This month, President Joe Biden announced a series of new initiatives designed to appeal to young voters on the issues of climate and gun control as he gears up for a re-election bid next year.

First, in a surprise move on September 20, President Biden announced the creation of the American Climate Corps – a new program that aims to create over 20,000 new jobs over the next several years. The program, which will be formally rolled out next summer, will focus on employing young Americans on nationwide projects focused on renewable energy and conservation. This comes after a series of youth-led climate marches and alarming new reporting that listed this past August as the hottest month on record – another sign of the climate crisis’ severity. This has been acutely felt in drought-stricken New Mexico, which has suffered from devastating wildfires over the past few years, culminating in the devastating Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak wildfire last spring.

President Biden first proposed the corps back in 2021 as part of his “Build Back Better” legislative framework, a $3.5 trillion proposal that aimed to increase government spending across a variety of sectors. However, after moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin killed that effort in December of that year, the corps was shelved indefinitely. Though many of the President’s proposed climate investments were ultimately passed last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the corps was not, leaving it seemingly dormant.
However, when the President announced he would create the corps anyway – through executive action – climate activists and progressive lawmakers expressed their joy. Among the most supportive were Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, both of whom praised the President for listening to the calls of young climate advocates.

But the creation of the Climate Corps wasn’t the only major accomplishment of last week. President Biden also formed the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a step that young activists have long called for him to take. The announcement came after a spate of mass shootings across the country, including in the Albuquerque area, where an 11-year-old boy was tragically killed on September 6th after being shot outside of Isotopes Park. The office aims to coordinate the federal response to gun violence by enforcing existing background checks and red-flag laws. The office will be chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, who has long been an advocate for gun control, and will play an increasingly prominent role in highlighting the administration’s efforts on the issue going into next year’s elections.

Speaking with the President and Vice President at a press conference was Florida Democratic Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen-Z representative, who praised the activism of young people calling for gun control. Congressman Frost is expected to play a key role in the Biden-Harris campaign’s efforts to secure the support of young voters, with whom he is an increasingly popular figure.

Taken together, the two actions represent the culmination of youth advocacy efforts, with the Biden administration making decisive efforts on issues important to young voters. The President will need to win them overwhelmingly next year in order to be re-elected, and these steps indicate that he is taking them seriously, and aims to prove that he is delivering on their calls to action.