New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, education, and the economy. The organization is based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

Anne-Marie Slaughter Anne-Marie Slaughter (born September 27, 1958) is an American international lawyer, foreign policy analyst, political scientist and public commentator. From 2002 to 2009, she was the Dean of Princeton University's School of Public and Interna ...

is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) of the think tank. In 2002 ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

''s

Howard Fineman Howard David Fineman (born November 17, 1948) is an American journalist who is global editorial director of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group. Prior to his move to Huffington Post in October 2010, he was Newsweek's chief political corresponde ...

called New America a "hive of state-of-the-art policy entrepreneurship." New America has been characterized as "liberal" by the '' Pacific Standard'' online magazine, "left-leaning" by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' newspaper, and "left-of-center" by the Capital Research Center organization.

History

New America was founded in 1999 by

Ted Halstead Ted Halstead (July 25, 1968 – September 2, 2020) was an American author, policy entrepreneur, and public speaker who has founded four non-profit think tanks and advocacy organizations: the Climate Leadership Council, Americans for Carbon ...

, Sherle Schwenninger,

Michael Lind Michael Lind (born April 23, 1962) is an American writer and academic. He has explained and defended the tradition of American democratic nationalism in a number of books, beginning with '' The Next American Nation'' (1995). He is currently a pro ...

, and

Walter Russell Mead Walter Russell Mead (born June 12, 1952) is an American academic. He is the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and taught American foreign policy at Yale University. He was also the editor-at-large of ...

as the New America Foundation. The organization is headquartered in

, United States, and also has an office in

. Ted Halstead served as New America's founding President and CEO from 1999 to 2007.

Steve Coll Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958) is an American journalist, academic and executive. He is currently the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he is also the Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. A staff writer f ...

served as New America's second President, before being replaced by

in 2013. On June 27, 2017, Barry C. Lynn, the director of the anti-monopoly Open Markets program at New America, issued a statement, criticizing

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, one of the organization's main sponsors. On August 30, 2017, it became known that Lynn was fired, and the Open Markets program was closed. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' newspaper, New America did it to please Google. In response to the decision to fire Lynn and his team, twenty-five former and current employees of the think tank signed a letter expressing concern about the extent to which sponsors are influencing New America's work. Anne-Marie_Slaughter_(34586435714)_(cropped)

Anne-Marie_Slaughter_(34586435714)_(cropped)

Reportedly, Google made New America take this action because the researchers, including prominent young competition law scholar Lina Khan, had lauded the EU's antitrust ruling against Google. New America's president

denied the allegations of improper influence by Google. The foundation's Economic Growth Program, directed by New America co-founders Sherle Schwenninger and

, aims to take a policy look at America and the world's economic problems. In 2011, the program commissioned a paper "The Way Forward: Moving From the Post-Bubble, Post-Bust Economy to Renewed Growth and Competitiveness" which warned of the severe economic problems America would face if continued on its current path.

Maya MacGuineas Maya MacGuineas (born February 21, 1968) is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She is a frequent commentator on issues such as the federal budget, national debt, taxes, the economy, retirement policy, government reform, ...

, who has worked at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

as well as on Wall Street, led the Committee and now leads Fix the Debt. After advising politicians from both parties, she serves as a trusted mediator on budget talks between Democrats and Republicans. In addition, in April 2010 the Committee's policy director, Marc Goldwein, joined President Obama's bipartisan Fiscal Commission.

Open Technology Institute

The Open Technology Institute (OTI) is the technology program of the New America Foundation. OTI formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open-source innovations and facilitates the development and implementation of open technologies and communications networks.

Commotion Wireless

Commotion is an open source "device-as-infrastructure" communication platform that integrates users' existing cell phones,

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

-enabled computers, and other wireless-capable devices to create community- and metro-scale,

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

communications networks. The project builds on existing mesh wireless technologies and gained widespread attention when, in 2011, the U.S. State Department announced funding for Commotion to lower barriers for building distributed communications networks. The project has been described as the "Internet in a Suitcase" by ''

''.

Red Hook Wi-Fi

Founded in 2011 through a collaboration with OTI and Commotion Wireless, Red Hook Wi-Fi is a mesh network which services residents of

Red Hook, Brooklyn Red Hook is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, New York, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Car ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The

network reached prominence in 2012, when

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

shut down many internet and communication systems throughout the city, but Red Hook remained connected through its mesh network.

Assets and funding

As of 2017, the New America had net assets of $26,788,098. Top donors to the organization in 2021 included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,

Bloomberg Philanthropies Bloomberg Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization that encompasses all of the charitable giving of founder Michael R. Bloomberg. Headquartered in New York City, Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses its resources on five areas: the environmen ...

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, Rockefeller Foundation, and

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

.Funding details as of 2018:

Board of directors

As of 2020: * Helene D. Gayle;

Chicago Community Trust The Chicago Community Trust (the Trust) is the community foundation serving Chicago, suburban Cook County, and the Illinois counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will. Established on May 12, 1915, it is the third largest community foundation ...

, President and Chief Executive Officer * William W. Gerrity, Treasurer; Gerrity Group, Chief Executive Officer *

, Chief Executive Officer * Robert J. Abernethy; American Standard Development Company, Chairman *

David G. Bradley David G. Bradley (born 1953) is partner in The Atlantic and Atlantic Media and the owner of the National Journal Group. Before his career as a publisher, Bradley founded the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board, two Washington-ba ...

, Secretary;

Atlantic Media Atlantic Media is an American print and online media company owned by David G. Bradley and based in the Watergate in Washington, D.C. It publishes '' The Atlantic,'' a print and online publication that also holds themed events; and offers busines ...

, Chairman * David Brooks; ''

'', op-ed columnist * Maxine Clark;

Build-A-Bear Workshop Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears and other stuffed animals and characters. Customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice ...

, Founder * Michael M. Crow; Arizona State University, President * R. Boykin Curry; Eagle Capital, Partner *

James Fallows James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''The Atlantic.'' His work has also appeared in '' Slate'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New York Review of Boo ...

; ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', National Correspondent * Tom Freston; Firefly3 LLC, Principal *

Atul Gawande Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departme ...

;

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and School of Public Health, Professor * Katherine Gehl; Venn Innovations, Founder *

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

;

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

, Co-Founder * Zachary Karabell; River Twice Research, President *

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a ...

;

A-Grade Investments A-Grade Investments is a venture capital firm founded in 2010 by actor Ashton Kutcher, entertainment manager Guy Oseary, and billionaire investor Ron Burkle to invest in technology start-up companies. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, ...

, Co-Founder *

; Foreign Affairs & Humanities, Bard College, James Clarke Chace Professor * Mona Mourshed; Global Social Responsibility and McKinsey & Company, Senior Partner & Head * Sally R. Osberg; Camfed USA, Chair * Ashley Swearengin; Central Valley Community Foundation, President and Chief Executive Officer * Fareed Zakaria; ''

Fareed Zakaria GPS ''Fareed Zakaria GPS'' is a weekly public affairs show hosted by journalist and author Fareed Zakaria on CNN and broadcast around the world by CNN International. The "GPS" in the show's title stands for "Global Public Square," a reference to t ...

'' and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, Host; ''

'', columnist

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.newamerica.org
Open Technology Institute's website

Commotion Wireless webpage

Measurement Lab webpage

"Health Care Reform: A Nonpartisan Look at the Issue Under Debate"
(video) – Elizabeth Carpenter speaking at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Terrorism in America After 9/11
��"A comprehensive, up-to-date source of online information about terrorist activity in the United States and by Americans overseas since 9/11" by New America 1999 establishments in the United States Centrist political advocacy groups in the United States Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States Think tanks based in Washington, D.C. Think tanks established in 1999