As we enter the final weeks of 2020, we turned to four youth activists to discuss what youth-led social justice movements are planning for the new year. The panel, part of December's Social Good Series focused on the future of youth activism.

The panel's moderator, freelance writer Rainesford Stauffer, opened the conversation by asking the four activists – whose work ranges across issues like climate change, racial inequity, immigration, and LGBTQ rights — how the pandemic has affected their activism.

Alexandria Villaseñor is a 15-year-old climate activist and founder of youth-led climate organization Earth Uprising. Before COVID-19, Villaseñor participated in an 18-month long climate strike. Since March, she has focused on creating ways to engage young climate activists online, participate in digital strikes, and support peer-to-peer climate education.

Sameer Jha is the founder of The Empathy Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to creating safer schools  through education programs targeted at school officials and educators. Jha normally advocates for the rights and safety of LGBTQ youth through educational conferences and lobbying. But their activism has now transitioned to creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth at home, and learning how to navigate the evolving nature of online and mixed schooling.

Luz Chavez, youth organizer for immigrant rights coalition United We Dream, explained that a lot of her work has focused on how to help immigrant and undocumented communities with basic needs during the pandemic, including food and resource drives in collaboration with local high schools.

And Sade Green, political activist and writer, has focused most of her activism on racial representation in politics and high-level decision making, with the goal to expand the political pipeline. She says that writing has been her main tool for activism, especially during the pandemic.

Stauffer invited each activist to discuss why young people are "uniquely positioned to be leaders" in the current political moment. The panelists all agreed: Young people will be the most affected by current policy decisions, so they deserve a voice in the decision-making process.

Read the full article about youth activism at Mashable.