David Gray: All Related Content

Here at the New America Foundation, we hosted an event last Thursday called “What's Missing in Child Care and Early Education in America?” Amid budget crises, states are cutting back child care and pre-K programs just as the research consensus settles, more than ever, on the crucial importance of early childhood care and education in building literacy, math, social, and emotional skills for the rest of a child’s life.

For the past year, the Early Education Initiative has been featuring education experts from across the country in our bi-weekly podcast. The podcasts touch on issues that we think warrant open and in-depth conversation, from paid leave policies in California to iPhone apps aimed at young kids.

Interested in listening (or re-listening) to a podcast? Podcasts can be streamed or downloaded from the posts below, or you can find them on iTunes by searching for the New America Foundation's podcast series:

This is the last in a series of podcasts this summer on California's laws for extended time off, with a special focus on the state's paid family leave program that enables new parents to take time off from work to bond with their babies.

This is the second in a series of podcasts this summer on California's laws for extended-time off, with a special focus on the state's paid family leave program that enables new parents to take time off from work to bond with their babies.

In 2004, California enacted the nation's first paid family leave program, which enables parents to take up to six weeks off to bond with a new child and still receive a paycheck for that period. The program is part of the state's disability insurance system and funded through an employee payroll tax so employers are not paying for their employees' time off.  (It also allows parents to take time off to care for a sick spouse, child or registered domestic partner.) 

Al-Suwaij joined the New America Foundation Thursday as part of a panel discussion about religion in the workplace and a new campaign called Workplace ...

When I worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble in the 1990s, we learned about the importance of connecting to one's customer. Over the past five years, the Republican Party has lost touch with its voting customers and its brand is in need of repair.

Poll after poll throughout the 2008 election cycle showed that on the issues that mattered most to Americans, voters favored Democrats over Republicans.

Americans instinctively revere the family as an institution that helps facilitate all other aspects of life. The family fosters attachments across generations, provides a nurturing environment in which to raise children, and is a means of transmitting values from one generation to the next. It is the foundation upon which our social contract has been built.

Both campaigns "defer a lot of costs in this area," said David Gray, director of the Workplace and Family Program for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C. "It's much more difficult to compare the cost-benefit" than with, say, health care.

Gray, who said it was "significant that you have a Republican doing anything in this area," noted that McCain's proposed commission would cost little to establish, and "if you don't implement any recommendations, there's no cost."