New America – PHENND

New America Fellows Program 2027 – Apply by Feb 2

hillarya — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:38:19 +0000

New America’s Fellows Program invests in thinkers—journalists, scholars, filmmakers, and public policy analysts—who generate big, bold ideas that have an impact and spark new conversations about the most pressing issues of our day.

In an age where journalism is dominated by the 24-7 news cycle, and academia is becoming ever more esoteric, our fellowships provide opportunities for talented individuals who need support to pursue more ambitious endeavors. Books. Films. Photo essays. Longform storytelling. Policy projects. Work that gets to broad audiences and changes the way we think. Voices that represent the diverse backgrounds and ideologies of the American community.

New America fellows are selected on a highly competitive basis and serve—most on an adjunct basis, some full-time—for a one-year term. During that period, we aim to give them an intellectual home where they have the time, space, and resources to pursue their projects; a community where they can learn from one another; and opportunities to engage with others at New America and help shape the longer-term agenda and focus of our organization.

The Fellows Program aims to support New America Fellows in three primary areas: provide funding to support talented individuals to pursue ambitious endeavors, build a community grounded in cohort gatherings throughout the year, and provide access to platforms and partners that can support their work.

We are now accepting applications for the Class of 2027!

The application deadline is Monday, February 2, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST. The deadline to receive reference letters is Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Learn more.

Building Better Workplace Policies for Working Families – Apr 1

hillarya — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 16:59:30 +0000

When the COVID-19 pandemic—and the subsequent economic collapse—hit, the United States’ longstanding care crisis was laid bare. A just and equitable recovery will require creative thinking and new approaches to caregiving policies to ensure that all working people have the tools they need and that those tools help to promote racial, gender, and economic justice. A Better Balance and the Better Life Lab at New America are hosting a virtual event featuring workers, caregivers, thought leaders, business experts, and work-family justice advocates to hear from the front lines about what workers who need to care for themselves or loved ones are facing in today’s profoundly difficult economic climate, and to come together to strategize on a blueprint for progress and policy innovation for the care infrastructure this country needs.

The event will take place on Thursday, April 1 at 12 p.m. EST.

Click here to register.

Design Principles for Financial Aid Offers: A User-Centered Approach

hillarya — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 16:34:13 +0000

In 2018, New America partnered with uAspire, a nonprofit focused on college access and affordability, to review thousands of financial aid offers from over 500 colleges and universities. The resulting report, Decoding the Cost of College: The Case for Transparent Financial Aid Award Letters, recommended several minimum bars financial aid offers must pass including listing price, separating loans from grants, and standardizing terms and formatting. But those recommendations were just a start.

This report reviews findings from the Decoding the Cost of College report, presents each stage of our efforts to redesign financial aid offers, and discusses our recommendations for design principles. We offer an example of how financial aid offers should be structured, and the role of policy in improving financial aid offers.

Read the full report here

Varying Degrees: Annual Survey on Higher Education

hillarya — Tue, 23 May 2017 01:06:42 +0000

Americans believe in the tremendous potential of higher education—but they also feel that higher education is falling short of that promise. New America’s inaugural survey reveals a stark expectations gap between what higher education could—and should—be and what higher education currently is.

Varying Degrees: New America’s Annual Survey on Higher Education surveys 1,600 Americans ages 18 and older to better understand their perceptions of and knowledge about higher education and economic mobility. The survey shows both unifying themes as well as differences across age, gender, generation, region, and socioeconomic status when it comes to the value of a college education, who is responsible for student success, the ideal role of government, and the goal of higher education.

https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/varying-degrees/

College Decisions Survey: Deciding to Go to College

hillarya — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 03:22:57 +0000

Today, New America’s Education Policy Program released the second in a series of College Decisions Survey briefs that analyze new survey data about what prospective college students know about the college-going and financing process. Part Two: The Application Process focuses on how students go about researching and applying to colleges. It looks at the number and type of schools and programs applied to and the search behaviors of prospective students.

With more than 7,500 colleges and universities in America, students have several options to choose from depending on a variety of factors such as price, location, and programs offered. So how do prospective students go about the process of applying to colleges? According to an online survey of 1,011 U.S. residents ages 16-40, who were largely prospective college students (with the remainder in their first semester of college), a majority of prospective students (60 percent) plan to apply to more than two colleges, and about three-quarters (76 percent) had already started their search. The survey was commissioned by New America and conducted by Harris Poll in October-November of 2014.

Building Millennials’ Financial Health via Financial Capability

hillarya — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 02:35:52 +0000

The mission of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion (AEDI) at The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare is to create and study innovations related to asset development, education, and financial inclusion that result in opportunities across the life course for low-income children and families, in the U.S. and around the globe, for the purposes of climbing out of poverty and up the economic ladder.

With uneven economic growth and a persistent gap in asset holdings, the landscape in which Millennials must navigate important financial decisions is more treacherous than that experienced by previous generations. These conditions threaten the possibility of a brighter economic future for Millennials and their children, as one financial misstep made early in life may lead to ongoing financial volatility. To support opportunities for upward economic mobility across generations, we believe it is imperative to understand how particular combinations of financial experience and education are related to engagement with mainstream and alternative financial institutions, acquisition of debt, and plans for weathering financial emergencies.

https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/3330-building-millennials-financial-health-via-financial-capability/Millennials_Financial_Health.5a49a18e2eab40a5afd1925ef695a1e0.pdf

Mapping College Ready Policies

hillarya — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:31:48 +0000

New Interactive Tool from New America Maps Alignment of College Ready Policies

This week, New America released an interactive web-based report, Mapping College Ready Policies, that allows users to see the degree to which states’ higher education expectations and high school standards align. Unfortunately, there is often a tremendous divide between the two.

The tool shows, state by state, whether a state has defined college and career ready, the standards and assessment it is using, and whether minimum admissions requirements are aligned with high school standards. The bottom line is that some states have policies that make the transition from high school to higher education smoother than others. Some of the interesting findings:

Go to the map: http://atlas.newamerica.org/mapping-college-readiness

Report: Improving the Tax Preparation Experience

hillarya — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:41:56 +0000

by David Rothstein Rachel Black

Tax time is often referred to as the “golden moment” for asset building and financial management due to the substantial infusion of resources many households receive in the form of tax refunds. For the tax preparation process to fulfill its potential as a delivery system for asset building resources, there need to be adequate protections in place to ensure its integrity. Yet, there is very little regulation and standardization in the tax preparation industry. Only a handful of states provide oversight for storefront paid tax preparers, and the federal government recently issued regulations requiring testing, registration, and continuing education, only to find them nullified following a court challenge and appeal.

Tax preparation by commercial paid preparers suffers from a lack of transparency and disclosure in the fees charged, resulting in a diversion of vital, earned public supports away from working families. Clients struggle tocompare and contrast prices and services or obtain information about the credentials of paid tax preparers. This brief focuses on the need for standards of preparation as well as price disclosure and transparency. In the final section, we highlight recommendations to improve the tax preparation process for those using paid tax services.

http://www.newamerica.org/asset-building/improving-the-tax-preparation-experience/