Our dynamic youth leadership programs are becoming more active, not less. With the election campaign behind them, young people now have time to channel their idealism and energy into local and campus-focused activities. Although they do not garner as much media attention as a national presidential campaign, they are making a real difference in their own communities.

On college campuses across the country, members of our Young People For program are working harder than ever to effect change in their communities. They look around their campuses and their towns and see entrenched discrimination against LGBT people, systemic disadvantages for women and people of color, threats to the environment, impediments to the right to vote, and many other problems. In response, with our support, they are designing and executing innovative projects to bring change to their campuses and communities. I am proud and inspired to be working with these amazing people.

Some highlights:

• Mario Lopez, an East Los Angeles Community College student who recently transferred to UC Berkeley, has launched an Immigration Policy Scholars Initiative. He is working to create a policy pipeline for underrepresented students to empower them to reform immigration policies.

• To help engage greater interaction between American Muslims and their local communities, Furqaan Sadiq is creating a Muslim Student Alumni Association for graduates of the University of Missouri, Columbia. He envisions local chapters working with non-profit organizations to do hands-on community service events.

• Recent college graduate Sydney Cespedes created a community-based organization in East Harlem to re-establish Sueños del Barrio, a youth leadership development group. Set on making sure participants fully understand their rights and their options for the future, she is working to reach youth who normally wouldn’t have opportunities or access to after-school activities, extra academic support, or cultural education.

Youth activism is growing: Every year, we receive more Young People For fellowship applications than we did the year before.

It’s not just on college campuses where young people are working to effect change. Through our nonpartisan Young Elected Officials Network, we are working with more than 500 local, state, and federal elected officials under the age of 35 who have chosen to channel their activism into electoral politics. Their day-to-day work of enacting laws and regulations in their official capacities does not garner the sort of press attention that leads to an AP article, but it is how these young people are bringing change to their communities.

• Five YEO Network members have been named to President Obama’s White House Health Reform Task Force: Arizona State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, Maine State Rep. Hannah Pingree, Maryland State Del. Heather Mizeur, Illinois State Rep. Susana Mendoza, and Pennsylvania State Rep. Josh Shapiro. Task force members are educating their communities on the need for health reform this year, hosting public events, authoring opinion pieces in local publications, and using their established networks to organize constituents in support of health reform. They are also providing input to the Administration.

• Seeing the obstacles that dissuade his fellow Oregonians from being able to vote, State Rep. Ben Cannon is sponsoring legislation to empower them to register to vote online by the 2010 election cycle.

• Reflecting their generation’s recognition that discrimination against lesbians and gays is evil, Vermont State Reps. David Zuckerman, Rachel Weston, and Kesha Ram sponsored this year’s successful marriage equality bill.

• Seeing parents in Georgia frustrated with their schools, State Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan successfully fought for passage of a bill to allow parents to send their children to any public school within their district, as long as there is room to teach new students.

On the front-page issue of health care reform, young people are deeply concerned. Earlier this month, seeking to channel their concern into action, a number of young campus and elected leaders asked our affiliate People For the American Way to facilitate a conference call with White House officials. PFAW was pleased to do this, and the response from the young participants was overwhelming. They are now working on their campuses and in their communities to garner support for meaningful federal health care reform.

Activism like this doesn’t make the news. But it does make change happen. All around the country, examples like these are occurring every day. Young people are not monolithic, but are as complex and concerned as any other voter or citizen. Don’t measure young people only by our exuberance and activism during a campaign cycle – Measure us also by the work that we do to shape a better future for ourselves and our communities long after the political campaigns are over.

We can all be proud of the work of these young leaders and their contributions to making America better. I urge reporters to learn and report more about this important work.