Longer description of your proposed project

Most youth liberation organizations are currently only focused on theory (such as Taking Children Seriously) or, when looking at systemic change, mostly focus on legal rights denied to children regardless of parental consent. For example, the National Youth Rights Association, the largest youth rights organization, focuses on things like the drinking age, voting age, curfew laws, mandatory schooling, which are all things that minors are denied even if the parent wants them to have it (They do also lobby for medical autonomy, which involves reducing parental authority over children). My plan is to establish the Minor Liberation Initiative, to lobby for increased rights for minors.

My first area of focus would be the Interstate Runaway Compact, which makes it illegal for anyone, including official homeless shelters, to knowingly provide shelter to a runaway. This makes it difficult for children to escape abusive situations, and makes life significantly more dangerous for runaways (there is likely a selection effect where those willing to provide shelter to runaways are less likely to abide other laws, or they may not be able to find adequate shelter in the first place). Focusing on this law is likely to have a significant impact, because there is very little discussion of its merits, so simply bringing the idea of removing it up will create an impact, and we know that it is possible for such laws to change, because Washington State modified their laws to create a specific exemption for public homeless shelters harboring transgender children fleeing transphobic situations.

In order to lobby against the Interstate Runaway Compact and similar laws, my general plan is to gather data on the impact of these laws, perhaps by polling communities like r/runaways about how they were personally impacted, create an online presence for the organization, collaborate with existing youth rights activists and organizations on social media, and recruit volunteers. Then, we can begin to spread awareness around the general public through methods like handing out pamphlets, organizing events, and contacting news organizations, and contact legislators to meet with them and discuss the issue, and finally draft a bill and petition for it to be signed into law.

Describe why you think you're qualified to work on this

I am about as qualified as anybody else with a similar level of knowledge and motivation around this topic would be: My comparative advantage lies in that I have personal experience growing up in an abusive situation and dealing with these sort of laws. This firsthand knowledge, combined with a strong motivation for change, positions me to make a meaningful impact.

Other ways I can learn about you

My twitter handle is @toasterlighting, and I'm on ACX, LessWrong, EA forums, and many other platforms as ToasterLightning.

How much money do you need?

$1000 would give me a large amount of slack on the project, allowing me to spend significantly less time micromanaging expenses such as site/domain/email hosting services, $5000-$10,000 would give me a large amount of personal slack as well to prioritize this project and to personally network with others on this issue. Unless otherwise instructed, I may allocate funds to things which are not direct project expenses, but that I believe would increase my personal capacity to work on it. If you do not trust me to assess this in an accurate or honest way, just let me know and I will only spend the money on things directly relevant to the project.

Links to any supporting documents or information

No response.

Estimate your probability of succeeding if you get the amount of money you asked for

(conditional on me remaining alive for the next 5 years) 75% this results in a sustainable organization (recruiting, contacting legislators, on a semi-regular basis in at least one location for the foreseeable future), 30% this leads to a change in the legislation of at least one state surrounding these issues.