It’s a familiar scene: a group of 20-somethings in colorful sneakers and ironic t-shirts is taking up the entire corner of a bar, drinking beer, engaging in animated conversation. But if you listen closely, it might not seem so familiar after all. The discussion going around the bar tables is about the environment and gas prices and the education system. Not only that, but people with different views are listening and offering counterpoints and solutions for how to get involved and change the current state of what they don’t like. This is the ideal scenario for Generation Engage, a nonpartisan youth-civic-engagement initiative that connects young Americans to political leaders, to other civic organizations, and to meaningful debate about the future they will inherit.

I sat down the other day with Decker Ngongang, a 20-something himself and Deputy Director of Generation Engage, to discuss what we see as increased participation from 20-somethings in the 2008 Presidential Election and why that might be the case. Decker attributes the rise in youth interest in this election to a perfect storm: a merging of relevant issues, the rise of social media, and a need for change. He sees youth affecting real numbers in the campaigns and claims, “It matters now how many YouTube hits and Facebook friends [candidates] have. They are spending their campaign dollars differently and redefining and realigning how they operate. Youth are making the candidates work harder and this is a very good thing.”

And while social media has changed the course of political campaigns giving youth a forum for collective power and unity, everyone continues to wonder if the youth vote will actually show up on Election Day to affect the change they so passionately talk about. Decker sees the potential of the youth vote as the wildcard in UNO, “It’s there. It’s in the game. But it might not be used effectively, and it might not be used at all. But if it is played, then it can drastically change the game and create a new outcome.”

Decker couldn’t be more thrilled with this explosion of youth engagement focused around November 4th, but he is actually more concerned with what happens the day after the election. He explains, “While the youth voice is loudly declaring the need for change in the next President, what young people need to realize is that real change happens on a local level. Yes, the President will influence change in this country, but there is no one savior for the relevant issues that affect us daily. Change in our communities is bigger than politicians, and individuals need to transfer the excitement from the national election to local issues and civic organizations to see the kind of change we all want; change that we can feel next week happens locally.”

Decker is devoting his time to finding out how to transfer that excitement from the national election to community civic engagement after November. He believes it starts with conversation similar to the bar scene scenario described above. “Talking about issues doesn’t stop when the election ends,” explains Decker. “We need to have conversation void of partisan lines and focused on action-based dialog that connects the issues not just to politics, but to civic organizations in the community. Engaging in these issues through conversation will maintain the culture of community and allow us to create positive change in our towns, cities, and nation.”