The initiative seems designed to correct for a longtime problem in political campaigns: the underrepresentation of people of color. But it could also be viewed as the Democrats’ attempt to right the wrongs of 2016—a response to the pervasive criticism that the party failed to invest early, or earnestly, in communities of color; to develop young and emerging talent; and to mobilize disengaged voters from marginalized communities. The effort has been publicly supported by leading Democrats, and even some of the DNC’s most vocal progressive detractors say they feel their concerns are starting to be heard. But there are real logistical questions about the program’s sustainability. And some of those same progressives say they still have serious doubts about the party’s willingness to make long-term investments in young people of color.

To alleviate those doubts, the DNC will have to demonstrate that it’s not trying to harness their energy for only short-term gains in 2020—and that officials want them to have a permanent, high-profile role in the Democratic Party.

By now, the fallout from 2016 should be familiar. Since Donald Trump’s victory blindsided Democrats, many progressives and anti-establishment types have argued that Trump didn’t win because he was more appealing to voters than Hillary Clinton; he won, the argument goes, because Clinton failed to turn out voters. These critics accuse her campaign, and the Democratic Party more broadly, of failing to attract and build on the kind of multiracial coalition that Barack Obama depended on in his two elections. And they’ve warned that the party could make similar mistakes in 2020 if it prioritizes white swing voters over the party’s base: young people, women, and people of color.

Read: Why aren’t top Democrats acknowledging the black women running for office?

DNC Chairman Tom Perez has suggested that the party has learned its lesson from 2016, especially when it comes to black voters, whom critics allege the DNC has undervalued and underinvested in. “We lost elections not only in November 2016, but we lost elections in the run-up because we stopped organizing,” Perez told a mostly black crowd at a fundraiser in July 2018 for the DNC’s I Will Vote initiative, which focuses on registering new voters. “African Americans—our most loyal constituency—we all too frequently took for granted. That is a shame on us, folks, and for that I apologize. And for that I say, It will never happen again!”

Organizing Corps, then, could have two uses for the DNC: It could help demonstrate to voters and future leaders of color that the party values them, while benefiting the party’s candidate in the short term. The program, which is run in conjunction with the Collective PAC, an organization working to elect black candidates, and 270 Strategies, a progressive consulting firm, has recruited students from a dozen cities in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia—all swing states with sizable minority populations that Democrats think they can flip from Trump next year. All of the students will be paid $4,200 for the eight-week training, with the expectation that, after they graduate in 2020, they’ll return to their home region to work on behalf of the Democratic nominee.