Media Inquiries and Interview Requests:

Timothy Rusch
Director of Communications
212.389.1407
trusch @demos.org

Gennady Kolker
Online and Media Relations Associate
212.389.1408
gkolker @demos.org

Events:

Jinny Khanduja
Events & Outreach Assistant
212.389.1399
jkhanduja@demos.org

Events

Ideas play a critical role in shaping public opinion and catalyzing change, and rarely has the need for such creative public engagement been more urgent. When we talk about revitalizing democracy or expanding economic opportunity, we cannot simply talk about policies. We must also better articulate our "first principles," as well as expand the menu of big ideas that advance these principles. Demos is deeply committed to such long-term ideas work, in particular through participation in public events.

Since 2002, Demos has hosted its own Demos Forum: Ideas For Change Event Series featuring prominent authors, journalists, activists and others. Demos also participates in many other events around the nation and sometimes in other countries, including those to support discussions about new books; organizing and participating in conferences, convenings and trainings; speaking to audiences in college, business, labor and elected office; and testifying before Congress and state legislative bodies.

Upcoming Events

Jane Addams: Spirit in Action Book Launch

September 13, 2010 | 6:00 PM

Demos
220 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001

RSVP

Jane Addams was a leading statesperson in an era when such possibilities for women were almost nonexistent. Few people today, however, know the full scope of her work as a political progressive. Join Demos, the National Council for Research on Women, Paradigm Shift, and the Women's City Club of New York to commemorate the 150th anniversary of her birth, and to celebrate the release of Jane Addams: Spirit in Action.

Featured Author: Louise W. Knight
Moderated By: Blanche Wiesen Cook

Refreshments will be served.
Copies of the book will be available for sale.
Live webcast at www.demos.org.

CLICK HERE to RSVP

Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services by Michael Lipsky

September 16, 2010 | 4:00 PM

Martin E. Segal Theatre
CUNY Graduate Center
365 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Join us for a panel discussion featuring Lipsky in conversation with John Mollenkopf, Linda Gibbs, and Ellen Schall to celebrate the 30th anniversary edition of this award-winning study and to discuss current problems and creative solutions in reforming social services.

Michael Lipsky is a Distinguished Senior fellow at Demos and Research Professor at Georgetown University.
John Mollenkopf is the Director of the Center for Urban Research at CUNY Graduate Center.
Linda Gibbs is Deputy Mayor for Human Services of the City of New York.
Ellen Schall is the Dean of the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU.

Light Refreshments will be served

This event is by invitation only. Please contact jkhanduja@demos.org with any questions.

Live webcast available to the public at www.demos.org.

Book Launch: Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class

September 21, 2010 | 6:00 PM

220 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York NY 10001

RSVP

Join Demos for the New York book launch of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson. Hacker and Pierson claim that the real culprit behind one of the great economic crises of our time is the growing inequality of incomes between the vast majority of Americans and the richest of the rich.

Refreshments will be served.
Copies of the book will be available for sale.
Live webcast at www.demos.org.

Tags: Middle Class | Inequality | Distribution of Wealth & Income | Market Economy

Higher Education? Colleges, Universities, and America's Global Role

September 23, 2010 | 6:00 PM

220 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York NY 10001

In Higher Education? WPI Senior Fellow Claudia Dreifus and renowned sociologist Andrew Hacker deliver a call to arms and make an incisive case that the American way of higher education, now a $420 billion-per-year business, has lost sight of its primary mission: the education of young adults. Going behind the myths and mantras, they trace how a system has simultaneously blown up and broken down, and discuss their controversial proposals for repairing it.

Join Demos and the World Policy Institute for a book discussion with co-authors Claudia Dreifus and Andrew Hacker. Moderated by David Callahan, Director of the International Program and Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos.

To purchase tickets, Click HERE.

Addressing the Financial Barriers to Community College Completion: A Roundtable Discussion on Building North Carolina's Future Middle Class

September 27, 2010 | 12:00 PM

Wake Tech Community College
Student Services Conference Center, Room 214 - Main Campus
9101 Fayetteville Road
Raleigh, NC 27603

RSVP

Postsecondary education is an essential tool to help people get a decent job and enter the middle class. But at the same time, it has increasingly become financially out of reach for many North Carolinians. The cost of going to school has risen, while financial aid is increasingly being awarded based on factors other than financial need. In their search for an affordable education, growing numbers of college students are turning to community colleges. But nationally, only about one third of community college students complete a degree of any kind within six years of starting their studies; in North Carolina, only 21 percent of two-year students complete a degree within three years.

Please join the North Carolina Justice Center and Demos for a roundtable discussion on the financial barriers that prevent North Carolinians from accessing and completing community college. In particular, learn about the various economic challenges facing today's college students and the efforts currently underway in North Carolina to alleviate these barriers in order to ensure that all students, regardless of income, can afford to obtain a postsecondary degree.

This event coincides with the release of Building North Carolina's Future Middle Class: Addressing the Challenges Facing Young Adults by the North Carolina Justice Center and Demos. The report reviews the various economic barriers that are preventing young adults in North Carolina from entering and remaining in the middle class. It also outlines the ways in which federal and state public policies can help ensure a secure future for North Carolina's young adults.

For more information, contact lmayo@demos.org.

With: Lucy Mayo

Tags: Credit Card Debt | Middle Class | Student Loans and Student Loan Debt

A National Dialogue on the State of Voting Rights in 2010: Past, Present, and Future

September 28, 2010 | 10:00 AM

The National Press Club Conference Room
529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045

Click Here To Register

Join us for a special one-day symposium on voting rights in the United States. Brenda Wright, Director of the Democracy Program at Demos, will speak on a panel entitled ‘2010 Midterm Election Challenges.'

Featuring: "The Long Road to Democracy"
A Conversation with the Honorable John Lewis and
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian Taylor Branch

August 6th marked the 45th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a statute widely viewed as the crown jewel of the civil rights movement because of its transformative impact on minorities in the United States. While significant progress has been made, barriers to the ballot box persist. Against a backdrop of ongoing legal challenges to key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, a new round of redistricting, and a looming 2010 midterm election, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy will sponsor a voting rights symposium on Tuesday, September 28th. In addition to a very special lunchtime conversation between Congressman Lewis and Taylor Branch, the symposium will feature two panels addressing continuing challenges to a fully inclusive democracy.

With: Brenda Wright