Abbreviation YAF Type 501(c)(3) President Ron Robinson | Formation 1969 Founded 1969 | |
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Purpose Conservative Youth Organization Region served United States of America Slogan The Conservative Movement Starts Here Headquarters Reston, Virginia, United States Motto The Conservative Movement Starts Here Budget Revenue: $36,193,437; Expenses: $21,482,145; (FYE December 2015) Similar Young Americans for Freed, Young Americans for Liberty, The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, American Conservative Union Profiles | ||
Rand paul s q a at young america s foundation dinner
Young America's Foundation (YAF) is a conservative youth organization, founded in 1969, whose self-described mission is to ensure that "increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values."
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History
Young America's Foundation was founded in 1969 at Vanderbilt University when students formed an organization called University Information Services (UIS). UIS was established to provide students with a familial atmosphere to express their conservative beliefs. When UIS became a national organization in the early 1970s, it changed its name to Young America’s Foundation. Young America's Foundation held the first National Conservative Student Conference in 1979. It is a co-founder of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference and has been a prominent supporter of the event since then.
In 1998, Young America's Foundation purchased Rancho del Cielo, the Santa Barbara, California ranch of Ronald Reagan.
Young America's Foundation merged with Young Americans for Freedom in 2011.
Organizational information
Young America’s Foundation is a tax-exempt educational foundation. The Foundation's programs include lectures on college and high school campuses, conferences throughout the United States, and campus activism initiatives. These programs are broadcast on C-SPAN. Young America's Foundation also preserves the Ronald Reagan Ranch, runs the National Journalism Center (NJC), and oversees Young Americans for Freedom. A Time Magazine article written in 2004 details some of the rhetoric used by YAF. Author John Cloud says that conservative students have borrowed the left’s rhetoric of victim-hood. He goes on to say that conservatives carve out pockets for themselves among universities in which liberals control the faculty, the curriculum, and the resources. They have even gone so far as to support “intellectual diversity” on campus. The article also points to controversial tactics used when distributing fliers on college campuses. In 2000, before a speech given by conservative Michelle Easton, fliers were passed out reading: “What does a woman REALLY want? Husband. Children. Picket Fence.”
Campus lecture program
Young America's Foundation sends conservative speakers to colleges and universities. Their website lists more than 140 speakers who are part of the campus lecture program, including Bay Buchanan, David French, Katie Pavlich, Ed Meese, Greg Gutfeld, Liz Cheney, Michael Reagan, Michelle Malkin, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, Rick Santorum, S.E. Cupp, Stacey Dash, Steve Forbes, Dinesh D'Souza, Allen West, and Ben Shapiro.
The Reagan Ranch
Bought by President and Mrs. Reagan in 1974, "Rancho del Cielo" (Spanish for "Ranch in the Sky") was purchased for preservation by Young America's Foundation on April 21, 1998. The property includes a five-room, white washed adobe house, three small buildings, a trailer, and a helicopter pad. On the occasion of the purchase, YAF president Ron Robinson commented that YAF's goal was "preserving and protecting" both Reagan's legacy and the ranch itself and that it would mantain the facilities as they existed when the Reagan's lived there.
The National Journalism Center
The National Journalism Center is a project of Young America's Foundation that places college students and recent graduates at media organizations in the Washington, D.C. area. Notable alumni include Ann Coulter, Greg Gutfeld, Tim Carney, and Malcolm Gladwell.
Conferences
Annually, Young America’s Foundation holds college and high school conferences to educate students from around the country on conservative principles. It also holds a number of regional conferences across the country.