Welcome to New America’s publication on Medium. Maybe you have already read about us, heard one of our thinkers in the media, or attended one of our events in DC or New York. If that’s you, welcome. For those of you who are new to us, or who are reconnecting after a long time, you might be asking: what is New America? What does it stand for? I’d like to use this space not just to welcome you but also to tell you about who we are and what we are becoming.

New America is dedicated to the renewal of American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the Digital Age. We carry out our mission as a nonprofit civic enterprise: an intellectual venture capital fund, think tank, technology laboratory, public forum, and media platform. Our traditional hallmarks as a think tank have been big ideas, freedom and justice in the digital age, and broad public conversation. But we were a Washington-focused institution. Today, we are convinced that America is renewing itself everywhere but Washington: in towns and cities across the country. People are coming together to solve public problems in new ways. We want to provide a platform and a megaphone for everyone engaged in that process, moving far beyond the audience and work of a traditional think tank. And we want you to join us!

Founded in 1999, we’re a relative upstart when you consider that many of our sister institutions hail from the Progressive Era, a period which — much like today — was marked by a devotion to social and political reform that was messy and complicated but focused on re-shaping the everyday lives of citizens. We began by looking for and launching a new generation of public intellectuals. To date, our New America Fellows Program has enabled the publication of more than 60 books by journalists, academics, policy analysts, and independent scholars who share our focus on addressing big ideas and sparking broad public conversation. While it’s worth noting that in the last two years alone, our Fellows have produced six best-sellers and finalists for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, one of our proudest numbers is this: of these dozens of books our Fellows have produced over the years, over half were written by first-time authors. We are honored to be supporting a new generation of public intellectuals from the ground up.

Today, as we are reinventing ourselves and asking what kind of organizations we need in this century to help government solve public problems, we need more and better conversation about the shared challenges we face. We want to create spaces where those engaged in policy research, public intellectual work, civic participation efforts, and community outreach can share ideas that mutually inform and renew one another, and we want to contribute our intellectual capital to energizing these discussion spaces beyond corridors of political and financial power in Washington, DC and New York City.

We are especially committed to tapping into ideas about civic engagement among the next generation. The much-discussed Millennials, for instance, have the potential to be a significant force for change in our culture and our politics. They volunteer more than other age groups do, engage in consumer activism, and spearhead civic uses of social media. Research indicates that women and men coming of age now approach politics with a unique sense of pragmatism. When it comes to solving public problems, their attitude is: “let’s figure out what works.” One priority for us is to contribute to creating and sustaining spaces for their intellectual energy to thrive.

In both our policy initiatives and our Fellows program, we bring together scholars, journalists, and independent thinkers. You could say that storytelling is in our DNA, with our Fellows Program providing a constant revitalizing force. We have a successful digital magazine called The Weekly Wonk and our staff members regularly publish articles, opinion pieces, and original research in a variety of outlets. So why start a Medium collection? Because Medium is a publishing platform that prioritizes connecting readers with good stories. We want to be a part of that — by using our collection as a dedicated storytelling exchange for New America’s initiatives and their impact outside of Washington. We want to publish voices speaking about big ideas and how things work on the ground. We are on Medium because its format, mission, and success resonate with our goal of being a networked civic enterprise with conversations in cities and across the country.

Periodically we’ll be publishing work from New America’s thinkers and collaborators on Medium that will offer context and new perspective on important issues. You’ll see short items and graphics alongside essays and multimedia, long-form stories. As we curate the collection, we will be placing particular emphasis on the nexus between policy and culture, where politics and imagination come together and where storytelling plays a significant role in shifting the conversation.

Perhaps the most critical dimension to all of this begins with you. Where do you see a New America emerging? How does your community or organization — be it civic or private — reflect a New America? We want to know and learn more about your answers to these questions. Our collection will be a forum to connect networked storytelling about big ideas for a general audience; to share information (and hear from you) about what works to solve public problems in a variety of communities. We know there are thousands upon thousands of people already doing important work where you live. We want to connect with you and we think Medium will be a place where we can produce great content and important dialogue together. Read, share, respond, repeat.