Is Future Caucus on Your Advocacy Radar? It Should Be

As part of our Stakeholder Engagement practice’s virtual event series, MultiState recently sat down with Layla Zaidane, President & CEO of Future Caucus, to learn about the organization and its goals now that it just celebrated its tenth birthday. Formerly the Millennial Action Project, Future Caucus is the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers in the U.S. Here’s a recap of our recent conversation with Layla, why young lawmakers can get things done, and what's in store for Future Caucus in 2024. 

Meet Layla Zaidane, President and CEO of Future Caucus

Layla, like many millennials, watched international events unfold in the early 2000s. “They shaped my worldview in really powerful ways and made me committed to what I could do to invest in the systems that allow us at a global level, to coexist and to have national security systems that provide safety and economic prosperity for everyone.” She says many of the young elected officials and young people in politics she’s encountered over the years were driven to the public sector for similar reasons. 

Also like many fellow millennials, after college, she entered the workforce in the middle of a recession — leading her to take the first job she could find, which was a sales job at a tech company. The role taught her digital marketing and online communications skills that helped her stand out. At the time, the internet and driving people to action online was a very new idea. Shortly thereafter, Layla found a role doing public policy at a think tank in Washington, D.C., that was seeking someone with “communication chops” to do their digital marketing. In that role, she was working with young people and the policy solutions that got them excited. The predecessor of Future Caucus, the Millennial Action Project reached out to Layla to join the team, and the rest is history.

The Origin Story of Future Caucus: A Scrappy Startup Turned National Powerhouse

“It was a total startup; very scrappy. We pursued this idea — what happens when young people start getting elected at scale into Congress or into state legislatures? How do we help them be equipped to be successful? What can we do to prevent some of the gridlock that was holding us back? For me, I wanted to know how I could be a part of making sure young people have a meaningful seat at the table, not as Democrats or as Republicans, but as a cohort that is responsible for ushering in a better future.”

At first, Future Caucus focused solely on Congress, working to create vehicles for millennials elected to Congress to connect with one another across party lines. 

“Very quickly afterwards, we got phone call after phone call from state legislators who saw what was happening at the national level and asked for help starting chapters in their states. We actually hadn't really thought of that back when it was first started.” According to Layla, “It was a total catalyst moment for the organization.” Growth was speedy after that. Since 2014, they’ve served thousands of young elected officials and have launched chapters in 34 states. 

As the organization grew, it was clear that they could help more than only millennial lawmakers — a national rebranding from Millennial Action Project to Future Caucus would ensure they could also serve other younger generations, such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Thus, Future Caucus, building on the name of its signature Congressional and local chapters, was born.  

The New Innovation Agenda

“When we started, we existed to build a permission structure for people to simply become friends with people across the aisle.” Layla says their model is to identify a Republican and a Democratic legislator in a state or in Congress who want to take ownership of their Future Caucus chapter — “then we help them launch.” To build organizational infrastructure, they help them to develop bylaws, meeting schedules, and launch events during session and in the off-season.

In 2023, Future Caucus developed its first-ever Innovation Agenda, a survey of the lawmakers in the Future Caucus network, where issues of importance are identified, including those that have been enacted on a bipartisan basis across the country. The program has six key issue areas: strengthening democracy, energy and environment, criminal justice reform, future of work, health care, and housing. “These six issues were a part of almost every Future Caucus policy agenda, in some way, shape, or form,” according to Layla. 

To support these policy priorities, the organization recently launched a program called Innovation Lab, which is described as “a hub for policy education, bridge-building, and action.” The Innovation Lab enables lawmakers to meet other legislators working on similar issues, learn from policy experts through events and briefings, and catalyze bipartisan action on these topics. Ultimately, the Innovation Lab provides a blueprint that policymakers can use to advance policy solutions that address real problems, and  perhaps most importantly, build coalitions “that prove that we can transcend polarization.” Layla pointed to Arkansas as an example, where lawmakers there were able to pass 39 bills in their session by working together — all by building trust so they could set their policy agenda and then “go to work.”

What You Should Know About Young Lawmakers

When we asked Layla what are some of the key characteristics she sees in the millennial and Gen Z lawmakers she works with, she identified three characteristics: curiosity, an openness to new ideas, and a bit of impatience — which she sees as a great trait. “I see a marriage between curiosity and humility, which is great because it means they are open to new information, regardless of where it's coming from. To me, impatience is not a bad thing. It means that they don't have time to play games. There are problems that need to be solved, and they're not really interested in playing partisan games.” Layla says the attitude she sees is one where lawmakers say, “I will work with anyone on anything to get this done. Let’s move.’”

Layla says this combination lends itself to a collaborative attitude. According to her, “It’s a sense of agency and belief in ourselves to change things, not waiting for somebody else to save us. A real sense of possibility and the empowerment to get it done ourselves. When you put all three of those things together, you get a generation of change-makers. It’s a cheat code to get things unstuck and feels productive and positive.”

Getting Engaged with Future Caucus

There are ways businesses and organizations can engage with Future Caucus lawmakers. Layla emphasizes that Future Caucus is a convener — “that is our superpower.” They strive to bring experts and leaders from different organizations together with lawmakers who are eager to learn. In the past, Future Caucus has partnered with companies to hold events that dive deep into policy areas of mutual interest, such as criminal justice reform, or through a speaker series at businesses’ offices. Another way to engage is through regular webinars provided via the Innovation Lab. Future Caucus staff are always looking for expertise in policy areas that intersect with their Innovation Agenda. Future Caucus also holds its Future Summit each year, which will be held in July in Washington, D.C. 

MultiState clients can receive the full recording of this event by contacting us here .

Engage and Activate Stakeholders

MultiState's Stakeholder Engagement Practice helps clients develop a strategic plan for engaging with policymaker and policy influencer organizations like Future Caucus. These groups can move the needle in policy discussions across the country, and any effective state government relations strategy should include a comprehensive plan for engaging with these organizations. Read more about our Stakeholder Engagement practice here to learn more about how we can partner with you to develop a stakeholder engagement plan to support your advocacy agenda.