The fight for D.C. voting rights, self-determination and statehood isn’t a young one, and neither are many of the selfless people that have been pushing to end the city’s second-class status for decades on end. But two local activists are hoping to change that.

This week, D.C. residents Nate Bennett-Fleming and Markus Batchelor founded the D.C. Statehood Student Association, an organization geared towards — you guessed it — getting more of the many students in the District and across the country involved in the fight for local equality. Noting that “young people have been under-engaged in this struggle,” Bennett-Fleming and Batchelor explain:

Throughout history, no major movement for social equality has been successful without the collaboration, determination, innovation and sacrifice of young people at high schools and college campuses around the country. This movement for D.C. Voting Rights and self-determination is no exception. We need a motivated and committed group of young people that will fuel the movement today and continue it tomorrow. That is what DCSSA is all about.

Bennett-Fleming, who will serve as the organization’s executive director, and Batchelor, who will be president, are likely as good a duo as you could get for the task. Bennett-Fleming, a local who recently graduated from law school in California, ran an aggressive, though ultimately unsuccessful campaign in 2010 to become the District’s Shadow Representative. (He was bested by incumbent Mike Panetta.) Batchelor, who just graduated from Thurgood Marshall Academy and will be attending George Washington University on a full scholarship, is something of a local politics wunderkind — not only did he serve as the District’s 52nd Youth Mayor (he was only recently succeeded by David Williams), but he’s all but said that he’s gunning to be the real mayor someday.

The organization is going to participate in a statehood teach-in on June 9 and a protest at the White House on June 25. It’s also identified 10 members of Congress which they’ll be targeting in their advocacy campaigns, including former D.C. overlord Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). (Check out their third target — the picture alone is priceless.)

While Bennett-Fleming and Batchelor are young and energetic (something that the D.C. voting rights movement could always use), they’re simply not as adorable as the Young Suffragists, a group of 4-12 year-olds that has been advocating for D.C. voting rights in recent years. Regardless, their dedication to the fight will ensure that enough fresh blood moves its way into the ranks for the battles to come.