Up Close with Sam Gilman '15 and Andrew Kaplan '15

by Tom Sullivan '15, Storyteller for Good
February 26, 2015

“Millennials deeply care about changing the world - they just don’t see government or politics as the way to do that. They do it through nonprofits, entrepreneurship, tech, and science. A lot of our friends are involved in meaningful things that are deeply socially oriented. One of the things that Common Sense Action does is bring the social dynamic to political engagement.

We went to Capitol Hill and talked to members of Congress and their staffs. The universal sentiment was: ‘We need to hear more from you guys. We need to hear more from Millenials and your generation because otherwise we don’t know how to balance your interests with the interest of the future. We don’t know what your interests are. You don’t say them loud enough. You don’t talk to us in enough numbers.’

Common Sense Action is based on bringing next generation solutions and next generation voices to the table.”

Andrew Kaplan '15 and Sam Gilman '15 think the millennial voice is not being heard in Washington D.C. Through Common Sense Action (CSA), they strive to empower and mobilize millenials – red, blue, and in between – through CSA chapters across 40 college campuses nationwide. In the fall of 2013, these chapters formulated The Agenda for Generational Equity (AGE), the nation’s first millennial bipartisan policy agenda. This past midterm election, CSA successfully registered 3,310 voters across the country.