“The future is young, Black, Brown and LIT,” according to the grassroots organization Leaders Igniting Transformation.

The Milwaukee-based organization has chapters across 11 college campuses throughout the University of Wisconsin System, including UW-Eau Claire. LIT focuses on challenging state institutions in their push for a more equitable society through social justice-centered and intersectional voices, according to its website.

Yer Xiong, a LIT fellow and fourth-year broadfield social studies student at UW-LaCrosse said LIT gives students the tools they need to expand their advocacy and leadership skills, emboldening them to use their voices to push for change in all political spheres.

“LIT is an organization that does a really good job at bringing together diverse perspectives,” they said. “Especially because we are a Black, Brown, Queer, youth-led organization, we have an experience that a lot of organizations don’t have.”

This same sentiment was echoed by Jacksen Wolff, a third-year psychology and political science student at UW-Eau Claire and fellow with LIT. Wolff said their presence is essential in all political arenas as the representatives who are making decisions on behalf of entire communities, often lack the diverse perspective needed to truly be representative of all their constituents. 

With this objective in mind, LIT has shown up and showed out across the state of Wisconsin at the recent Joint Finance Committee Hearings. There were four statewide budget hearings throughout the month of April in Waukesha, Eau Claire, Wisconsin Dells and Minocqua.

Wisconsin residents were encouraged to attend the public hearings and use their voices to discuss the 2023-2025 biennial budget, and LIT did just that. On Tuesday, April 1, at the hearing hosted at UW-Eau Claire, 12 of their student members and three staffers provided personal testimonies to the 16-member committee of the Wisconsin Legislature. 

Wolff said the only way for there to be social and economic progress for Black and brown communities is by being in the room where decisions are being made. 

“It’s so crucial that we not only have student testimonies, but an abundance of student testimonies,” Wolff said. “So they know not only that these struggles exist, but they permeate through huge and mass amounts of people.”  

The main message throughout all the testimonies was “invest in our now.” This message was plastered on matching orange shirts members wore, across handmade banners, signs and on piggy banks that LIT members handed to the committee after testifying.

The grassroots organizers pushed for a $24.5 million investment in a tuition grant program for students across the state of Wisconsin. According to the State of Wisconsin Budget in Brief, by Gov. Tony Evers, this investment aims to “enhance affordability for aspiring college students with significant economic need.”

This investment grant program would cover the segregated fees in tuition for students in the UW System whose household income is $62,000 or less. Segregated fees at UW-Eau Claire account for about $777 for full-time students, according to the tuition breakdown on their website. 

This grant would help alleviate some of the financial hardship standing between individuals and pursuing higher education. The student advocates provided examples of themselves and their family members living in debt and working multiple jobs while also being full-time students. 

Makayla Rhodes, a LIT fellow and first-year psychology student at UW-Eau Claire, voiced how her mom has been in debt for 20 years after pursuing her associate’s degree. 

In another testimony, Xiong shared that only one of their 10 siblings has completed their bachelor’s degree. 

Rhode’s and Xiong’s stories were not unique to just them and their families. At the forum, several other groups and Wisconsin residents — across political lines — made pleas to the committee to invest in the public education system, both at the K-12 level and public colleges. 

According to the Education Data Initiative, the average Wisconsin college student loan debt is $31,894 after graduation, with nearly 58% of those in debt under the age of 35. More broadly, 43% of college students across the country are employed full-time, with 23% working over 35 hours in one week. 

Chancellor Jim Schmidt of UW-Eau Claire also spoke to the steep cost and its consequences, stating that “higher education is not immune to inflation.” 

Schmidt said despite a tuition freeze — put in effect in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — many institutions still had to make immense sacrifices. 

“I encourage you to prioritize the investments that stabilize the UW-system’s ability to recruit, retain and graduate the talented critical thinkers,” Schmidt said in his message to the state representatives. 

Schmidt said the institution continues to receive nearly the same number of state dollars today, as it did when he first began as chancellor in 2013. The ramifications of this, in combination with the inaccessibility of higher education in general, were a popular message shared amongst the testimonies.

These student testimonies are at the heart of the work that LIT does, according to senior policy manager Kat Otto. She said that Black and brown students across the state, not only deserve to have their voices heard, but to tell their stories on their own terms.

Otto said LIT holds space to help students use their stories as a guiding post in creating systemic changes.

“Knowledge is power and making sure that young people have the experience and the knowledge to be lifelong participants in the systems that directly impact their lives, is an invaluable skill set,” Otto said.

Something as simple as attending a public forum is an avenue for Black and brown communities to insert themselves into the types of conversations and decisions that are made in legislative spaces. 

“We need to have a hand in deciding our future,” Xiong said.

LIT creates change through the energy, passion and reach that young people have to generate change. By giving Black and brown communities opportunities to strengthen their institutional knowledge, they are opening the door to a more accessible participatory government, Otto said.

Otto emphasized that this type of knowledge is a way for students to continue to step into their power outside of the physical spaces they are in. 

While their presence sent a clear message to the Joint Finance Committee, their message echoed far beyond the Ojibwe Ballroom. Young people are here, they are watching and they are demanding more. 

Following the conclusion of the last legislative listening session on April 26, the Joint Finance Committee commenced drafting the biennial budget proposal, due by June 30. Upon passing through the State Senate and Assembly, it is sent to Evers for review. If approved, it will take effect in July of 2023. More information can be found here.