The future of America rests in the hearts and minds of the next generation. That’s why organizations like our own Young Women for America (YWA) and others exist to equip students to advocate for Christian truths and conservative policies. It was also the mission of Charlie Kirk, and that fact weighed heavily on us as we flew to this year’s Texas Youth Summit, the first major conservative convention to be held since his murder.
Founded in 2019, the Texas Youth Summit exists to bring together high school and college-age Texans and connect them with like-minded organizations, policy advocates, and legislators. For the second year in a row, both Concerned Women for America (CWA) and YWA had the honor to be a part of that mission by participating in the two-day event, held this year in The Woodlands, Texas. Although the assassin’s bullet from the week prior sought to cow conservatives into silence, it only invigorated the Summit’s nearly 3,500 attendees to pick up Charlie’s torch.
This year’s Summit featured some of the most important young figures in the conservative movement, including generation Z commentator Alex Clark, podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey, detransitioner Chloe Cole, and North Korean defector Yeonmi Park. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Governor Greg Abbot, and Attorney General Ken Paxton were among the prominent Texas politicians who also made appearances. But the most significant portion of the weekend was the nearly hour-long worship service in a ballroom packed with students that was the very first item on the weekend’s schedule.
For YWA, the event was an opportunity to connect with young women passionate about getting engaged in the policy world. One 10th-grader at the event, who attended with her grandfather, told us that she was one of the few conservatives in her Houston-area high school and was excited about becoming a YWA ambassador to encourage others like her to be bold in their convictions.
For CWA, it was an opportunity to engage with allies in the fight to make the internet safer for kids. Among the long list of individual speakers on the agenda, the event also included several panels on topics relevant to the students in the audience. And one of the most insidious issues facing America’s youth right now is the accessibility of harmful content online.
CWA has been a strong supporter of legislation to combat this problem, from advocating for various age-verification laws to reforming legal loopholes to make Big Tech liable for child exploitation on their platforms. As such, I, as a CWA Legislative Strategist, was invited to participate in one of the summit’s sessions, titled “Protecting Children from Harmful Online Content.” The distinguished panel also included representatives from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Digital Childhood Alliance, and Texas State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-District 8).
The panelists discussed the most prevalent issues facing children when it comes to social media as well as viable solutions, such as the App Store Accountability Act sponsored by Sen. Paxton (and supported by CWA) that was signed into law earlier this year. The bill would require not only age-verification when kids are downloading apps from Google, Apple, or other online app stores, but also requires third parties to set age-ratings for apps and better transparency about content within each. CWA is leading the effort to pass it in other states this coming year and was able to provide an optimistic update about the legislation’s progress.
Most importantly, the panel ended by encouraging the students in the audience to get engaged. There is no louder voice on social media safety issues than that of the generation that has never known a world without Facebook or Instagram. They are the ones who will shape the future, and the students at this year’s Texas Youth Summit are ready to do just that.
