Corryn Grace Freeman is a Florida-based social activist, political operative, and an accomplished social change agent.
She serves as the Executive Director of Future Coalition, an organization whose mission is to provide young changemakers with the resources they need to propel transformational change.
Corryn is the Co-founder and Vice President of Black Violin Foundation, an arts education foundation that is dedicated to empowering youth by working with them in their communities to provide access to quality music programs that encourage creativity and innovation.
Learn more about the Future Coalition Podcast by visiting the Future Coalition website.
To start, please tell us a bit about the organization you run, Future Coalition.
Future Coalition is an intergenerational organization dedicated to resourcing young changemakers and activists in a number of ways to propel transformational progressive change that contributes to building a world where collective liberation is possible.
Youth involvement and leadership has always been essential to social movements, yet we still see today that youth are underestimated when it comes to political organizing. Why do you think there is a disconnect with older generations realizing the impact of youth activism?
As an aging millennial, I think young people get dismissed because the systems to build organizations and cultivate power and wealth have prioritized experience in an industry and waiting for your turn.
It seems that older generations have some cognitive dissonance between the celebrated revolutionary movements of the past (for example, The American Revolution and The Boston Tea Party) that they view so favorably, with reform and revolutionary movements of the current time that are viewed much more as a nuisance and a power grab, and the power that young people are grabbing at is power that older generations have waited so patiently for.
The older generations have stood in line and waited their turn, like they were encouraged to do, and now here are these young energetic radical changemakers here infringing on the established order and calling out the privilege of Older generations. As the saying goes, “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” The discomfort that older generations feel at the hands of younger generations seeking to level the playing field is necessary for a fair and more equitable society.
The Future Coalition Podcast launched on June 11th, so you are at the beginning of your season. How do you see this podcast advancing the aims of the organization?
The Future Coalition Podcast aims to amplify the stories of young leaders, give voice to their causes, and shine a light on their leadership. We hope to use the platform to amplify young changemakers and their organizations and illuminate their visions for our future.
What type of guests can we expect this season?
We have some dynamic guests this season. Our first episode is with Congressman Maxwell Frost, the nation’s first Gen Z member of Congress. Then, we talk to young changemakers leading work across LGBTQIA+ activism, the climate crisis, and AI.
We are coming off of Pride month and it’s no secret that LGBTQIA+ rights are swept up in politics. Who are the youth activists we can look to for organizing on these issues and what are their primary concerns for this election cycle?
Our second podcast episode with Benjamin Coy (National LGBTQ+ Task Force) and Ranen Miao (OutVote, a fiscal project of Future Incubator) is perfect for you to listen to if you want an answer about this! Of course, I recommend you keep an eye out for these fantastic young changemakers and what they’re doing with their careers. For one, Ramen leads OutVote, a youth-focused, youth-led organization cultivating a network of young organizers to promote civic engagement and education in the LGBTQIA+ community. OutVote seeks to build a culture of civic participation within the LGBTQIA+ community to ensure that LGBTQIA+ voters are empowered and equipped to vote and participate in our democracy.
Let’s talk about your background a bit. You have had an incredible career so far, working on voting rights, Medicaid expansion, arts education access, reproductive health and more. At first glance, it may seem these issues are disconnected, but could you make arguments for how seemingly disparate issues are tied together?
First and foremost, thank you. I work on issues that I’m passionate about, which represent all of the different aspects and facets of my humanity. I believe deeply in the power of intersectionality and that all movements for change are connected.
In Audre Lorde’s essay “There is No Hierarchy of Oppression” she says: “I cannot afford the luxury of fighting one form of oppression only. I cannot afford to believe that freedom from intolerance is the right of only one particular group. And I cannot afford to choose between the fronts upon which I must battle these forces of discrimination.”
For instance, expanding voting rights to returning citizens (formerly incarcerated people) applies to over 20,000,000 Americans who have or have had felony convictions, according to the Joint Economic Committee. If every one of these people had access to the ballot box, it could significantly impact state ballot initiatives for access to reproductive health care. Having this population vote would dramatically expand the possibility of what change is possible because of their identities, their experiences, and now their access to the ballot box.
As for arts education, we are witnessing a defunding of these programs in predominantly Black, Latinx, historically poor, and marginalized communities. We also see a direct correlation between these communities being underfunded and under-resourced in the school-to-prison pipeline, juxtaposed to the fact that less than 4% of all classical professional orchestral musicians are Black or Latinx. These issues are connected.
How do you think your diverse work background has set you up to support youth leaders?
Because I have been them, one could argue that I am one. I’m 34 and Iead a national youth advocacy and resourcing organization along with an arts education foundation. I’ve made many mistakes and faced many of the challenges that youth leaders experience, including being dismissed, overlooked, and underestimated by established leaders. My experience has helped me understand the power of ambition and powerful visions regardless of age. I now have the ability and resources to amplify their voices, help guide them away from the same pitfalls I’ve experienced, refine them through training, and invest in promising ideas.
Given Future Coalition’s focus on intergenerational organizing, what is the best way we can support young people right now?
I would like to highlight two ways that you can support young people:
Listen to them - I mean really hear them out, give them a seat at the table, ask them questions about their causes, and negotiate with them.
Invest in them - If there is a youth-led organization that you are impressed by, donate to it. Financially contribute to their cause and invest in their leadership. Youth organizing is vastly underfunded, and young people hold some of the most extraordinary visions.
If you could pass the mic to a Gen-Zer about one social issue you care about, who would it be and what would they talk about?
This is hard because there are so many phenomenal youth leaders out there! I would pass the mic to Wawa Gatheru of Black Girl Environmentalist. Wawa has created an organization that sits at the intersections of race, gender, and climate. She’s created space for Black women, girls, femmes, and gender nonconforming people to sit in a historically white, predominantly white-led space. Black Girl Environmentalist sits at an intersection to create equity, understanding that these issues impact us all.
If this show’s topic interests you, you might also want to check out the Sounds Like Impact interview with Jenna Spinelle of When the People Decide podcast.