February 5, 2014

Black History Month Celebrations: Show Host Richard Fowler Empowers Youth to Make a Difference

To continue our celebration of Black History Month, we are sharing another story of someone who has made a great impact on civil rights and economic equality. That person is Richard Fowler.

After years of going into the voting booth with his mother as a young child, Fowler learned the importance of being an active voice in one’s community. Working with the NAACP, he has helped over 1000 young voters in his native Florida to get registered and organize. He has also worked as a campaign manager for political candidates, to work on issues that uplift women, youth of color, and LGBTQ and low-income communities.

Working with youth in order to empower them to make a difference in their own and their communities’ lives is clearly important to Fowler, who has trained about 2,000 young people on how to make their voices heard through messaging and media. Fowler’s trainings no doubt draw on his experiences as the host of his own radio show (The Richard Fowler Show), which has recently partnered with the popular show The Young Turks. Additionally, Fowler serves as the interim director of Generational Alliance, which is made up of over 20 youth organizations dedicated to increasing collaboration and coordination within the youth movement through the following methods:

1. Create cultural spaces for young progressive leaders
2. Sit in progressive spaces that have historically left out underrepresented communities
3. Provide trainings for staff of members’ organizations to fill the leadership development gap
4. Help organizations collaborate on advocacy issues they align with
5. Uplift and promote their communications efforts through media training, booking and digital organizing

Fowler’s work at the Alliance and at his own show also includes educating folks on important issues, like the Affordable Care Act, via YouTube videos.

Fowler is carrying the torch of the leaders of the civil rights movement who came before him, using new media and technology to inspire young people to make a difference in new ways. To learn more, you can follow him on Twitter @RichardAFowler.