Progressive Ideas Network Meets in DC

On May 27, Executive Director Barry Kendall led a day-long meeting with 53 members and allies of the Progressive Ideas Network. Titled "Progressive Ideas in Action: Long-Term Thinking in a Short-Term World," the event gathered policy experts and intellectuals from inside and outside DC to look beyond the current policy battles and begin formulating the big ideas that will power progressive advocacy four, six, even ten or more years down the road. At the end of the day, Dr. Kendall offered participants an inspirational rallying cry, written with Institute friend and supporter Greg Colvin. Check it out:

The day began with provocative words from several leaders of the progressive movement, including Deepak Bhargava, Larry Mishel, Gloria Totten, Mark Schmitt, William Greider, and Alan Jenkins. In their own ways, each speaker challenged the attendees to imagine a thorough re-evaluation of the changes we seek, and how we go about achieving them. With this in mind, participants spent the afternoon working together in small groups, tackling issues that are key to the development of a vision for a new mixed economy, including Sustainability, Inequality & Wealth, Corporations and Race, and Social Insurance and Our Fiscal Future. The goal in each was to identify needs and opportunities for creating momentum around a vision for progressive change, and turning those opportunities into achievable but strategically significant collaborative projects.

As a result of this meeting, six such projects have been proposed, and they are currently being refined and edited collaboratively by PIN members, allies and friends. At the conclusion of this feedback period, PIN members will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite projects, and winning proposals will receive seed money (up to $40,000 total) and logistical support from PIN.

The Progressive Ideas Network was founded to facilitate the creation of a more strategic and coordinated ideas sector. As a platform for meetings and collective actions, it is actively filling this role by both fostering more collaborative relationships and catalyzing work that is strategically necessary to the continued development of the progressive movement.