National Youth Rights Association

The National Youth Rights Association is the nation’s premier youth rights organization. NYRA is a youth-led national non-profit organization dedicated to fighting for the civil rights and liberties of young people. In the grand tradition of the civil rights movements in the past, we seek to write a new chapter, and create a world where people are not judged by their birth date, but by the content of their character.

Our mission centers on challenging age discrimination against young people, both in law and in attitudes. Many of the basic freedoms afforded to Americans in the Bill of Rights are withheld from youth, and not without troubling consequences for both youth and society as a whole. NYRA has members in all 50 states, over 10,000 in total, and chapters from coast to coast. We work to lower the voting age, lower the drinking age, repeal curfew laws, protect student rights, and fight against ageism where ever we see it.