Future Caucus

In 2013, MAP organized America’s first-ever bipartisan caucus for young members of Congress, the Congressional Future Caucus. Shaping the next generation of leadership, MAP’s Future Caucus model has expanded into nearly 30 state legislatures, and the organization has grown into the largest nonpartisan network of millennial elected officials in the U.S. MAP and its Future Caucuses are working to restore trust in government by bridging the divide between young elected officials on both sides of the aisle.

In eight years of work, MAP has built a network of more than 1,600 young elected leaders across the country. In our next chapter of organizational growth and impact, achieving the following objectives will enable us to scale the infrastructure we’ve built, harness the energy of the next generation, and protect our democracy:

CONNECT - MAP establishes, builds, and maintains the body of elected officials in Congress and in states in the Future Caucus Network.

TRAIN - MAP provides legislators with the skills and leadership development they need have an impactful career.

CATALYZE - MAP activates our network to advance key and emerging policy issues and promotes post-partisan policymaking.

AMPLIFY - MAP continues to boost the visibility of legislators and caucuses in their communities through effective storytelling and media campaigns.

CONNECT
Support legislators to find like minded leaders, build relationships, and enact effective legislation.
● Invest in Future Caucus model, in which MAP works with identified states to develop meeting structures, bipartisan policy and media opportunities, and provides other support to accelerate the work of the Future Caucus in those states.
● Partner with organizations that provide Future Caucus members unique access to thought and industry leaders.
● Develop digital tools for legislators to share policy solutions and ideas for public engagement, and facilitate networking.

Strengthen the MAP network by growing pipeline of young elected leaders joining Future Caucuses.
● Develop strategic partnerships that allow for increased engagement with young legislators.
● Develop peer-to-peer recruitment initiatives at state and congressional level.

Build the identity of Future Caucuses.
● Identify critical needs of legislators and ensure MAP is bringing value to its members in those areas.
● Develop and refine an onboarding program for new caucus members.
● Sustain year round engagement of caucus members.

TRAIN
Build capacity of Future Caucus legislators
● Create professional development content, interactive trainings, and tools that respond to identified needs: leadership skills, digital communications capacity, legislative negotiations, and others.
● Establish partnerships to build, deliver, and practice the suite of tools.

CATALYZE
Equip Future Caucus leaders to solve select critical national problems.
● Identify six national problems, such as energy and the environment, democracy, justice reform, or workforce development, that lend themselves to cross-party work and solutions.
● Launch an “Innovation Lab” to establish a deep bank of knowledge on the identified issues, to catalyze and empower legislators to take action.
● Identify and establish relationships with individuals and organizations that can provide expertise on policy issues and serve as a resource to legislators.
● Engage Future Caucus members in peer groups to share and advance policy solutions in identified areas, providing technical assistance where needed.

Make MAP the pre-eminent thought leader in new approaches to leadership and policymaking.
● Build a dataset of young legislators across the country at the state and federal levels to fill the knowledge gap of youth political leaders.
● Analyze political behavior of Millennial and Gen Z candidates and elected leaders to identify trends, barriers, and opportunities.
● Build awareness of root causes of polarization and its impact on young leaders through convenings, media appearances, articles, and town halls.

AMPLIFY
Continue to boost the visibility of legislators and caucuses in their communities through effective storytelling and media campaigns.
● Create media (earned, paid, shared, print) opportunities to showcase bipartisan policy achievements of Future Caucus members, and frame the collective work of young lawmakers.

Map is in a period of rapid growth, both internally and externally. While MAP’s staff has grown to support the scaling of its programs and services, so too has its Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and circle of supporters and funders. The vision and mission of MAP continues to resonate across diverse audiences and inspire others to act with the spirit of collaboration and future-focused solutions.

Between 2019 and 2022, MAP doubled its staff, added four new members to its Board of Directors and Board of Advisors, and secured several new large grants with foundations. As the Future Caucus Network expands into all 50 states, MAP will grow its programs staff to maintain high quality program management. As we evolve in our work towards a post-partisan future, MAP will continue to engage diverse partnerships to support and accelerate our work through key foundations, corporations, and individuals support. In this way, we will continue to expand our network and extend our reach into all levels of governance and civil society.

Launched amid the 2013 government shutdown, MAP is premised on the idea that cultivating next generation leaders offers our greatest promise to transform American governance. MAP has since grown into the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers—over 800 members span across Congress and 29 state legislatures. MAP's Future Caucus programming helps these leaders build generational relationships across the aisle; cross-pollinate best practices and future-looking policy ideas; and promote inclusive political discourse to state and national constituencies. This model has not only enhanced the governing capacity of millennials but also produced significant bipartisan successes on: voting and gerrymandering reforms, clean energy, gun violence prevention, technical education, and more. Senator Bill Bradley, Senator Olympia Snowe, Governor Granholm, and Congressman Carlos Curbelo, among others, serve on MAP’s Advisory Board. MAP has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NBC News, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and many other national outlets.