All Politics Is Local - Maryland
A Podcast to educate and inform a younger generation of voters beyond the ballot box about local civic matters in the state of Maryland and Prince George's County.
All Politics Is Local - Maryland
Gen Z’s Reality Check: Leadership and the Affordability in PG County"
We recorded live with four young residents from District 9 who speak candidly about affordability, the changing job market, and what real trust in local leadership looks like. They ask for listening, clearer communication, and opportunities that match today’s costs and realities.
Four young residents from District 9 recently joined us for a live recording to speak candidly about pressing local issues. Their discussion centered on the need for affordability, changes in the job market, and what genuine trust in local leadership means to them. They emphasized the need for officials to listen more, communicate with greater clarity, and create opportunities that align with current economic realities and costs of living.
Welcome back to another episode of All Politics is Local with me, your host, Tamara Davis Brown. I am so excited today because we are recording this podcast live, and we have with us our next generation. And so we're passing the mic to the next generation. And so we appreciate you being here with us today, live in studio, are four young adults who are from District 9, and they're going to be talking about their perspective of life and living in Prince George's County. So, how we're going to start this podcast today, this episode today, is we're going to have them tech do an introduction, but through a vibe check. So we're going to ask each of our um guests today in studio to give us their name, uh, where they any status like where they work or go to school, and then ask this question part of the vibe check, which is how are you feeling? What's going on? What are you thinking about? What's important to you? And that can be in a word, it can be in a phrase, and you can say what you may be excited about or want to hear about. So we're going to start on the end, and uh let's go with LeBon.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Uh good morning. My name is Vaughn. I'm a senior at Golden Park High School. I'm excited. I want to see the different perspectives of Gen Z in politics as well.
SPEAKER_02:Good morning. My name is Autumn. I'm from Clinton, Maryland, and a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, a current law student at American University. And I'm also excited you took my word because I love hearing from other people.
SPEAKER_05:Excellent.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks. Good morning. My name is Summer. I'm a freshman business marketing major studying at Howard University. And I'm also excited, but um, just excited to see what the next semester brings for me.
SPEAKER_00:Uh good morning. My name is Ian. I'm a master's student of public policy at the University of Maryland. I look at Brandywine. I'm also excited to see everyone's perspectives.
SPEAKER_05:Excellent, excellent. So the word today seems to be excited and excitement. So I'm also excited. Again, uh, when we established this podcast, we wanted to actually use it to reach the next generation of voters and those people who will be making decisions and being in leadership. So this is our first opportunity. Again, this is our first opportunity to have a live podcast, but also our first opportunity to hear from the next generation. And so we're going to jump right into some statistics and go into our first question that deals with what does this generation really want the older generation to know? So Gen Z are those who are born between 1997 and 2012, and millennials are born between 1981 and 1996. They have different perspectives of the world and those than those that are older and older generations, such as Gen X, the silent generation, or the baby boomers. Over the years, especially emerging from the pandemic, we've heard from this generation and their perspectives on work, the value of higher education, the climate crisis, foreign policy, mental health, and many other topics. So the question to our live guests today, our in-studio guest today, are what topic do you wish the older generation would understand and why? Who wants to jump in first?
SPEAKER_01:Uh, a topic I do wish older generations will understand is the constant change. Like overall, just change in technology, how education works, because overall, cost of living, obviously, that's changing and wages are changing, and they don't match what the cost of living is. But technological developments are also changing, and those affect um Gen Z in mainly because the pandemic really put Gen Z socially apart, and social media has taken a huge role in connecting uh others and overall just staying connected to friends and people. And so I feel understanding the concept of constant change is gonna help just millennials understand that okay, this isn't always gonna stay the same. And that regards to education, because getting a degree isn't necessarily getting a job as well, even though like entry-level positions also require a degree, it doesn't mean that you're still gonna get the job. And constant change is what I believe.
SPEAKER_05:Okay. Excellent, excellent. Who wants to jump in next? On what topic do you wish the older generation would understand and why?
SPEAKER_02:I can jump in. Okay. Well, I love the title of the show, All Politics is local. Um, I've seen a lot of my friends run for office recently who are younger, and some of the older generation might think that they're too um too ready or that they don't know enough. I wish more older uh community members understood that lived experience is experienced too.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, excellent. Excellent. Who else wants to jump in?
SPEAKER_03:I can also jump in as a question. Um I would definitely like like to piggyback off of everything else that has been said, um definitely the understanding of constant change, but also um just I don't know what um yeah, I think I'm gonna hold off and pay you.
SPEAKER_05:You're gonna hold off? Okay, okay, we'll come back to you. Ian, you've got uh something that you want the older generation to know and understand and why.
SPEAKER_00:Uh one thing I want the older generation to understand is uh like uh like life has changed a lot, progressed a lot since when they were younger. So it's a whole new different world of new it's like AI is a big thing now, which AI wasn't even a thing like four years ago. So that's changing everything. Like it's gonna be a lot harder to get a job because AI taking over, especially in entry-level positions, it's harder to get in to forget people to like find a good job and to make money for the thing. Right.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, very good. Okay, yeah. Uh uh, yeah, yeah. You ready? You're ready, summer? Okay, summer's ready.
SPEAKER_03:So I would definitely say, like, um more so on the fact of our struggle, like not like our struggles are not the same as the the past struggle that there were. Like there are different challenges, and everything is like, at least in this generation, or at least my class, it's a definitely was a baby boom. So now everything's a lot more competitive than it might have been in the past. And with that constant change, everything is constant change and becoming more competitive. So just to really give us that grace of an understanding of it's just not the same as it was back then. Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Very good, very good. All right, so the next question that we're gonna jump into has to deal with affordability. So that's been a very popular buzzword uh of late. So let's uh let me go over some statistics first. But according to Deloitte's 2025 survey of Gen Z and millennials, 39% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials say the cost of living is among the top concerns. That number has grown over time since 2022. In Prince George's County and specifically in District 9, by show of hands, who would you who would say that affordability is a top concern? Just by show of hands. Okay, so it's unanimous. All right. Well, for all of you, since you've all raised your hand, can you explain why you are concerned about the cost of living and how it affects your outlook on living in Prince George's County in the future? So let me repeat that. Can you explain why you're concerned about the effects of the outlook, your the your outlook, I guess it is, on living in Prince George's County in the future because of affordability?
SPEAKER_00:Ian, let's start with you. Uh so my concern uh for affordability is a lot of apartments cost like$2,000 for one month of rent, which is way too much for most people to afford. Also, like houses are$500,000 just to buy a starter home, which is like a lower-level entry home. So that's hard for a lot of families to be able to afford and to even pay for. So it's gonna be a big problem in the future, like once you get married, have kids.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I would I could jump in. I definitely say I agree. Um, because with it also being like the job market is very is very competitive. And if you don't have a job that gives you a nice salary, it can definitely be a problem in the future when it comes to paying for a house or having to be able to afford just an apartment that's could be range up to starting at$3,000 a month. That could definitely be a problem in the future. If you don't have like a stable income or you don't have anyone else to depend on, that can definitely be a problem.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Um I think jump in. Okay, Anna.
SPEAKER_02:I think about your earlier answer about how difficult it is to get jobs, and then that answer about how basically how difficult it is to support yourself in order to live. I think a lot about my law school loans that I'll have and what I'm gonna do, uh, how long I'm gonna have to live at home. Well, I love my mom. I love for it to be a choice instead of this is what my generation has to do. Right. And it's interesting hearing stories about how my parents and their friends got houses so early with jobs that paid much less.
SPEAKER_04:Right, right, right, right.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna add on to that because when we talk about student loans as well, and the fact that student aid has become well, it has decreased overall, it's really affecting um whenever you decide to go to college, and it really affects how Gen Z think of college as is it a way to get a secure job like it used to be, or is it something that you need? And it's really a different perspective from everyone, but it shows that affordability isn't the same as it used to be, right?
SPEAKER_04:Right, right.
SPEAKER_05:So I think affordability is uh as they unanimously raised raise their hand about that issue, is still an issue that we're gonna have to deal with as uh potential local leaders in Prince George's County. So I'm taking copious, copious notes here. And speaking of leaders and leadership in Prince George's County, um, the final topic that we're gonna be dealing with is uh local leadership and your trust in local leadership. And so um another statistic that we want to um um highlight is 16 percent of Gen Z and 17 percent of millennials say that political instability is a top concern. Obviously, the federal government has had its challenges in 2025. But do you have faith in local leadership in Prince George's County to meet your needs and enhance your quality of life and explain why or why not? Who wants to start us off on that question? Again, it's dealing with trust in local leadership. If you have faith in your local leadership to meet your needs and enhance your quality of life, yes or no, and why do you think that?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I could start us off. I definitely have a lot of faith in um, especially our Prince Rose County, um, Maryland leaders. Um, I feel like they listen to our needs. Um, they are very, they give a lot of opportunities to the youth within the small, the student um within small, they give a lot of opportunities to give us to educate us to learn more about not only just Prince Rose County and our local leaders give us leadership opportunities, but also just to learn more about our government. That way we are aware of what's going on within not just our community, but the state of Maryland and overall just the USA. So um I definitely do have a lot of faith. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Ian. Uh we have a mixed bad. So like some of the leaders, I think I do have faith in other leaders. I feel like they've been there for a long time. So they're kind of behind the times on certain issues, and they're, I guess, they're just they've been there for a long time. So like I feel like we need a little bit, we need younger leaders to show to like uh I guess how do you say this? Um to be the voice of like the younger generation instead of having the same old politicians.
SPEAKER_05:Gotcha. Excellent, excellent. Anybody else want to jump in?
SPEAKER_01:I'll thinking back of what Ian said is that I mean, overall, more local leaders will obviously be chosen, and younger leaders will always take positions as well. And I'm honestly looking forward to that and seeing how young leaders are voicing um what other people want to say as well.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And maybe the question was about trust. So I trust um, maybe not all. I think that I worry a lot about is there's nothing wrong with having big aspirations, but why are you taking the role that you ran for? Is it because you like name recognition for the next time, or is it because you really want to help the community?
SPEAKER_05:Okay, that is definitely a fair, fair assessment. Um, before we actually conclude, um, are there any other like pressing issues? I know we talked about just four um components. We talked about affordability, we talked about what you want the next generation to know, um, and then we talked about uh trust and local leaderships. But is there anything burning on your heart that you want our listeners to know from your perspective as a Gen Zier that we should come away with and that we should really take to heart and maybe help to help your generation, whether it's in the affordability, whether it's you know, any of these things, what is it that you want us to know and how we can help make your future brighter and better? Anyone want to jump in? Think about it a little bit more? Okay, all right. Well, let's think about it a little bit more. Um I just want to um thank our uh studio for allowing us to have this podcast live today and thank our guests, um studio guests for coming in today on All Politics is local. This has been great. I love being around these young people. They give me energy, they give me thoughts about what I need to do as a candidate for District 9 County Council, and how I can help enhance and improve their quality of life. So I mentioned what I plan to do, which is to be a listener, to hear exactly what you're saying, and be able to appropriate and put into action as a as a candidate and as someone who is aspiring to be a local leader to hear your voice, to make sure that you are heard. So you've had a little bit of time. Anyone want to, is there one last pressing thing that we didn't cover or that I may have missed? We had a lot of conversations before we went live, but are there there's any anything else we that's pressing on your heart?
SPEAKER_03:Maybe when it comes to um like like using like the question back to our leaders, because I do have a lot of faith in our leaders, and there's a lot of opportunities out there for the young audience, but you have to look. Yeah, that's like how life is. Um, I definitely say that we could use the media a little bit more, like Instagram, where where the younger generation is, just get the word out there for those opportunities so our youth is able to audience.
SPEAKER_05:So when you say that you mean to help your generation understand what's going on, the issues use the social media, use that more often. Okay, I got you. I understand. Anyone else? Okay, you know, I'm not gonna force you. So, once again, we want to um thank each of our guests and um joining me today. It's always great to hear from the next generation and understanding their perspectives and how leaders can meet their expectations. And want to thank our studio for allowing us to record live and then thank you, the listening audience, for joining us. So please be sure to join us again on another episode of All Politics is local with me, your host, Tamara Davis Brown.
