Don’t Let COVID-19 Destroy Our Generation: Urge Your Senators to Pass the Heroes Act

The Coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside down. For young people — Millennials and Gen Z –  it has exacerbated generational and racial inequities and irrevocably altered core experiences of transitioning and young adulthood. These intensified inequalities will continue to affect us for decades to come. In the past months we have experienced:

• Abruptly being evacuated off college campuses displacing many of us without stable housing and disrupting our education to prepare us for future careers;
• Entering the workforce or getting grounded in a workplace as the economy destabilizes and companies are forced to cut jobs and pay, impacting our future earning potential and the ability to take care of ourselves and our families;
• Figuring out how to pay rent, bills and student debt when we are too young to have built meaningful savings or wealth – not to mention the damage this has caused to many of us trying to build savings at all;
• Trying to find stable affordable housing without a job or credit history;
• Becoming intergenerational caregivers after moving home from college or losing our jobs without the support of long-term government assistance;
• Putting off starting or building a family with so many uncertainties and juggling childcare and working from home;
• Navigating voting for the first time in an archaic system that is often designed to keep young people out that has been further hurt by the lack of resources and investment from our federal government to ensure a safe and fair election.

We cannot let our generation continue to be disproportionately affected by a pandemic that we were forced to weather alone. 

Call on your Senators to pass a stimulus package that prioritizes our future and safeguards democracy for generations to come. One that provides direct financial assistance to young Americans and their families, that extends unemployment, housing, and food security benefits for those in need. Ask for a stimulus package that recognizes essential workers and first responders with urgently needed funding rather than thoughts and prayers and that will fund a plan for testing and treatment so we can beat the virus. Call on your Senators to pass a stimulus package that bolsters our election infrastructure and protects USPS.

COVID-19 has cost our nation hundreds of thousands of lives and threatens to continue its attack on our health and economy. We must meet young Americans basic needs if our nation is to survive the pandemic. 

Call on the Senate to pass the HEROES Act today.