Over two days, CYA and the Concord Coalition teamed up to educate the Penn student body about the perils of the growing national debt. Adhering to their stated goal of educating today‘s youth about the fiscal problems that will plague America‘s future, CYA hosted a forum on November 29 with the help of the Concord Coalition. After some opening remarks by CYA‘s executive director Yoni Gruskin, Bob Bixby, who serves as the executive director of the Concord Coaltion, gave a PowerPoint Presentation outlining the numbers behind the growing national debt. After getting a basic understanding for the issue, students broke up into small groups to complete the Principles and Priorities Exercise, in which they must make the tough decisions on spending in order to balance the budget.

On November 30, members of CYA put their prison outfits back on to take their message directly to Penn‘s student population. On a crisp November day, they stood on Locust Walk, the main artery of Penn‘s campus, and passed out literature about the national debt to students who were walking by. CYA members were pleased by the positive reaction they got from students who were previously unaware of how today‘s fiscal irresponsibility could hamper their future.