Last weekend, Young Americans for Liberty hosted our first State Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina! 101 activists gathered together last Saturday to network, learn, and hear from high-profile speakers like North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and the anti-war Congressman Walter Jones. Students, post-graduates, young adults, and seasoned political veterans alike packed the room.

The program was split between general grassroots training and keynote speakers that addressed national issues, and panels geared specifically toward North Carolina activists. We spent our morning introducing newcomers to YAL’s mission, meeting our generous sponsors, and hearing from North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Dan Forest:

After the lunch break, we heard lectures on leadership and political messaging:

This was followed by two panels that addressed youth activism and North Carolina politics:

Our convention was concluded with words from Rep. Walter Jones, who delivered a moving speech about his evolved perspective on U.S. foreign policy:

Our first state convention was clearly a huge success. An attendee who has been with YAL for years remarked to me that the North Carolina YAL Convention was very similar in size to YAL’s earlier national conventions. This means that it only took YAL a few short years to replicate their earlier national conventions 10 times over at the state level! That kind of growth is remarkable and shows that our movement has true leadership and promise (click for a larger image):

Want to find a YAL State Convention in your area? Click here for a complete list of the states we are visiting this year. We have a total of 10 Conventions going on across the nation this spring, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to still go to one. Hope to see you there!

Many thanks to our North Carolina leadership team for putting this convention together, and to our speakers and sponsors for spending their weekend inspiring our attendees to their best activism yet.