Koroknay-Palicz was born in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, and grew up in
Holland, Michigan. By high school, he began to articulate that inequality in terms of
ageism and wrote articles for his school newspaper on the subject. Senior year at Holland High School, Koroknay-Palicz discovered several local businesses with policies limiting the number of students allowed inside at any one time. Recognizing these policies as ageism, he decided to do something about it. After much research he learned these policies were illegal under Michigan's
Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Koroknay-Palicz demanded the city to enforce this law at a speech before a Holland city council meeting. The matter was referred to Al Serrano in the city's Human Rights Department, who succeeded in overturning the policies at all the stores in question.[2]
In 1999 Koroknay-Palicz began attending
American University in
Washington, D.C. He quickly became involved in the
youth rights movement, chiefly as the executive director of the
National Youth Rights Association from 2000 to 2012. Koroknay-Palicz became a major figure in all aspects of the youth rights movement and made fighting
ageism his chief purpose.[2] Koroknay-Palicz serves on the board of advisors for the
Freechild Project. His writing appears in several publications and websites. In 2006 Koroknay-Palicz joined the Board of Directors of
CAFETY.[3]
Koroknay-Palicz and
Robert Epstein co-founded the First Annual National Youth Rights Day which occurred on April 14, 2010[4] Epstein wrote The Young Person's Bill of Rights for this event.[5]
Koroknay-Palicz currently lives in
Takoma Park, Maryland and served on the city's voting rights taskforce after Takoma Park became the first city in the United States to lower its voting age to 16. Testified in support of successful 16-year-old voting age bills in Takoma Park and
Hyattsville, Maryland. He currently works for the
National Association of Counties and in October 2014 married Tricia Gonwa. In 2015 he resumed his involvement in the
National Youth Rights Association after a three-year absence. He currently serves on NYRA's board of directors and is organizing the #16tovote Coalition in support of the 16-year-old voting age bill in
Washington, D.C.
Publicity
As spokesman for the National Youth Rights Association, Koroknay-Palicz's first major media citation dates to 2000 when
Slate.com interviewed him.[6] Since then he has appeared on several television and radio networks, including two appearances on
CNN[7][8] and
Fox News[9][10]