The American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences was founded by visionaries who foresaw that the nascent republic would benefit from the expertise of learned citizens to guide its development, health, and integrity through whatever challenges may arise.
Today, the clarity of that vision has never been more evident. We find ourselves in a time of deepening divides across lines of politics, race, religion, income, and opportunity. The institutions we have long turned to for leadership and information are under fire, as trust in the media, government, commercial enterprise, and academia declines. Strong and responsive institutions and a healthy civil society can carry us through crises and are vitally important in their aftermath.
From these challenges springs an ever-greater need for innovation and reinvestment in America’s founding values and its promise. As the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s report Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century notes, we are experiencing an age of surging civic participation, “of communities working to build new connections across long-standing divides, and of citizens suddenly awakening to the potential of their democratic responsibilities.” It is in times like these that members of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV, through projects in the American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good program, combine their extraordinary and diverse expertise to strengthen the relationships between our national institutions, civil society, and the citizens they serve and represent.
Project
Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship
The Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship is a multiyear project of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV. The Commission launched in 2018 to explore the factors that encourage and discourage people from becoming engaged in their communities. The Commission’s report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century, seeks to improve democratic engagement in the United States with a set of thirty-one recommendations that reach across political institutions, civic culture, and civil society to revitalize American democracy by increasing representation, empowering voters, making institutions more responsive, and reinvigorating our civic culture.
The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV has committed to make significant progress on the recommendations by 2026, the nation’s 250th anniversary. In collaboration with champion organizations and leaders from across the nation, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV is hosting public events and targeted briefings, providing expert testimony and thought leadership, convening experts and practitioners for knowledge sharing and strategy development, creating op-eds and other earned media, and in other ways standing up and supporting the ongoing implementation of Our Common Purpose.
COMMISSION CHAIRS
Danielle Allen
Harvard University
Stephen B. Heintz
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Eric P. Liu
Citizen University
COMMISSION MEMBERS
Sayu Bhojwani
Women’s Democracy Lab
danah boyd
Data & Society
Caroline Brettell
Southern Methodist University
David Brooks
The New York Times
David Campbell
University of Notre Dame
Alan Dachs
Fremont Group
Dee Davis
Center for Rural Strategies
Jonathan Fanton
American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences
Lisa GarcĂa Bedolla
University of California, Berkeley
Sam Gill
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
R. Marie Griffith
John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, Washington University in St. Louis
Hahrie Han
Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University
Antonia Hernández
formerly, California Community Foundation
Wallace Jefferson
Alexander Dubose & Jefferson, LLP
Joseph Kahne
University of California, Riverside
Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg
Tufts University
Yuval Levin
American Enterprise Institute
Carolyn Lukensmeyer
formerly, National Institute for Civil Discourse
Martha McCoy
Everyday Democracy
Lynn Nottage
Playwright
Steven Olikara
Bridge Entertainment Labs
Norman Ornstein
American Enterprise Institute
Robert Peck
FPR Partners
Pete Peterson
School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
Miles Rapoport
100% Democracy
Michael Schudson
Columbia University
Sterling Speirn
formerly, National Conference on Citizenship
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco
University of Massachusetts Boston
Ben Vinson
Howard University
Diane P. Wood
American Law Institute
Judy Woodruff
PBS
Ethan Zuckerman
University of Massachusetts Amherst
PROJECT STAFF
Jonathan D. Cohen
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Senior Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Kelsey Ensign
Louis W. Cabot Humanities Policy Fellow
Zachey Kliger
Program Associate for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Jessica Lieberman
Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Abhishek Raman
Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Peter Robinson
Chief Program Officer
Tony B. Shivers
Government Relations Officer
Betsy Super
Program Director for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
FUNDERS
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The Suzanne Nora Johnson and David G. Johnson Foundation
The Clary Family Charitable Fund
Alan and Lauren Dachs
Sara Lee Schupf and the Lubin Family Foundation
Joan and Irwin Jacobs
Patti Saris
David M. Rubenstein
Commission Publications
Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Civic Culture, Working Group on Defining Civic Culture (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2024)
The Case for Supreme Court Term Limits, U.S. Supreme Court Working Group (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2023)
The Case for Enlarging the House of Representatives, Lee Drutman, Jonathan D. Cohen, Yuval Levin, and Norman J. Ornstein (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2021)
Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2020)
The Political and Civic Engagement of Immigrants, Caroline Brettell (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2020)
The Data Driving Democracy, Christina Couch (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2020)
Commission Meetings
Civic Culture Working Group
April 2023–October 2024
In 2023, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV, in partnership with Citizen University and the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program, convened the Working Group on Defining Civic Culture–a diverse group of eighteen distinguished scholars, philanthropists, journalists, civic leaders, activists, artists, and educators–to examine how civic culture is connected to a functioning constitutional democracy. The working group produced a comprehensive and accessible publication, Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Civic Culture, that identifies seven key pillars of a healthy civic culture, drawn from case studies across the country, and provides tactics for national and grassroots stakeholders to foster healthy civic culture in their workplace and community.
Since publication in September 2024, Habits of Heart and Mind has been featured in essays in The Seattle Times, The Hill, and on the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s podcast, Giving Done Right.
Working Group Members
Eric P. Liu, Chair
Citizen University
Kristen Cambell
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
Sybil Francis
Center for the Future of Arizona
David French
The Dispatch
Sam Gill
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Ted Johnson
New America
Ben Klutsey
Mercatus Center, George Mason University
Mathieu Lefevre
More in Common
Peter Levine
Tufts University
Patty Loew
Northwestern University
Eunice Lin Nichols
CoGenerate
Suzanne Nossel
PEN America
Eboo Patel
Interfaith America
John Spann
Mississippi Humanities Council
Shanta Thake
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Natalie Tran
CAA Foundation
Jose Antonio Vargas
Define American
National Service Public Opinion Research
Beginning May 2023
One of the recommendations in the Our Common Purpose report is to establish a universal expectation of a year of national service and dramatically expand funding for service programs or fellowships that would offer young people paid service opportunities. The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV–in partnership with America’s Service Commissions (ASC) and California Volunteers–sought a data-driven approach to building demand for a year of national service among young Americans. Research was undertaken that included focus groups, a large-scale survey in California, and a parallel national sample. The insights gleaned from the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s research are intended to help organizations in the national service field attract more young Americans to service.
Building Demand for National Service: New Insights from Public Opinion Research
July 17, 2024
Virtual
The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV, in partnership with California Volunteers, hosted a virtual symposium with leaders from AmeriCorps and state service commissions to discuss the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s recommendation to make a year of national service a universal expectation for young Americans, and to unveil new findings from the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s public opinion research on national service. The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV collaborated with America’s Service Commissions and California Volunteers to convene focus groups in California and conduct state and national polling to identify messages to attract more young people to service. During the event, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV disseminated new resources, including an article with key findings from the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s research and a presentation of the data about effective messages.
Speakers
Kristen Bennett
Service Year Alliance
Kaira Esgate
America’s Service Commissions
Josh Fryday
California Volunteers
Lisa GarcĂa Bedolla
University of California, Berkeley
Goodwin Liu
Supreme Court of California
Doris Matsui
U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA)
Pete Peterson
Pepperdine School of Public Policy
Supreme Court Term Limits: Rethinking Life Tenure on a Divided Court
June 27, 2024
Washington, D.C.
This luncheon event, hosted by the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV on Capitol Hill, brought together a diverse, bipartisan group of experts, including members of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s U.S. Supreme Court Working Group, for a lively discussion of all sides of the proposal to enact term limits for Supreme Court Justices. Speakers discussed how the reform could be enacted by statute, the benefits and challenges associated with establishing Supreme Court term limits, and the role the Senate might play in enacting such a reform. In July 2024, President Biden endorsed the idea of Supreme Court term limits via statute. The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s report, The Case for Supreme Court Term Limits, informed coverage of the issue in The Boston Globe and NewsNation.
Speakers
Kimberly Atkins Stohr
The Boston Globe
Sarah A. Binder
George Washington University; Brookings Institution
Stephen McAllister
University of Kansas School of Law
Diane P. Wood
American Law Institute; University of Chicago Law School
Political Polarization and Political Violence
September 4, 2024
Virtual
Speakers at this webinar on political violence and polarization placed the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in the broader context of our understanding of political violence and provided information on efforts to lower the risk of violence or conflict. A point of emphasis was the importance of reassuring Americans that voting itself is safe. The event spotlighted organizations and initiatives that are combating political violence, bridging divides, and strengthening democracy.
Speakers
Paige Alexander
Carter Center
Rachel Kleinfeld
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Marty Smith
ABA Task Force on American Democracy
Multi-Member Districts Working Group
April 2024–September 2024
The Our Common Purpose report calls for amending the 1967 federal law that mandates single-member congressional districts and winner-take-all elections and adopting in its place a system of multi-member districts with proportional ranked choice voting. In April 2024, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV convened a diverse, bipartisan group of political scientists, election law experts, advocates, and practitioners to explore the design choices and downstream policy questions that will influence how future implementation of this set of reforms might work. The working group will produce a report laying out areas where a consensus has developed regarding the likely effects of this reform on congressional representation–areas that remain subject to debate–and questions to be examined in the future.
Working Group Members
John Carey
Dartmouth College
Guy-Uriel Charles
Harvard Law School
Colin Cole
More Equitable Democracy
Andy Craig
Rainey Center; CATO Institute
Lee Drutman
New America
Michael Hanchard
University of Pennsylvania
Maria Teresa Kumar
Voto Latino
Didi Kuo
Stanford University
Jennifer Lawless
University of Virginia
Michael Li
Brennan Center for Justice
Jennifer McCoy
Georgia State University
Norman Ornstein
American Enterprise Institute
Deb Otis
FairVote
Maria Perez
Democracy Rising
Pete Peterson
Pepperdine University
Cynthia Richie Terrell
Represent Women
Charles Stewart, III
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christopher Thomas
Bipartisan Policy Center
Grant Tudor
Protect Democracy
Philip Wallach
American Enterprise Institute
How to Fortify Civic Culture in America
October 28, 2024
Virtual
The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV hosted a virtual panel discussion to celebrate the launch of a new Â鶹´«Ă˝AV publication, Habits of Heart & Mind: How to Fortify Civic Culture. The speakers discussed the what, why, and how of civic culture in America. The session also highlighted organizations working to reinvigorate civic culture and the methods that national and grassroots stakeholders can use to fortify civic culture before, during, and after the U.S. presidential election.
Speakers
Ben Klutsey
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Eric P. Liu
Citizen University
Goodwin Liu
Supreme Court of California
Laurie L. Patton
American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences
Natalie Tran
Creative Artists Agency Foundation
Council of State Governments National Conference
December 4, 2024
New Orleans, LA
The American story often gets told in two opposing ways, focusing on either the “glory” or the “gory” of the country’s past. The nation’s 250th anniversary preÂsents an opportunity for Americans across the country to develop a national narrative that both accounts for past mistakes and celebrates achievements. For the past several years, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV has been gathering a group of leaders in the civil society space to discuss how to make 2026 an inclusive experience that brings Americans together rather than driving them further apart. At the Council of State Governments, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV convened a panel in which speakers from this group discussed their guiding framing for the 250th anniversary and their thoughts on how the commemoration can help strengthen American democracy.
Speakers
Brandon Dillard
Monticello
Ted Johnson
New America
Madeleine Rosenberg
American Association for State and Local History
Betsy Super
American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences
OCP Champions Convening
December 12–13, 2024
House of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV, Cambridge, MA
Since the release of the Our Common Purpose report, more than seventy organizations have pledged their support for one or more of the report’s democracy renovation recommendations. Our Common Purpose Champions come from a wide range of localities and perspectives. Each organization works on making government more responsive and on strengthening American civil society and civic culture. At this OCP Champions convening, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV gathered leaders from these organizations. The meeting provided the participants with an opportunity to assess their progress, address challenges, explore new ways to collaborate after the 2024 election, and prepare for America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
Featured Speakers
Sarah Cross
Stand Together
Louise Dubé
iCivics
Alan Khazei
More Perfect
David Martinez III
Vitalyst Health Foundation
Project
Making Justice Accessible
Civil justice initiatives reach Americans far beyond the courthouse doors. In America today, we have legal information and services that can be delivered by lawyers, licensed practitioners, and trained advocates. A myriad of professionals can provide invaluable guidance and counseling; design new products and tools for judges, lawyers, and litigants; and generate free information to help people navigate legal systems on their own. And because we know most Americans will navigate legal systems without the help of a trained professional, civil justice initiatives must necessarily focus on ordinary people.
Since launching a two-year implementation effort in February 2022, the Making Justice Accessible project has interviewed providers, scholars, field experts, and thought leaders; convened stakeholder roundtables; hosted a summit; and briefed congressional policymakers about the potential that civil justice initiatives have to alleviate precarity and empower American communities.
This work builds on the project’s publications focused on the challenges of providing legal services to low-income Americans. Designing Legal Services for the 21st Century produced the Civil Justice for All report, which recommends targeted civil justice investments in financial and human resources, simplified procedures to reduce barriers and administrative strain, greater coordination and new partnerships across disciplines, and a larger field of advocates and legal professionals trained to provide effective and accessible legal help. Data Collection and Legal Services for Low-Income Americans produced the Measuring Civil Justice for All report, which established a blueprint for civil justice data collection efforts and a research agenda for civil justice scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The Winter 2019 issue of ¶Ůæ»ĺ˛ą±ôłÜ˛ő on “Access to Justice” is a multidisciplinary study of the civil justice gap, examining new models for the delivery of legal help. The project’s work is informed by the advice and insights of civil justice experts and representatives of courts, legal aid, pro bono programs, and private and public foundations; justice professionals; researchers; educators; and policy professionals who make up the civil justice ecosystem.
The American civil justice ecosystem is not a single, monolithic system. No overriding strategic policy guides how every service and resource will get in the hands of those who need it. Therefore, the project’s final implementation effort focused on stewardship and coordination to elevate effective models and strategies that could guide the work forward.
Building on the insights and guidance of experts in the field, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV hosted the Making Justice Accessible Summit in March 2024–a convening of over sixty leaders in law, healthcare, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit organizations, and advocacy–to reimagine opportunities in civil justice.
In December 2024, the project published a national strategic framework outlining the opportunities and innovations already underway to make civil justice available for all. The report is a culmination of the project’s engagement in the civil justice field, and serves as a call to action for philanthropy, business, government, and other sectors to engage, support, and strengthen these efforts.
Advisory Committee Chairs
John Levi
Legal Services Corporation; Sidley Austin LLP
Martha Minow
Harvard Law School
Advisory Committee Members
Kimberly Budd
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Colleen Cotter
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
Ronald Flagg
Legal Services Corporation
Ivan Fong
Medtronic
Kenneth C. Frazier
formerly, Merck & Co.
Bethany Hamilton
National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
Nathan Hecht
Texas Supreme Court
Wallace B. Jefferson
Alexander Dubose & Jefferson, LLP
Joseph Kennedy III
U.S. Department of State; Groundwork Project
Lance Liebman
Columbia Law School
Jonathan Lippman
Latham & Watkins, LLP
Lora J. Livingston
Texas 261st Civil District Court
Judy Perry Martinez
Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn
Bridget Mary McCormack
American Arbitration Association
Margaret Morrow
formerly, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
David W. Oxtoby
American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences
Rohan Pavuluri
Upsolve
Andrew M. Perlman
Suffolk University School of Law
Daniel B. Rodriguez
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Rebecca Sandefur
T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University
William Treanor
Georgetown University Law Center
Jo-Ann Wallace
National Legal Aid & Defenders Association Insurance Program
Diane P. Wood
American Law Institute
PROJECT STAFF
Eduardo Gonzalez
Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Peter Robinson
Chief Program Officer
Betsy Super
Program Director for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
FUNDER
David M. Rubenstein
Project Publications
Achieving Civil Justice: A Framework for Collaboration (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2024)
Measuring Civil Justice for All (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2021)
Civil Justice for All (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2020)
“Access to Justice,” ¶Ůæ»ĺ˛ą±ôłÜ˛ő, edited by Lincoln Caplan, Lance Liebman, and Rebecca Sandefur (Winter 2019)
Project Meetings
Advisory Committee Meetings
February 7, 2024; May 28, 2024; October 15, 2024; November 20, 2024
Artificial Intelligence & Legal Help Focus Group
February 16, 2024
Stanford Legal Design Lab, Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA
Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez participated in a focus group conducted by Margaret Hagan (Stanford Legal Design Lab, Stanford Law School). The focus group gathered civil justice experts to review and analyze responses to legal questions from generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to understand the accuracy, effectiveness, and potential use cases for leveraging GenAI for legal issue inquiries.
Legal Services Corporation Access to Justice Symposium
February 29, 2024
Chicago, IL
Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez participated in the Legal Services Corporation’s “Leap for Justice” celebration event, which gathered civil justice providers, researchers, and leaders from academia and business to highlight the impact of LSC’s fifty years of work in the field.
Making Justice Accessible Summit
March 7–9, 2024
House of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV, Cambridge, MA
The Making Justice Accessible Summit, the project’s capstone event, included over sixty experts in civil justice, legal empowerment, academia, philanthropy, and corporate social purpose. The convening centered people-justice outcomes, highlighting the networks and developments in the field, elevating technology and innovation projects that reimagine the delivery of legal help, and raising attention to the roles of public and private sector actors in achieving justice for all.
American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid & Indigent Defense Board Meeting
April 9, 2024
Washington, D.C.
At the American Bar Association’s meeting, Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez spoke about the project’s activities and plans to produce a national document highlighting effective strategies in the field as well as the outcomes of the Making Justice Accessible Summit.
National Legal Aid & Defenders Association/American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference 2024
May 8–11, 2024
Detroit, MI
Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez and Program Director Betsy Super presented at the Equal Justice Conference about communicating the value of civil justice efforts to philanthropy.
New America Tech for Humanity Summit 2024
June 6, 2024
Arlington, VA
The Making Justice Accessible project team attended the New America Tech for Humanity Summit, an annual gathering of New America’s Public Interest Technology University Network. The participants included thought leaders from across sectors who discussed the role of data in securing human rights and dignity.
The Self-Represented Litigation Network 2024 Conference
September 18–20, 2024
Salt Lake City, UT
Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez was a panelist at the conference’s closing plenary session on funding strategies for civil justice efforts, making the case that civil justice aligns with philanthropic and business interests. In addition, Gonzales participated in two other sessions: The SRLN Self-Help Policy Bootcamp for new or existing court-based self-help programs focused on education and training for building relationships and support from key actors; and the Building Civil Justice Pipelines panel discussion, which focused on emerging opportunities to build talent pipelines from other fields into civil justice roles, and to strengthen connectedness among current civil justice professionals.
Public Interest Technology–University Network Summit 2024
November 7–8, 2024
San Jose, CA
Program Officer Eduardo Gonzalez spoke at the PIT UN Summit on the intersection of Law, Technology, and the Public Interest.
Achieving Civil Justice
December 4, 2024
Virtual
The launch event of the project’s final report, Achieving Civil Justice, brought together leaders and champions that have guided the project and have stewarded support for and attention to local and national civil justice efforts across the country. The panelists discussed case studies of successful efforts that illustrate the variety of ways in which courts, legal professionals, nonprofit leaders, businesses, technologists, and universities are working to close the civil justice gap.
Speakers
John Levi
Legal Services Corporation; Sidley Austin LLP
Martha Minow
Harvard Law School
Daniel B. Rodriguez
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Rebecca Sandefur
Arizona State University
Diane P. Wood
American Law Institute
Project
Commission on Reimagining Our Economy
In the United States today, too many families are unable to achieve the life they want despite their best efforts, too many communities have not benefited from economic growth, and too many Americans believe the economy does not work for them. These conditions not only harm lives and livelihoods, but they also sow distrust in our political, economic, and community institutions. The widespread belief that the economy does not give everyone a fair chance exacerbates tensions among Americans, threatening the nation’s social fabric and its democracy.
The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV launched the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) in October 2021 with the goal of directing a focus from how the economy is doing toward how Americans are doing. The Commission builds on the work of Our Common Purpose, which acknowledges that economic conditions shape the practice of democracy but does not offer recommendations specifically targeted at economic issues.
The interdisciplinary Commission comprises scholars, journalists, artists, and leaders from the faith, labor, business, education, and philanthropic communities. Drawing on thirty-one listening sessions held across the country, the Commission came to consensus on fifteen recommendations to advance a people-first economy. In addition to a final report, the Commission produced a book of photojournalism highlighting the lives of median-income Americans in four communities as well as a data dashboard, the CORE Score, offering a county-level assessment of American well-being.
COMMISSION CHAIRS
Katherine J. Cramer
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Ann M. Fudge
formerly, Young & Rubicam Brands
Nicholas B. Lemann
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
COMMISSION MEMBERS
Daron Acemoglu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elizabeth Anderson
University of Michigan
Cornell William Brooks
Harvard Kennedy School
Whitney Kimball Coe
Center for Rural Strategies
Jane Delgado
National Alliance for Hispanic Health
James Fallows
Our Towns Civic Foundation
Helene Gayle
Spelman College
Jacob Hacker
Yale University
Tom Hanks
Actor and Filmmaker
Mary Kay Henry
Service Employees International Union
Kelly Lytle Hernández
University of California, Los Angeles
Megan Minoka Hill
Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School
Reid Hoffman
Greylock Partners
Serene Jones
Union Theological Seminary
Julius Krein
American Affairs
Goodwin Liu
Supreme Court of California
Maya MacGuineas
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
James Manyika
Google-Alphabet
Katherine Newman
University of California
Viet Thanh Nguyen
University of Southern California
Sarah Ruger
Stand Together
Ruth Simmons
Harvard University
Matthew Slaughter
Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Anna Deavere Smith
New York University
Joseph Stiglitz
Columbia University
Michael Strain
American Enterprise Institute
Mark Trahant
Indian Country Today
Kenneth L. Wallach
Central National Gottesman, Inc.
PROJECT STAFF
Jonathan D. Cohen
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Senior Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Kelsey Ensign
Louis W. Cabot Humanities Policy Fellow
Victor Lopez
Program Associate for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
Peter Robinson
Chief Program Officer
Betsy Super
Program Director for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good
FUNDERS
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The C&P Buttenwieser Foundation
Omidyar Network
David M. Rubenstein
Patti Saris
Commission Publications
Advancing a People-First Economy (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2023)
Faces of America: Getting By in Our Economy (American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences, 2023)
Commission Meetings
The Geography of American Opportunity
February 27, 2024
Stanford Park Hotel, Menlo Park, CA
This event featured a panel discussion with Â鶹´«Ă˝AV and Commission members Reid Hoffman (Greylock Partners) and Katherine Newman (University of California) about how place affects economic opportunity in the United States. Michael Tubbs (former Mayor of Stockton, CA) moderated the conversation, which focused on the widening gap between the richest and poorest communities. The discussion also drew on the CORE Score, the Commission’s dashboard to measure well-being.
Speakers
Reid Hoffman
Greylock Partners
Katherine Newman
University of California
Michael Tubbs
Former Mayor of Stockton, CA; End Poverty in California
Community Partnership Visas Working Group
May-December 2024
One of the recommendations in the Commission’s final report calls for the creation of Community Partnership Visas (CPVs), a visa program that would allow local, state, and tribal governments to issue visas based on their unique economic needs. Such a program would aim to leverage the power of immigration to help communities stem demÂographic decline, fill critical labor market gaps, and revitalize their economies, all while marking the American commitment to welcoming immigrants. The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV has established a working group to create a cross-partisan policy framework for CPVs. Though other organizations have issued proposals for place-based visa programs, none have answered specific regulatory questions surrounding their implementation. This working group–a cross-partisan cohort of immigration experts and scholars–will do so, with plans to issue a report in the winter of 2025.
Working Group Members
Cristina M. RodrĂguez, Chair
Yale Law School
Gordon Hanson
Harvard Kennedy School
Douglas Massey
Princeton University
Cecilia Muñoz
New America; Welcome.US
Gerald Neuman
Harvard Law School
Pia Orrenius
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
David W. Oxtoby
American Â鶹´«Ă˝AV of Arts and Sciences
Kristie De Peña
Niskanen Center
Matthew J. Slaughter
Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Stan Veuger
American Enterprise Institute
Tara Watson
Brookings Institution
Faces of America Exhibits
July 27, 2024; October 17, 2024
Tulare County and San Fransisco, CA
With funding from the James Irvine Foundation, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV hosted a series of exhibitions featuring the images from the Faces of America photojournal. One of these exhibits was held in Tulare County, California, a community featured in the photojournal. In July 2024, Adam Perez, a local photographer who took some of the images for Faces of America, hosted a festival in Tulare County celebrating farmworkers and their contributions to the community. The Faces of America exhibit was featured as part of this celebration. In October 2024, Goodwin Liu, Chair of the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s Board of Directors, and Adam Perez presented the images to the Statewide Leadership Council of the Public Policy Institute of California, a group of leaders who are helping guide the future of economic policy for the largest state in the nation.
Economic Connectedness: Building Relationships that Expand Opportunity
September 12, 2024
Virtual
Many Americans today live in silos. As communities remain economically stratified, it is easy to be surrounded by those who share the same socioeconomic background. The Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s Economic Connectedness Working Group launched in November of 2023 and brought together leaders from different sectors to think about how to bridge these economic divides. On September 12, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV officially launched a new website from the working group that makes the case for why economic connectedness matters and features case studies of places and programs that are bringing people together across class lines. The event featured a panel discussion and remarks from working group members who defined economic connectedness, explained the benefits of relationships between people of differing socioeconomic statuses, and highlighted effective methods and spaces for fostering cross-class connections.
Speakers
Russell Booker
Spartanburg Academic Achievement Movement
Katherine Cramer
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Lynda Gonzales-Chavez
YMCA-USA
Jessica Grose
The New York Times
Goodwin Liu
Supreme Court of California
Johannes Stroebel
New York University
Rebuilding Local and Community Media for the Twenty-First Century
October 10, 2024
Madison, WI
Drawing on one of the Commission’s key recommendations, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV hosted an expert panel to discuss the ongoing challenges and opportunities facing local and community media. The panelists reflected on the state of local media over the past two decades, its impact on communities and politics, and the growing threat of misinformation. They also discussed the Commission’s proposal to rethink how private media companies are funded and the idea of treating media organizations less like private companies and instead as critical sources of infrastructure for the American economy and American democracy.
Featured Speakers
Frederica Freyberg
PBS Wisconsin
Lew Friedland
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Michael Wagner
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Narratives of the Economy
October 27, 2024
Los Angeles, CA
Over the last few years, scholars and journalists have observed the curious phenomenon that, despite good news from economic indicators like GDP, polls find that Americans are simply not happy about the state of the economy. While material conditions do shape people’s opinions, so do narratives–stories and themes, often originating among lawmakers and the media. Yet the role of storytelling has been overlooked in explaining the disconnect at the heart of the current economic and political moment. This Â鶹´«Ă˝AV member event, held on the campus of the University of Southern California, helped explain the role that economic narratives play in shaping people’s opinions about their finances, their lives, and their nation. Drawing on the Commission’s listening sessions and photojournalism project, Los Angeles members convened to discuss how narratives can be rewritten to create a political and economic system that works for all.
SPEAKERS
Geoffrey Cowan
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Carol L. Folt
University of Southern California
Goodwin Liu
Supreme Court of California
Viet Thanh Nguyen
University of Southern California
Manuel Pastor
University of Southern California
Kyla Scanlon
Author, In This Economy?
Measuring What Matters: Connecting Economic Prosperity with Household Well-Being
November 20, 2024
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY
During the Commission’s outreach and implementation phase, it had the chance to brief numerous regional Federal Reserve Banks about its efforts, and in particular the CORE Score data dashboard. In November, Commission and Â鶹´«Ă˝AV member Jacob Hacker (Yale University) presented the CORE Score at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for Bank invitees and local Â鶹´«Ă˝AV members. He made the case for new ways to measure the economy, focusing on people-focused metrics like the Score rather than traditional, growth-focused measures such as the Dow Jones or GDP. He also presented findings from the Score, offering new insight into geographic disparities within the United States. In a panel conversation, Hacker, Matthew Slaughter (Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth), and playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith discussed the need for a people-focused approach to the economy and to the ways it is measured.
Speakers
Jacob Hacker
Yale University
Matthew Slaughter
Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth
Anna Deavere Smith
Playwright and Actress
Council of State Governments National Conference
December 5, 2024
New Orleans, LA
At the CSG National Conference, the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV hosted a panel discussion on Advancing a People-First Economy. The panelists discussed how the Â鶹´«Ă˝AV’s Commission on Reimagining Our Economy has sought to redirect a focus from how the “economy” is doing onto how Americans are doing. They focused on the Commission’s values of security, opportunity and mobility, and democracy and explored recommendations for how to build an economy that better serves the American people.
Speakers
Charles Ellison
Council of State Government’s Communities of Color Initiative
James Fallows
Our Towns Civic Foundation
Mark Trahant
Indian Country Today