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Carlos Vera, Opinion contributor 5:02 a.m. ET May 10, 2017

At Brooklyn College in New York.(Photo: Bebeto Matthews, AP)

Finding out that I was selected to intern at the White House in 2014 was one of my proudest achievements. As a first-generation college student committed to public service, it didnt get better than this. I quickly accepted the offer and was soon notified of the strict dress code: namely, the expectation that I wear a suit every day. My only issue, as kid from a low-income family, was that I owned just one suit. Thankfully, my dad, my two auntsand my uncle pitched in money so I could buy one more suit and begin my internship in the Obama White House without any unnecessary snags.

This was not an isolated incident. Iworked as an unpaid intern on the Hill,and later on a national campaign for a progressive candidate without pay. This is the unfortunate reality facing too many young people jockeying to enter and stay in progressive politics. Ultimately, its a story of missed opportunity.

The weekend Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, a groundswell of progressive energy much of it youth-led sought to set the tone for an inclusive movement of resistance and progressive ideas. Massive displays of protest and solidarity took root across the country. Millennials, the most progressive and diverse generation in American history, seemed a natural fit to steer these waves of political enthusiasm into a sustainable path forward for years to come.

But for all that young people have tried to invest in the progressive movement, as my experience shows, the movement hasnt invested as much in young people.

In fact, a new report from Generation Progress and Young People For found that financial support for conservative youth organizations outpaces support for progressive youth organizations by tens of millions of dollars. And with nearly 100 new progressive organizations forming in the wake of the presidential election alone, a financial disadvantage of this scale doesnt bode well for the future sustainability of our movement.

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In 2014, for instance, the five largest conservative youth organizations revenue totaledjust over $100 million, while the aggregate revenue of the five largest progressive youth organizations was just under $38 million. Moreover, between 2008 and 2014, conservative youth organizations received nearly $500 million morein contributions than their progressive counterparts.

Unchecked and overlooked, this youth investment gap is only widening, growing from a 2-to-1 conservative advantage in total revenue in 2008 to 3-to-1in 2014. Should this trend persist, the progressive movement runs the risk of chasing young people away, simply by not investing more in them.

My experiences with unpaid internships led me to launch Pay Our Interns last year, a nonprofit, bipartisan organization that advocates for more paid internships for Millennials. Since our launch, hundreds of interns have reached out and shared stories of what theyve endured to intern at progressive institutions.

My own work with Pay Our Interns has confirmed the youth investment gap: conservatives will often pay interns while progressives do not. In the Senate, half of the Republican offices pay interns; for Democrats that figure is about one-quarter. The Republican National Committee pays interns, the Democratic National Committee doesnt. Whereas College Republicans enjoyed a national budget of over $6 million for 2016, College Democrats didnt even have a line item in the DNC budget.

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Conservatives have simply understood how to play the long game, longer. For decades, conservative fundershave provided financial support to conservative youth organizations with very few strings attached, granting broader autonomy to spend on leadership development, skills trainingand general expenses.

Progressive funders have tended to be more nearsighted, focusing their giving on single-issue campaigns or increasing election-year turnout. But in doing so, theyve pigeonholed progressive youth organizations and forced them to dramatically narrow the scope of their spending. This is not a sustainable model for cultivating or keepingtalent.

Now, thousands of future leaders of the progressive movement are watching as rising student debts, stagnating wages and unpaid internships close doors of opportunity to work in progressive politics.

There is too much to lose, and much to gain. Progressives must address the youth investment gap if they areto win in the future. If they do not, the movement will miss out on the diversity, inclusivityand energy of progressive young people.

Carlos Vera is the founder and executive director of Pay Our Interns. Follow him on Twitter:@carlosangeles25

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Liberals need to close the millennials funding gap - USA TODAY