. Im the baby of the panel. Im currently a senior at Kenwood Academy high school. [applause] ayanna and throughout my High School Career ive been on multiple sports teams, etc. Outside of high school ive been involved in a lot of communitybased organizations to volunteer my time with the youth as well and in the fall i will be attending Paul Quinn College in dallas, texas, with multiple scholarships in my name and im also an entrepreneur. I will say, with my own clothing line. President obama ok. [applause] i live on the Northwest Side of chicago. I arrived as a proud immigrant around the age of 14 with my mom and my sister from india. And attended Public Schools and then went to the university of illinoischicago. Harish both for my undergraduate studies and in urban planning and policies. After graduating i did become an organizer. With somebody in the audience i want to point out. Mentor of mine. That experience led me to run for office and most recently now i work for new america. New america chicago. Im the Deputy Director here in chicago where we do what we do today. Infuse new ideas, new voices in Public Policy conversation. So im really looking forward to this. President obama fantastic. Excellent. All right. So as you can see we have an Extraordinary Group here of sharp young people. But you also notice they kind have avoided my question. So but thats good because tees up the next segment. Ook, in the president ial election, you have maybe half f your peers voting. In mid term elections about a third of your peers vote. Suspect that if you ask a lot of young people about a wide range of issues, regardless of sit they where they ideologically, they would say, yeah, im very concerned about the economy. Im very concerned about foreign policy. Im very concerned about this or that or the other. But a lot of them feel as if their involvement would not make a difference. Its not worth their time. Theyre t, discouraged but feel disempowered. All right. So all of you have already shown yourselves to be willing to get out there and be involved and to make a difference and im curious as to what is it you think that prompted you to get involved in some fashion and also when you talk to your friends, what is it that you think is preventing them from doing so that might make a difference. We dont have to go in order. O if anybody wants to start. Ayanna, i like that in you. Ayanna although i am in high school so im a senior so of course some of my peers were able to vote this year but overall im grateful i have the opportunity to take courses at Kenwood Academy high school that involve political science. You know, we take africanamerican studies, etc. But not a lot of schools have that opportunity. So i will say awareness is something that holds a lot of our youth back from getting involved because im privileged so therefore i step up and i encourage others to get involved and to have a voice. But i think the youth feel like they dont have a voice. So that played a huge factor as to why the results are the way they are, if that makes sense. President obama no. It makes a lot of sense. Do you think, as you were coming up, you know, social studies, Civic Education, what kids are getting in the classroom would make a difference . Do you think that it would make more of a difference if young people had the opportunities to volunteer with organizations, to engage in Community Service . What is it you think that would make the biggest difference in young people saying, you know what, if i volunteer for this organization, i might make a difference in my community . Or if i participate on this issue, some somebody might hear my voice and might actually make a difference . What do you think would be most effective in encouraging people . Ayanna i feel like in order to encourage the youth, it involves to have a strong support system behind it to bring the youth up. So, for instance, in school, we are taught social studies but we tend to focus on mathematics, science, english, you know, because thats what were always brought up on because tests, exams, etc. So social studies and Civic Education tends to be pushed to the side. So i feel like it should be encouraged in the School System because the majority of our youth are in school, of course, and then from there build outside programs. O, you know, from there tiffany so i agree with ayanna. Since he went to kenwood too that was the start of me getting my foot in the door to want to expand and do outside things. I think also funding afterschool programs and summer programs because i had two to three jobs ever since eighth grade every summer. Because, one, you make money, you know president obama yeah. I was about to say. Tiffany also, that helped my resume, helped me get my feet wet to allow me see different opportunities, to see if i like being a counselor, if i wanted to be a cheerleading coach, if i wanted to be a tutor. So just trying Different Things every summer helped me hone in to what i want to do with the rest of my life. Then afterschool programs, too, the funding for that, it helps keep the kids off the streets so hopefully in chicago well have less violence since theyll have something to do. And also enriching their lives in schools and after schools and also in the summer. President obama fantastic. Im sorry. Kelsey, i know didnt you bronx you it in the worked during the summer . What prompted you to first of all describe what the experience was and then give us a sense of what inspired you to do Something Like that . Kelsey yeah. So i have been blessed at loyola to be involved with alternative break program that sends trips over spring break and winter break. The spring break of my junior year of college i spent in the south bronx working with an Incredible Group at an Elementary School out there. We took a group of 10 students and were really there kind of like what you were saying, to enrich the students lives through the week we were there. I think the unique way we run this program at loyola is we feel welcomed in these communities. We are not there to support them. While we aring there supporting them we are there to learn from the experiences that these students are having but really to understand just how wonderful so many of these young Elementary School kids are. I remember the principal at Immaculate Conception which is the school we were at and said i hope you realize this is the only week out of the year the kids get to finger paint which is too messy with one teacher in the room. It took a lot of us there to be able sure they do that. A very simple thing but really goes to show the impact that young people can have in these communities. President obama now, ramuel, you were going to Say Something but your service in the military is an example of Public Service that i think thankfully everybody now appreciates. That wasnt always the case. Obviously discovered was once our veterans take off the uniform, they leave service, sometimes people forget how much talent is there and the need to tap into the amazing young people that have served in our military so they can work in the community and continue the leadership that theyve shown while they were in the military. Youve been able to make that transition but talk a little bit about your mind set both when you went into the military and after you left, how did that change your perception in terms of your responsibilities to your community and how you might be able to make a difference. Ramuel well, whe