The young people I’ve spoken with thus far are varying levels of worried by the issues facing the global economy. A few days back, I talked with FORGE, an organization staffed by mid-20-somethings and concerned primarily with refugee issues in Africa. They reported being in crisis mode due to failure to meet a series of fundraising goals set earlier in the year. They’re handling the issue in an interesting, new-school manner by being absolutely transparent about the issues they are facing. As it had been explained to me by a social entrepreneurship blogger before my meeting with them, Sean Stannard-Stockton’s from Tactical Philanthropy “has a big axe to grind about transparency and started creating a whole world/web of resources around it. A professional consultant is now helping forge on the condition that Sean blogs brutally and realistically about it.” Mission Recognition takes a look at the approach here.
I have noticed, however, that fears on the West Coast seem a little less extreme than those based in the East (New York especially) where there exists an air of economic fear in the air everywhere you turn. Presumably, this could ultimately be related to the financial bases of both locales (Wall St., devastated, lies at the heart of New York while Silicon Valley is still chugging along in San Francisco), but both New York and California are facing substantial budget shortfalls and post-election elation is starting to slip back onto a sense of grim realism for those whose budgets and salaries are contingent of the the public’s ability to give.
Meredith at Ypulse takes a look at this very issue and suggests that despite our collective worry, we’re optimistic: “While millennials are certainly aware of the dire financial times we live in, our general attitude towards the future remains optimistic.”
As far as I can tell in my experience, yes, we are worried. Perhaps we’re optimistic, but we’re certainly cautious about said positivity. New Yorkers appear to be sweating a bit more than those in L.A. and San Francisco Bay, but we all know that we’re in for a pinch. I’ll keep you posted as we get a better collective sense of which way, exactly, the wind is blowing.
