We invest in the rising generation of South Carolinians — building agency, leadership, and shared power to shape the future, today.
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YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM
The Young Leaders Program builds lifelong civic leaders by equipping the rising generation with the agency, skills, and relationships to participate in civic life and grow shared power for social, racial, and economic justice.
We create space — both literal and imagined — where young people can learn, gather, experiment, and grow into the kind of civic leaders South Carolina (and our country) needs now and for generations to come.
Be The Ones isn’t just developing civic leaders for South Carolina — we’re developing lifelong civic leaders from South Carolina. Whether they stay here or move across the country, they carry forward a sense of agency, connection, and belonging that began in our spaces.
This is about building leaders who know how to lead anywhere.
CORE AREAS OF WORK
CIVIC EDUCATION & ADVOCACY TRAINING: Skill-building focused on organizing, local and state advocacy, bridge-building, civil discourse, and systems literacy.
EXPANDING THE ELECTORATE: Voter registration, voter education, absentee/vote-by-mail support, GOTV efforts, and election protection — on and off campus. (stay tuned for our 2026 programs + opportunities announced soon!)
CAMPUS CHAPTERS: Student-led chapters strengthening civic engagement and community involvement — including partnerships with HBCUs and institutions in rural communities.
College of Charleston Student? Tap in here.
Student at another SC school? Send us an mail here — new chapters are in the works.
YOUNG LEADERS SUMMIT: Statewide gatherings where young people connect, train, collaborate, and build shared strategy.
Hear the stories + meet the leaders from our 2025 Summit here!
LEADERSHIP FELLOWSHIPS: Paid leadership roles and cohort-based programs that allow young people to design, test, and lead initiatives. (stay tuned for our 2026 programs + opportunities announced soon!)
NARRATIVE & CULTURE SHIFT: Uplifting student voices on the issues that matter most to them and reshaping the narrative about what young leadership looks like in the South.
PARTNERSHIPS & MOVEMENT COLLABORATION: Work with values-aligned organizations and community groups to expand youth civic infrastructure across SC through shared strategy and co-created programming.
Want to partner? Send us an mail here and let’s chat!
OUR APPROACH
Across everything we do — campus chapters, Young Leaders Summit, Fellowships, advocacy canvassing, and voter engagement — the through-line is the same: spaces where young people build agency together.
Agency makes civic engagement sustainable. It transforms one-time involvement into a long-term commitment to community.
We’re growing the rising generation of leaders, bridge-builders, problem-solvers, and civic actors who know their voice — their power matters.
We meet young people wherever they are — on college campuses, in high schools, at cultural events, sports games, concerts, festivals, online spaces, and local gathering spots. We reach them where they live, learn, and build community.
In South Carolina, we’ve seen again and again that when young people are given tools, encouragement, compensation, and community, they don’t just participate — they lead.
When we build agency, we are not simply preparing young people for the next election cycle. We are preparing them to lead on their campuses, advocate for their communities, participate in local democracy, shape policy conversations, build coalitions, and stay engaged wherever life takes them.
Agency is portable. It travels with them.
If young people are our now, then they deserve investment now — with joy, culture, experimentation, dignity, and compensation. That is how you build lifelong civic leaders. That is how shared power grows. And that is how we build a healthier South Carolina.
We listen deeply. We center what they care about. And we give them real opportunities to lead.
That means: paying young people to organize, providing training in systems, power, advocacy, and movement-building, funding their ideas, supporting experimentation, investing time, mentorship, and long-term relationships, creating joyful, culturally rooted spaces where leadership feels social and connected.
This is infrastructure. This is base-building. This is power-building at every level.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
WHY WE DO IT
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939
Number of state and local races on the ballot across SC in November
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339,011
More women than men registered to vote in South Carolina
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234
Number of school board races on the ballot across SC in November
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81%
Of races on the ballot in SC this November are at the county or municipal level
Young people are not just the future — they are shaping our communities right now.
The real question isn’t whether they care. It’s whether we are willing to invest in them in ways that build lasting power, not just short-term participation.
Too often, young people are treated as turnout targets, social media amplifiers, or photo ops at rallies. That approach is extractive and ignores the full arc of a young person’s leadership journey. We start somewhere deeper: with agency.
It’s one of the clearest examples of what happens when young people are given space to lead.
Agency is the on-ramp to civic engagement.
Before someone registers to vote, speaks at a meeting, organizes friends, or calls a legislator, something quieter happens — they begin to believe, I can do this.
Agency is the belief that my voice matters, my choices matter, and I am not powerless in the face of what’s happening around me. It is the opposite of apathy.
In South Carolina, we’ve seen again and again that when young people are given tools, encouragement, compensation, and community, they don’t just participate — they lead.
Agency makes civic engagement sustainable. It transforms one-time involvement into a long-term commitment to community.
When we build agency, we are not simply preparing young people for the next election cycle. We are preparing them to lead on their campuses, advocate for their communities, participate in local democracy, shape policy conversations, build coalitions, and stay engaged wherever life takes them.
Agency is portable. It travels with them.
If young people are our now, then they deserve investment now — with joy, culture, experimentation, dignity, and compensation. That is how you build lifelong civic leaders. That is how shared power grows. And that is how we build a healthier South Carolina.
READY TO LEAD?
If you’re a young person ready to build skills, grow your civic leadership, find your community, and shape the systems that shape you — there is a place for you here!
INVEST IN THE RISING GENERATION!
Young South Carolinians are not our future. They are our now.
And, they deserve our energy and investment. We’ would be extremely grateful if you’d consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our 2026 Young Leaders Program and our continued work supporting, training, and investing in young South Carolinians and their communities.