NDN - Firing on All Cylinders, Making A Difference

It's been a very productive last few months here at NDN/NPI.  While I've been hunkered down here at home today due to the great winter storm of 2010, I've had a chance to reflect upon our work of late, and am most pleased not only at the real world impact we are having, but in the way so many different voices here are contributing and making a difference.  Some examples:

Creating New Jobs Through A Payroll Tax Cut - Aggressively promoted by Rob Shapiro starting last fall, this idea is becoming central to the discussion of a new "jobs" bill.  You can find video here of Rob promoting the idea at the White House's Job Summit last December. 

Global Mobile - Sam DuPont, the author of our GlobalMobile column, has become the most widely read writer on the NDN blog.  His work is gaining greater media attention too.  Just yesterday he was on New Hampshire Public Radio talking about mobile banking and the highly successful text "Haiti" campaign.

Electricity 2.0 - Last week Michael Moynihan released a ground-breaking new paper advocating for the need for Electricity 2.0, the complete reimagining and rebuilding of our electricity system.   He had an op-ed on the subject in the San Francisco Chronicle last week, and was also featured in the Washington Post on Monday. 

"The Lost Decade" - A few months ago NDN made a decision to try to popularize the phrase "lost decade" to describe the state of the middle class in the decade that just past.  This effort was lead by Jake Berliner, who authored a compelling paper, A Lost Decade for Everyday Americans, on December 17th which was widely circulated on the Hill and around DC.  This phrase, which was not commonly in use, has now become commonplace in our public debate, led, most notably, by President Obama himself.  

Alicia Menendez - Our new senior advisor has been all over cable TV news these last few weeks, talking about everything from the Tea Partiers to next steps on health care reform.  She is a great addition to our already strong team.  Watch for her on national TV, and increasingly on our site and blog.

Andres Ramirez - Is increasingly seen as one of America's leading experts on the emerging Latino vote, immigration reform, the census and other issues relating to the growing political power of Hispanics in America.  This weekend he was featured in a major Las Vegas Sun article on the Latino vote in Nevada. 

Winograd and Hais - Our two LA-based fellows, Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, continue to produce high quality regular analysis of American politics today.  Mike's two recent "Use It or Lose It" essays are some of the best analyses I've seen of late about the changing American electorate. 

This is of course just a quick sketch of how the talented and diverse NDN/NPI team is offering innovative ideas, breaking through in the national media and impacting the national debate.  I am proud of how during this time of great national challenge our team is stepping up and doing what they can to steer our nation towards a better day.

And yes I am ready to ship all our weather and snow back up to Vancouver.

Update: Please help us add to this great team by letting interested candidates know about 3 new job and 6 summmer intern openings at NDN/NPI.  We will closing the window for many of these open positions next week.  Thanks.