The 2016 election cycle is already exhausting, but for every debate we watch, we find ourselves waiting for candidates to delve into the issues that really matter to us. Tax plans are important, sure, but what about the interest rate on our student loan bills?It's time to mark your DVRs. On Monday, the Democratic presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley — will be meeting in Iowa for the Brown and Black Forum to discuss issues that matter to the millennial generation, from student debt to Black Lives Matter.The forum will focus heavily on issues important to minority and youth voters, including immigration, education, the economy, health care, and criminal justice. Moderated by Jorge Ramos, Alicia Menendez, Akilah Hughes, and Rembert Browne, the forum will be broadcasted by Fusion on traditional television, as well as YouTube and Facebook.We spoke to moderators Alicia Menendez and Akilah Hughes about the goals of the forum and why talking about issues in a diverse environment is so crucial.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.“The idea is to get the candidates talking about the issues that matter to an increasingly diverse America. The thing I hear no matter the debate, no matter whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, is that [young voters] don’t feel like the issues that matter in their day-to-day life are getting enough attention. Our job is to put the spotlight on those issues.”“I agree with that. I think the Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum definitely represents a specific group of voices that have been pretty much ignored thus far...in America. We’re really just focusing on issues specific to those demographics."A lot of [the candidates] have these canned responses where they sort of dance around the issues or go for the least controversial response, but I think this is a group and a set of moderators that isn’t going to let up until the response is an actual answer.”“Part of it is also in approach. It’s one thing to talk about student debt; it’s another thing when your moderators actually have student debt. It’s one thing to talk about homeownership; it’s another thing when your moderators are young and wondering whether they will ever be homeowners. So I think a lot of the questions come in the spirit of our being where our audience is, and that being different from moderators who are completely detached from the themes that they’re discussing.”"I think that it’s super-important for all of the candidates to talk about what being white looks like in America."It’s always going to be a 'niche issue' discussing race in terms of politics, if we’re using them as the ‘other’ and we don’t have Black candidates on the Democratic side. They’re not going to be [niche] at the forum. It’s important to be discussing the privileges, the world [candidates] grow up in and how they come to the issues, because it’s always going to seem condescending if they’re talking about people that they aren’t.""There’s sort of a dual reality going on in America right now, where for the longest time Black and brown issues were considered 'minority issues.' But in a country that will soon be majority-‘minority,’ all of a sudden many of these issues become baseline American issues. At the same time, sort of in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, we know that there are topics of conversation that very often are ignored, under-reported, under-explored, and need even more attention in an election year."