GenerationDrive Gears Up To Represent Nearly 70 Million Young Adults in America

GenerationDrive is one of the newest yet one of the most ambitious organizations in the country, with an important mission to represent the 67 million young people all across America. Founded this year, GenerationDrive promotes the next generation of leaders to help America get back on its feet through teaching financial literacy and creating a generation of fiscally responsible individuals.

Co-founders Eric Ochoa (Chairman) and Jamie Borromeo (National President & CEO) saw there was a real need to represent the nearly 70 million young people in the United States who needed some direction through the economic collapse. Known as the “Facebook” Generation, as well as the generation that helped elect President Obama into office in 2008, both Ochoa and Borromeo knew there was a power that had yet to be unleashed. When they discovered over 20% of young people were unemployed in 2009, they knew they had to do something.

“It’s not like Eric or I had the most stable careers at the time,” Jamie, National President & CEO of GenerationDrive said. “But we couldn’t take hearing phone call after phone call, email after email from friends saying they were either unemployed or underemployed. That’s when we rallied the ten brightest people we knew who were just as passionate about the issue. I personally called each of them and said, ‘Look, I’m broke, you’re broke, but Eric and I know there are others going through the same challenges. We have this burning desire to reach out to them. We can’t just sit here anymore. Young people need a voice and we’re creating one now.’”

“And so we started. Right then and there. And that drive we both felt to act gave us the name--GenerationDrive.”

Only two months after, GenerationDrive set up a board of directors retreat, a photo shoot with students from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and a national group of passionate young adults between the ages of 18-29 to do a high-level marketing campaign. With a group of volunteer models, photographers, graphic designers, hairstylists, makeup artists and wardrobe stylists, GenerationDrive’s team of 20 spent a weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area working on leadership formation, marketing and strategy.

GenerationDrive, currently headquartered in Washington D.C. and rapidly growing with seven regional chapters,  is focused on educating young people on fiscal responsibility by using mediums like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get their message out. They offer tools to help individuals build a healthy relationship with money, and they are planning their first annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, tentatively scheduled for Summer 2012. Each of their workshops will focus on promoting higher education, philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. Whether a start-up company or non-profit, GenerationDrive is on a mission to develop the next generation of business professionals, leaders and entrepreneurs who are changing the world and redefining a generation.

GenerationDrive Models at happy hour during photo shoot and board retreat, October 18, 2010.