From the sidelines to the headlines: How youth leveraged online technologies during the pandemic to drive a national policy advocacy campaign against predatory diet pills — A case study

Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, much of the analog world as we knew it ground to a halt, jettisoning most arenas of life into the digital sphere. Among those who quickly gained facility with online ways of interacting and conducting business included youth and U.S. state lawmakers — two communities that rarely interacted prior to the pandemic. Within months, key means of civic participation had shifted online, leading to the genesis of the Youth Corps, a virtual youth policy advocacy program of the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED). In this case study, we introduce the theoretical frameworks that provide the basis for the digital STRIPED Youth Corps, describe the growth and successes of the program through the early years of the pandemic, and discuss lessons learned and future directions for continued virtual youth policy advocacy.