New America Policy Papers

As digital communications and the Internet become increasingly pervasive, Native Americans continue to lack access to this digital revolution.  Native Americans are among the last citizens to gain access to the Internet, with access to broadband often unavailable or overly expensive in Native communities.  Beyond that challenge, there is a fundamental lack of qualitative or quantitative empirical research on Native American Internet use, adoption, and access, stifling the Native voice in broadband and media policy.

Today, preschool and other services for young children are delivered through what is widely recognized as a non-system, with programs like child care, pre-kindergarten, special education services and Head Start operating in separate policy silos, each with differing objectives and different funding streams. This uneven and uncoordinated character of early childhood policy can impede access, quality, and return on investment to these programs. Indeed, stories of avoidable dysfunction-of low-income parents who are unaware that their child

There is widespread recognition that the financial crisis which triggered the Great Recession was significantly due to financial excess, particularly related to real estate. Now, policymakers are looking to reform financial systems in hope of avoiding future crises. But like the drunk who looks for his lost keys under the lamppost because that is where the light is, policymakers remain fixated on capital standards because that is what is already in place.

529s are tax-advantaged accounts designed to help families save for post-secondary education.  In recent years, state policymakers and 529 administrators have worked to expand access to 529 plans and increase the participation of lower-income families through outreach, advertising, and targeted incentives such as matching deposits and reducing or eliminating fees.[1]  Yet, as plan administrators and state and federal policymakers design new strategies for expanding the use of 529 plans

Application bias, the practice by network operators of placing applications into tiers of low and high priority and enforcing this prioritization through mechanisms in the middle of the network, poses hidden harms for the Internet that substantially outweigh its uncertain benefits.  Application bias degrades low priority applications, decreases overall network performance, and locks the Internet into typical usage patterns of 2009, frustrating both consumer choice and Internet innovation.  At the same time, the biggest hurdle to offering more powerful services… more

If we go by election results, and no better guide to our national mood exists, the years of conservative hegemony in the United States are over, at least for the foreseeable future.  Not only has the country elected a Democratic president and Congress, but conservative ideas, which once had seemed so innovative, are increasingly stale or non-existent.  Meanwhile, the Republican Party seems both directionless and leaderless. 

At a time when low-income students are underrepresented in higher education and the cost of attendance is becoming increasingly unaffordable, 529 college savings plans have the potential to address issues of college readiness, access and completion.  Savings can help reduce higher education debt, making college more affordable, and has the potential to change aspirations and behaviors of both students and their parents. Research from the asset building field shows that even a relatively small amount of savings may have positive impacts on behavior and educational achievement.

AutoSave is a unique savings plan that automatically diverts through payroll deduction a small amount of post-tax wages into an individual savings account. This new infrastructure nearly seamlessly enables individuals to contribute small amounts of their wages into an accessible, non tax-advantaged savings account. It will be especially valuable for individuals who have limited liquid assets, and who may otherwise be forced to meet emergency needs with high-cost emergency loans.

If children are the future, then looking at a state's educational system is like peering into a crystal ball. California is a state teeming with young children -- 4.7 million under age 8, to be exact. One in every eight young American children lives in California. And many of these children come from minority ethnic and racial backgrounds and speak languages other than English. If Americans want to get a glimpse at our future as a "majority minority" country they don't have to look beyond California.

The current national discussion to expand access and use of broadband occurring in Washington has created an ideal time for foundations to become engaged in the issue. The current economic recession, combined with an unprecedented effort by government to directly invest in the deployment and adoption of broadband, provides an enormous opportunity for community foundations to help support beneficial projects and initiatives in communities across the country. 

There is no doubt that consumer demand for mobile data applications is exploding worldwide. As Smartphones with PC capabilities and broadband aircards gain access to faster 4G networks beginning next year, total wireless data consumption will increase geometrically. Cisco’s annual projection of global Internet traffic predicts a 129% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for mobile data over the next five years in North America (through 2013).

Meeting consumer demand for mobile data will require some combination of four strategies:

The economy has lost 8 million jobs since the beginning of the recession.   But because the population is growing, we need to create over 9.6 million jobs.  Due to severe job loss and steady population growth, the unemployment rate has soared to 9.8%, nearly as high as during the early 1980s.

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Earlier this year, the Obama Administration released a bold new plan for improving the state of higher education in the United States. Its fiscal year 2010 budget proposal included several items aimed at increasing postsecondary education enrollment and completion rates, and decreasing the financial burden that college represents to many lower and middle class families. [1] These proposals include reforming the federal student loan program, expanding Pell Grants for low-income students, and creating a new College Access and

As a result of the unprecedented 41 drone strikes into Pakistan authorized by the Obama administration, aimed at Taliban and al Qaeda networks based there, about a half-dozen leaders of militant organizations have been killed--including two heads of Uzbek terrorist groups allied with al Qaeda, and Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban--in addition to hundreds of lower-level militants and civilians, according to our analysis.[1]

What the Government Can Do to Better Promote Job Creation by Timothy J. Bartik Jobs: What Can We Do? by James K. Galbraith The Time Has Come for Direct Job Creation by L. Randall Wray

Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners of microfinance are increasingly turning their focus toward devising and offering effective and accessible savings services for the poor. Not only have experts argued that demand for savings services greatly exceeds that of microcredit, but many also contend that savings-led programs and products, with a focus on building assets, may be more effective than credit in providing a pathway out of poverty.

Back in 2007 we used to refer to the current crisis as the "U.S. subprime crisis". But while it was the area where troubles first emerged, the subprime mortgage sector turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg. Today, the Lehman crisis of mid September 2008 is still widely seen as the critical blunder that pushed the U.S. and world economies off the cliff. And yet, the Lehman bust may have been no more than just the trigger of an implosion of underlying financial… more

The Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation is calling for Truth-in-Labeling by our nation's broadband operators. Drawn from similar useful disclosure requirements by lenders, these Broadband Truth-in-Labeling disclosure standards will give the marketplace a much-needed tool that clarifies and adds meaning to the terms and conditions of the service being offered. 

In undertaking the task of rebuilding a viable financial system in the aftermath of the 2008-09 Wall Street meltdown, the principle that should guide all discussions should be straightforward:  how to design measures that are capable of promoting both financial stability and broadly-shared social welfare. 

Executive Summary