UCLA Luskin Professor of Social Welfare Laura Wray-Lake joined KBLA Talk 1580’s “First Things First” broadcast (starting at 6 min, 30 sec) on National Voter Registration Day to discuss civic engagement among young people. Wray-Lake, whose research is focused on youth civic engagement, is co-author of the 2024 book “Young Black Changemakers and the Road to Racial Justice” (Cambridge University Press). Host Dominique DiPrima started the conversation on youth engagement by noting that “what we hear is a lot of assumptions, stereotypes and condemnation of young people being thrown around.” But young people are leaders, visionaries and changemakers in many different ways, Wray-Lake said. Today’s youth are thinking about society in new ways, not hemmed in by the status quo, she said. “They can sort of picture social change much more visually and imagine those things more than some adults can.”