New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a non-partisan, nonprofit think tank in the United States. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including technology, education, national security, political reform, and economics. The organization has a staff of approximately 150 employees, and approximately 200 non-resident fellows, and is based in Washington, D.C., with additional offices in New York City, California, Chicago, and Indianapolis. Its stated mission is "renewing America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals, honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change, and seizing the opportunities those changes create."
New America has been led by President and CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter since 2013. Lenny T. Mendonca, a senior partner emeritus at McKinsey & Company, is the chairman of its board of directors.
Video New America (organization)
History and Mission
Founding and Name
New America was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind, and Walter Russell Mead as a non-profit, public policy institute whose stated mission is to "invest in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States". At the time, it began as a fellows program that named eight fellows in its first year. Newsweek's Howard Fineman called it a "hive of state-of-the-art policy entrepreneurship".
In late 2014, the organization removed "foundation" from its name, and is now known only as New America.
Leadership
Ted Halstead served as the organization's founding president and CEO from 1999 to 2007. Steve Coll was named New America's second president in July 2007 and served in the role until he announced his resignation in June 2012 in order to take up the position of Dean of the Columbia Journalism School.
Anne-Marie Slaughter assumed the role of president and CEO on September 1, 2013, after serving on the organization's board of directors since 2003.
Location
New America's main office in Washington, D.C. is located at 740 15th St. NW in the Union Trust Building.
New America has three offices outside Washington. New America NYC is located at 18 W 21st Street, New York. New America CA is located at 414 Brannan St. in San Francisco. New America Chicago and New America Indianapolis do not list addresses.
Maps New America (organization)
Policy Issues
At any given time, New America has dozens of programs and initiatives working across a broad spectrum of policy issues. There are currently 16 major programs focused on issues including education policy, technology, cybersecurity, international security, and social policy. New America also houses several fellowship programs.
Education
New America's Education Policy program comprises scholars on pre-k to K-12 through higher education and into the workforce. The program is led by higher education writer and policy analyst Kevin Carey. The policy staff produce the EdCentral blog.
Technology
New America has several programs working on the intersection of policy and technology. New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) led by Kevin Bankston is one of the largest programs within the organization. OTI's research areas include broadband adoption and digital literacy, broadband competition, community broadband and technology, consumer privacy, encryption, and net neutrality.
In 2017, New America launched a Public Interest Technology program, led by former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz.
New America is also a founding partner of Future Tense, a partnership with Arizona State University and Slate, which explores emerging technologies and their effects on society and public policy through a public event series and a column on Slate.
Economics and Social Policy
Historically, New America has housed policy programs exploring ways to improve the social safety net and studying the U.S. economy. Up until 2016, New America's Economic Growth program, directed by New America co-founders Sherle Schwenninger and Michael Lind, studied U.S. and global economic problems in the wake of the recession.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget was a part of New America until it separated to become the Fix the Debt campaign.
From 2003-2017, the Asset Building program incubated policy proposals that enable low- and middle-income families in the U.S. and around the world to accumulate savings. In 2009 the program helped formulate the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings bill, which would give workers who did not have an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan the option to create a retirement savings account that would move with them from job to job. The bill was signed into law in 2012. The program's work is now produced under the Family-Centered Social Policy program.
New America's social policy work also includes the Better Life Lab. The initiative focuses on family policy, work-life balance, and gender equality, and is led by former Washington Post journalist and author Brigid Schulte.
New America received the Prospect Magazine award for Best U.S. Social Policy Think Tank in 2015 and 2017.
International Security
New America's International Security program is led by Peter Bergen, a CNN national security analyst and author of several best-selling books, including The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda. The program produces research on homegrown American terrorism, the development and nature of ISIS networks in the West, the United States' drone wars abroad, the collapse of the American monopoly on armed drones, and the proliferation of drones around the world. New America helped found the Arizona State University Center on the Future of War in the 2014-15 academic year, and the two institutions collaborate on a Future of War Project to study the changing nature of war and conflict.
Fellowships
New America's National Fellows Program selects a class of fellows annually and supports their work for one or two years. Fellows produce books, films, articles or other works that "enhances the public conversation about the most pressing issues of our day," during their fellowships.
Many of New America's fellows are journalists. Notable past and present fellows include:
- Perry Bacon Jr., senior political writer at FiveThirtyEight.
- Peter Beinart, contributor to The Atlantic and CNN, and associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York.
- Peter Bergen, New America vice president, author or editor of seven books including three New York Times best-sellers, and Emmy Award-winning documentary producer.
- Katherine Boo, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and MacArthur "Genius" grantee.
- Andrea Elliott, investigative reporter for The New York Times and recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
- Noah Feldman, author and professor of law at Harvard Law School.
- Sheri Fink, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of New York Times bestseller Five Days at Memorial.
- Franklin Foer, staff writer at The Atlantic and former editor of The New Republic.
- Mei Fong, staff reporter for the China bureau for The Wall Street Journal and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2007.
- Paul Glastris, editor in chief of The Washington Monthly and former chief speechwriter to President Bill Clinton.
- Jeff Goodell, author and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine.
- Anand Gopal, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist No Good Men Among the Living.
- Eliza Griswold, American journalist and poet.
- Jacob Hacker, political science professor at Yale University and author of American Amnesia.
- Nikole Hannah-Jones, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, and 2017 MacArthur "Genius" grantee.
- Shane Harris, journalist, author, and senior national security writer at the Washington Post.
- Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes" and author of Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy.
- Karen Kornbluh, Executive Vice President of External Affairs at Nielsen, Senior Fellow for Digital Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and a presidentially-appointed member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
- Michael Lind, historian, New America cofounder, and writer of multiple books including The Radical Center and Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States. New America's first fellow in 1999.
- Megan McArdle, Bloomberg View columnist, and author of The Up Side of Down.
- Evgeny Morozov, Belarusian born researcher and author of The Net Delusion.
- Alexis Okeowo, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Woman and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa.
- Dayo Olopade, author of "The Bright Continent."
- Romesh Ratnesar, Deputy Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, and author of Tear Down This Wall : A City, a President, and the Speech that Ended the Cold War.
- Lauren Redniss, artist, writer, and 2016 MacArthur "Genius" grantee.
- George Packer, staff writer at the New Yorker and bestselling author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.
- Gabriel Sherman, author of The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News - and Divided a Country.
- Nicholas Thompson, journalist and editor, currently the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine.
- Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, and The Moral Animal.
- Tim Wu, professor at Columbia University, New York Times contributing opinion writer, and inventor of the phrase net neutrality.
New America also has fellowships for Millennials, California-based social entrepreneurs, public interest technologists, learning science professionals, and cybersecurity experts.
Political Stance
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, New America describes itself as independent and nonpartisan. The institution's founders termed the think tank as residing in the "radical center." The organization has since been referred to as "left-leaning," "center-left," and "centrist" by news outlets.
Board of Directors
New America is chaired by Lenny T. Mendonca, who succeeded Reihan Salam and Jonathan Soros in 2017. The board's current members include:
- Robert Abernethy: Chairman, American Standard Development Company
- David G. Bradley: Chairman, Atlantic Media Group
- David Brooks: Columnist, New York Times
- Michael Crow: President, Arizona State University
- R. Boykin Curry: Partner, Eagle Capital
- James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly
- Tom Freston, Principal, Firefly3 LLC
- Atul Gawande, Surgeon, Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Helene D. Gayle, President and CEO, McKinsey Social Initiative
- William Gerrity, Managing Partner, Gerrity Group
- Ted Halstead, Founder, New America
- Zachary Karabell, President, River Twice Research
- Jeffrey Leonard, President and CEO, Global Environment Fund
- Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Chair, Bard College
- Todd Park, Former White House Technology Advisor and Former U.S. CTO
- Lenny Mendonca, Director Emeritus, McKinsey
- Reihan Salam, Executive Editor, National Review
- Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America
- Jonathan Soros, CEO, JS Capital Management LLC
- Ashley Swearengin, Mayor, City of Fresno, California
- Fareed Zakaria, Host, Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN; Columnist, Washington Post
Funding
New America is funded by more than 250 different foundations, individuals, and corporations. The organization operates without an endowment and raises its annual budget every year. In 2016, New America reported revenue of $37,973,732, and expenses of $37,245,071; 48% of the revenue came from foundations, 30% from individuals, 12% from corporations, 3% from U.S. government, and 7% from other sources.
Funders that contributed more than $1 million in 2016-2017 include Aphorism Foundation, Arizona State University, 11th Hour Project and Schmidt Family Foundation, Florida International University, Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Inc., William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Todd Park, Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt, Open Society Foundations, and Skoll Global Threats Fund.
Criticism
The New York Times reported in late August 2017 that pressure from Google led to the ousting of Barry Lynn who had criticized Google as a monopoly and called for it to be broken up. It was reported that Google and Eric Schmidt had pressured New America into the dismissal of a whole group of researchers who lauded the EU's antitrust ruling against Google. Reportedly, the President and CEO, Anne-Marie Slaughter, wrote an email to Lynn shortly before dismissing him saying "We are in the process of trying to expand our relationship with Google... just THINK about how you are imperiling funding." The emails sent by Slaughter "clearly show the influence that Google wields over New America's operations," stated the Open Markets team in a statement provided to The Intercept. Slaughter denied the allegations, but refused to speak to New York Times reporters about why they might be wrong. A collective letter signed by New America's former and current fellows, including journalists such as George Packer of The New Yorker and scholars such as Evgeny Morozov of Harvard University was delivered to Slaughter and New America's directors. The letter highlighted that the handling of the situation by Slaughter has damaged the think tank's reputation.
Lynn has founded an as yet unnamed nonprofit to continue the Open Markets Program's work terminated by New America.
References
External links
- New America webpage
- VIDEO - See Elizabeth Carpenter speak at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health - Health Care Reform: A Nonpartisan Look at the Issue Under Debate
- Interactive Demographic: Home Grown Terrorist Study [1]
- "Letter to the New America Board and Leadership signed by 25 New America's former and current fellows". September 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
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