25 young people making noise for social progress

Alyssa Peterson

Alyssa Peterson has worked hard for women’s rights, fought against campus sexual assault, and has promoted Title IX.

After she was sexually assaulted in college, Peterson took some time off and went to work on Title IX for then-vice president Joe Biden. She then joined Know Your IX in 2014 and taught students about political activism and how to create change.

Despite being so young, she and others from Know Your IX testified at Senate and House legislative hearings and draft sections of bills. They were really on the ground, creating policy to help people and create real social progress.

Know Your IX tries to end sexual violence in schools. It teaches students about their rights to an education without gender-based violence under Title IX since it bans discrimination based on sex. The organization also tries to influence policy and the enforcement of Title IX.

Peterson has also worked with the Vets Legal Services Clinic, has talked about wanting to help fight poverty, and is currently studying at Yale Law School. She has said that she wants to mix her education and work in the law with her grassroots activism to really create change and make a difference.

“The speed and thoroughness of the Obama Administration’s response to sexual violence on campus solidified my faith in the power of a motivated federal government to proactively combat discrimination and inequality,” she told HelloGiggles. “But I also saw how grassroots activism created pressure and political space for the government to act.”