New America in California: Recent and Upcoming Events

craigslist.org may be the only site where you can get anything you need for life cheap, or even for free. The free community classifieds service, launched as an email listserv for San Franciscans in 1995, helps over 50 million monthly users find homes, jobs, cars, stuff, spouses, friends and flings. The site's simple design and old age (in Internet company years) hasn't kept it from being at the pulse of online life. craigslist is one of the top internet websites registering over 13 billion page views per… more

Too many Angelenos lack a basic financial tool – a bank account. Without one they pay more to cash their paychecks, pay their bills, and don't have a safe place to keep their money. And a bank account is the first step onto the ladder of affordable financial services people need throughout their lives. Without one, it’s harder to build credit and get well-priced car loans and mortgages – the exact financial tools needed to plan ahead and climb… more

California, most of the state's citizens believe, is headed in the wrong direction. As California has lurched over the last two decades from budget crisis to policy gridlock, a growing number of Californians across the political spectrum have concluded that the state is simply ungovernable under its current constitutional system.  

California may receive a large and rapid investment from the federal stimulus package. How will these funds influence California's green economy? How will they help the state face its many challenges in areas such as housing, infrastructure, and the environment?

For event video and handouts, please visit the PPIC website.

In the context of a State budget crisis, declining property values, and the concomitant decline in revenues for local governments in California, Michael Coleman of CaliforniaCityFinance.com and Mark Paul of New America Foundation will discuss the current state of affairs related to the state budget and the potential implications for local governments. 

Please join us on January 13, 2009, for the sixth California Working Families Policy Summit, hosted by the California Center for Research on Women and Families for a stimulating day of discussion and debate about the needs and aspirations of California's working families.

On Wednesday, December 17th, the Bipartisan Asset Policy Forum hosted American Dream 2.0: Safe & Sound First-Time Homeownership Strategies for California Working Families, a dynamic lunchtime discussion on how public policy can encourage wealth-building in California to bring homeownership opportunities into reach for working families across our state.

This half-day symposium addressed the distinct economic and cultural differences among our state's regions, highlighted the pioneering work that has been done to improve economic development and land-use decisions at the regional level, and offered a series of new policy proposals to improve regional political accountability and coordination.

Volatile energy costs are a concern for every California family-particularly the millions of households for whom every extra dollar spent on energy comes at the expense of other necessities and the ability to save. For these families, securing affordable energy would result in savings that could be used for short- or long-term investments. In a cruel twist, the people most in need of relief from high energy costs are those least able to afford the longer-term investments that… more

New America's Climate Policy Program was a major organizer and sponsor of the Governors' Global Climate Summit, held Nov. 18-19 in Los Angeles, which broght together leaders from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, the EU and other key regions of the world. Via taped message, President-Elect Obama used the summit to make his first statement on climate change -- declaring that he would establish annual targets to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020… more

The California Latino Legislative Caucus Foundation, in partnership with the New America Foundation, invites you to a special policy summit intended to educate legislators and Californians on the most pressing public policy issues facing our state.

Little can be more important to California's emerging Latino majority and Californians as a whole than the health and vitality of our economy. This is a vital issue for today and for the future. In this summit we will bring together members of the Legislature and… more

The California labor market has experienced drastic transformation and further change is expected as the workforce ages, immigration continues, and the gap between the earnings of skilled workers and those lacking education widens.

Ninety-seven years ago this month (October 1911), Californians -- egged on by Progressive reformers -- added the recall, the referendum, and the initiative to the state constitution. As California completes its first century of direct democracy and prepares to vote on another ballot crowded with measures, is it time to reform the reform?

Come hear more about the book that Studs Terkel calls "revelatory and stunning"; that Anthony Lewis praises for providing "a dramatic glimpse of a dark American past"; that Publishers Weekly says "artfully weaves the personal and the political" in a way that "readers will find engaging on more than one level." Rick Wartzman, Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, will lecture on his new book, "Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John… more

Join us at the next Asset Policy Forum, a series designed to inform policymakers, legislative staffers, and advocates about asset-building research, data, and policies.

The price for higher education continues to rise. As government and institutional aid fails to keep pace with increased costs, fewer families can expect to afford higher out-of-pocket education expenses. For families wary of taking… more

The rise of other global powers is a profound new reality of today’s world. As headlines remind us nearly everyday, China, India, Russia, as well as the European Union, Japan, and others are rapidly gaining strength and influence. How should the U.S. navigate this new world landscape? Does the rise of these powers represent an ideological challenge or an economic boom? Will global warming convince us we are all in the same boat? The Next World conference will explore… more

The UC Center Sacramento and the New America Foundation would like to invite you to a forum on Revenue and Taxation Policy in California. As California continues to struggle with an overdue budget and record shortfalls, we hope to foster a dynamic, engaging and interactive discussion on how California generates revenue and how we might go forward in tough economic and budgetary times. Our session will feature Kirk J. Stark, Professor of Law at UCLA. Mark Paul, Senior Scholar at… more