Through a voter registration competition in high schools, we built a youth leadership development cohort called Democracy Club. They were organizing a youth focused Portland City Council candidate forum when Parkland happened. It was clear we needed to pivot. So, together we organized a statewide walkout on April 20th bringing over 200 students to the Capitol to talk with eight legislators during a rally on the Capitol steps.

Democracy Club became Oregon Youth for Gun Reform. This group of about 30 students from all over the Portland metro area and Eugene organizes in committees (executive, organizing, legislative, and diversity and inclusion) to bring young people to the policy table regarding gun violence prevention. Through research, debate, and deliberation over multiple meetings, they came to support a three point policy agenda: (1) Raise age of gun sales from 18 to 21, (2) Ban semi-automatic weapons, and (3) Ban high capacity magazines and bumpstocks. The Bus Project has collected hundreds of Dear Legislator cards in support of these policies, reaching a wide variety of legislative districts.