Radically Pragmatic, a podcast from the Progressive Policy Institute

On this episode of RAS Reports, PPI's Reinventing America's Schools Project Co-Director Tressa Pankovits sits down with Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and former Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island to discuss the importance of school choice and what voters need to look for in 2024.

On this episode of the Mosaic Moment Director of Mosaic, Jasmine Stoughton, sits down with Sara Nichols, Environment and Economic Development Director at the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, to share her experience testifying before Congress. Get a behind the scenes look at what goes into a Congressional hearing from the perspective of an expert witness.

On this episode of the Mosaic Moment, Jasmine Stoughton sits down with PPI’s Director of Workforce Development Policy, Taylor Maag, and Senior Software Engineer, Eela Nagaraj, to talk about the importance of building a strong digital workforce and how governments and the tech industry are ensuring the next generation of skilled professionals. 

PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project has a new podcast series on titled "The Future is Woman" recorded live at the 2023 Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the fifth and final episode of this five-part series, RAS co-director Curtis Valentine sits down with Dr. Kaya Henderson, Chief Executive Officer of Reconstruction.

On this episode of the Mosaic Moment, PPI's State and Local Political Director Reid Fauble sits down with Sahar Fathi, Policy Director for the Washington State Attorney General's office and Mosaic Project Alum to discuss her role in the Washington State AG's office, why the legislative work and policy initiatives of state and local legislative chambers matter, and how state and local governments will serve as the new frontier of shared democratic values.

In part 2 of this two part series, PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project Co-Director Curtis Valentine, in collaboration with EdChoice, sits down for a live panel conversation and podcast recording at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego with Sharif El-Mekki, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Black Educator Development and Mikyeil El-Mekki, and Matthew Mugo Fields, Executive Leadership of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In part 1 of this two part series, PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project Co-Director Curtis Valentine, in collaboration with EdChoice, sits down for a live panel conversation and podcast recording at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego with Nina Gilbert, Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Education at Morehouse College, and Sharhonda Bossier, Chief Executive Officer of Education Leaders of Color. They discuss the future of education, the future of teaching, and importance of school choice for families across America.

According to The International Telecommunications Union, two-thirds of the world now has internet access. On this month’s episode of the Mosaic Moment, PPI’s Ed Gresser sits down with two of the nation’s leading broadband experts, Meagan Bolton and Christine O’Connor to discuss where connectivity gaps remain and what U.S. policymakers are doing to bridge this digital divide.

From infrastructure challenges to new digital trade policies, hear what these experts have to say about the future of internet access, adoption, and affordability.

Thirteen years ago, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress fundamentally transformed the U.S. health care system by providing health insurance coverage that curbed costs and expanded access to millions of Americans. While challenges remain to strengthen the legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains entrenched as a permanent feature of America’s hybrid, public-private health care system, and continues to deliver on its promise to provide near-universal coverage to Americans at an affordable cost. As we look back on the successes and challenges of the Affordable Care Act, the Progressive Policy Institute's Director of Health Care Erin Delaney sits down with former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to reflect on the landmark passage of the ACA and the critical role it played in providing essential coverage to millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delaney and Secretary Sebelius look back on the path — 13 years ago — that led to one of the most consequential pieces of health care legislation to be enacted in this country.

In this episode of the Radically Pragmatic podcast, PPI's Taylor Maag, the Director of Workforce Development Policy speaks with national and state leaders, Linda Smith from the Bipartisan Policy Center and Ashli Watts from the Kentucky Chamber on child care policy in our nation, how it is affecting women in the workforce and bold new solutions to address child care challenges at scale.

On this episode of the Mosaic Moment PPI’s Director of the Innovation Frontier Project, Jordan Shapiro sits down with Mosaic alum and Intelligence Analyst for Global Intelligence at Concentric, Rachel Brooks. They define online disinformation, discuss how foreign  governments use online disinformation campaigns to target democracies, and unpack their ideas about how to increase protection and resilience for democracies.

Mosaic is a project at the Progressive Policy Institute that aims to put more women at the forefront of policy making by empowering our experts with the tools and connections needed to engage with the media and lawmakers on today's toughest policy challenges.

It’s that time of year again… It’s tax season, and on this episode of the Mosaic Moment PPI’s Senior Policy Analyst, Nick Buffie, sits down with Mosaic alum and Associate Director of Policy at Prosperity Now, Joanna Ain to talk all things taxes. They talk about the importance of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA), why funding the IRS is an equity imperative, and the current state of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Lauren Bealore of Prosperity Now joins Jeremiah Johnson of The Neoliberal Podcast to talk about inclusionary zoning. They Discuss the history of inequity in housing markets, whether or not inclusionary zoning can mend those problems, and what good policies might look like.

Will Marshall is the president and founder of PPI, and he joins The Neoliberal Podcast this week to discuss immigration policy.

The Neoliberal Podcast discusses how we approach immigration from different angles, and try to find how sensible liberals can find common ground to make immigration reform happen.

On this month’s Mosaic Moment, program director and host, Jasmine Stoughton sits down with Kirsten Wegner, CEO of the Modern Markets Initiative to talk about her latest op-ed outlining the four bipartisan imperatives to ensure safe and sound capital markets.

Kirsten unpacks what’s working well for investors and shares her bipartisan recommendations for improving the existing market structure. They talk about ideas for regulating the digital assets market and explore the role Congress can play in advancing the research and development of financial technologies such as AI and automated traders.

On this week’s episode of the Mosaic Moment, Program Director, Jasmine Stoughton, sits down with Mosaic alum, Dr. Liz Wilke, to explore her new report, “Supporting Contractors’ Career Development in the Future of Work.” They discuss holes in the social safety net for both contractors and employees, the complexities of filing taxes as an independent worker, and how upskilling and career training could be the key to navigating our modern economy.

Last month, the Progressive Policy Institute hosted an established group of 12 women in tech and workforce development policy, traveling to London, Brussels and Berlin to meet with political leaders, policy experts and thought-leaders across Europe.

On this episode of the Mosaic Moment, host and program director, Jasmine Stoughton, asks what one transatlantic policy was most interesting and why. Hear from Joanna Ain, Fallon Wilson and Liz Wilke on the U.K. and European policies that made the biggest impact on them during their time abroad!

Guest speakers:

Does Germany struggle with homelessness the same way cities like Denver do? What can the U.S. learn from Germany in regard to improvements to public transportation infrastructure?

In the Fall of 2019, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) partnered with Das Progressive Zentrum (DPZ) and Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft (AHG) for a new project titled "New Urban Progress: Transatlantic Dialogue on the Future of Work, Democracy, and Well-being" which is aimed at fostering metro innovation and democratic renewal in the spirit of a transatlantic dialogue.

The organizations joined forces and convened a group of fellows consisting of public servants, policy experts, and community activists from Germany and the United States for a collaboration that involves two international tours, four conferences, and ten cities, all while the twenty project fellows study how we can reimagine transatlantic relations and positively impact cities on both sides of the Atlantic.

Neel Brown, Managing Director at the Progressive Policy Institute sits down with Maria Willett, Chief of Staff to Mayor Bryan K. Barnett of Rochester Hills, Michigan and Steffen Haake, Senior Consultant at Dataport who are both New Urban Progress fellows and offer their thoughts on what they learned from the fellowship.

On a new episode of Radically Pragmatic, PPI’s Director of Health Care Arielle Kane sits down with Everytown for Gun Safety’s Legal Director Jonas Oransky to discuss the latest developments in the bipartisan movement to pass gun safety legislation. Their conversation comes as President Biden signs a new bipartisan gun safety bill into law — the first in almost 30 years — against the backdrop of horrific mass shootings and a dangerous reversal of commonsense gun laws from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last week was National Charter Schools Week, and instead of celebrating the quality education that public charters provide to millions of students, the Department of Education is working to undermine the ability of these schools to function. 

As hundreds of parents and students descended on Washington to make their voices heard, PPI's Reinventing America's Schools Co-Director Tressa Pankovits went to the White House to hear from some of these advocates. She talked with protestors about why public charter schools are so important to them, and how these newly proposed rules would make it more difficult for public charter schools to win federal start-up grants which charter schools rely on to operate.

On this episode of RAS Reports, Tressa Pankovits, Co-Director of the Reinventing America's Schools Project sits down with New Mexico State Senator Siah Correa Hemphill and Representative Joy Garratt to talk about a bill they successfully sponsored and passed into law this legislative session. New Mexico House Bill 43 creates a revolving facility fund that charter schools can access in order to provide high quality buildings for their students. In today's highly polarized environment, with many many lawmakers turning their backs on charters at the behest of the teachers unions, these two Democrats are standing for charter schools and their students and families.

Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. Depending on the day, digital currencies are now cumulatively valued at several trillion dollars. Financial and nonfinancial corporate executives, once dismissive, increasingly understand the importance of cryptocurrency and related technologies for the future.

However, the federal government is only in the early stages of deciding how to regulate cryptocurrency, which could have enormous implications going forward.

On this episode of RAS Reports, Curtis Valentine, Co-Director of the Reinventing America’s Schools project, sits down with Karega Rausch, the President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. NACSA works to advance and strengthen the ideas and practices of charter school authorizing so students and communities – especially those who are historically under-resourced – thrive. Karega Rausch has extensive experience in charter school authorizing, education research and policy, community engagement, and strategic advocacy. In this vibrant conversation, Curtis and Karega discuss what makes charter schools successful and highlight the potential that charter schools have to provide all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, with a quality public education.

As variants of the COVID-19 virus continue to emerge, it's becoming more and more clear that this epidemic is becoming endemic. As the world continues to grapple with the reality that this virus is here to stay, how do we begin to live in our new normal, and how do we balance the tradeoffs between combating the spread of COVID-19 and letting normal life resume?

Last week, PPI's Director of Health Policy Arielle Kane brought together an esteemed panel of experts, including Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA) and Dr. Leana Wen, for a panel event to discuss living with COVID in the New Year and Beyond. This episode is a segment of their conversation. 

In this week's episode of RAS Reports, Curtis Valentine and Tressa Pankovits, Co-Directors of PPI's Reinventing America's Schools Project, celebrate National School Choice Week by discussing new developments in the movement to provide access to affordable, quality education to all of America's youth. The hosts highlight Innovation Schools in Indianapolis, IN which serve as a prime example of the benefits of granting schools the flexibility to make decisions tailored to the specific needs of their student body. Curtis and Tressa discuss how these "schools of choice" attract high-quality teachers, produce higher learning outcomes, and gives parents more power to decide what educational environment is best for their student. 

The National School Choice Week celebration continues Thursday, January 27 at 3:00PM ET with a panel of teachers who work in "schools of choice." Hear in their own words how their decision to work in these schools has positively impacted their passion for the work, their students and their overall job satisfaction. 

On a new episode of Radically Pragmatic, PPI’s Mosaic Economic Project examines the findings of the 2021 Greater New Orleans Startup Report. The episode explores topics such as the growth, resiliency, and economic sustainability of New Orleans – including the effects of increased remote work options – and dives into solutions to bridge gaps in race and gender equity in critical areas from entrepreneurship to COVID relief.

Hosts Jasmine Stoughton and Crystal Swann were joined by Emily Egan, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Tulane University, and Ann Marshall Tilton, Community Engagement Manager at the Albert Lepage Center.

On this week's episode, Paul Bledsoe, author of a new PPI report titled "The Role of Natural Gas in Limiting European Union Emissions: Key Opportunities to Cut Methane, Coal and CO2" sits down to explain the major implications for U.S. and global climate policy, as well as some of the key recommendations from the report.

The report calls for an international effort to accurately verify and monitor methane emissions from domestic and imported gas and then regulate emissions to as close to zero as possible. These actions, if taken together, could play a major role in reducing greenhouse as global emissions as renewable energy grows.

On the first episode of RAS Reports, Co-Director of PPI's Reinventing America's Schools Project Curtis Valentine sits down with RAS Advisory Board Member and Fort Worth, Texas School Board Leader Cinto Ramos to explore the importance of school boards among students, parents, and local leaders. What challenges do school boards face post-COVID? And what opportunities are created from having to reinvent the wheel?

In addition, Curtis and Cinto dive into Texas SB 1882, as well as the 2021 Virginia Gubernatorial election that helped catapult school board leaders and the education debate into the national spotlight.

The Progressive Policy Institute's Innovation Frontier Project released a comprehensive research deck on the threats facing American innovation. The authors of the deck, innovation experts Ashish Arora and Sharon Belenzon of Duke University, found the United States has lost a substantial amount of corporate research since the 1980s, with only a handful of present-day U.S.-based companies investing in research at a meaningful level.

The deck also lays out clear political implications for lawmakers. The Biden Administration's top strategic economic priorities are based on a foundation of strong U.S. competitiveness and innovation, yet Congress’s percolating anti-tech antitrust legislation would undermine these priorities by impairing the ability of America’s few leading R&D performers to develop new products and enter new markets. The restrictions on these companies will reduce our national investment in R&D and hurt American economic prosperity and national security.

Jack Karsten, Managing Director of the Innovation Frontier Project, and Michael Mandel, Vice President and Chief Economic Strategist at PPI break down the deck's research and discuss how antitrust legislation in Congress would devastate American technological leadership and innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Americans inside their homes and restricted access to critical services, including health care. However, telehealth technology that was previously only used by a fraction of patients turned out to be a reliable way for all Americans to access health care services from the safety of their homes.

A new bipartisan report by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and Americans for Prosperity (AFP) found that over the duration of the pandemic, the costs of telehealth care fell, suggesting that in a post-pandemic world telehealth could help increase access to medical care without increasing costs.

The report, authored by PPI Director of Health Care Arielle Kane and Americans for Prosperity Health Policy Analyst Charlie Katebi, found that at the outset of the pandemic, telehealth use skyrocketed, as did costs for those who utilized it versus those who didn’t. But as time went on, the average telehealth patient spent less on health care services than the average in-person patient. In the final month of the study, telehealth patients spent 26% less than the average in-person patient. Further, when excluding the first three months of near complete lockdowns, telehealth patients had lower overall health care utilization.