About

Inclusion is a think tank dedicated to advancing a progressive, long-term vision for a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable world. Our current work focuses on identifying and promoting new ideas for better jobs, while stimulating and shaping the dialogue about improving low-wage work to benefit our economy, workers, and communities.

Key elements of our approach include:

• Developing big-picture ideas that foster social and economic inclusion, promoting long-term strategies for the adoption of such ideas, and speaking clearly about the values and principles that are the foundation of these ideas.
• Using innovative strategies to communicate and market progressive principles and thinkers in order to build a more favorable climate of public opinion for progressive ideas.
• Creating stronger linkages between the policy community and the movements that constitute elements of the broader progressive project, including labor, environment, and human rights.
• Developing talented and diverse new voices in public debate, particularly those who are tomorrow’s policy and media leaders.

A Different Approach

The Inclusion site takes an approach that is deliberately experimental by think-tank standards. The site combines conventional think-tank content—policy reports, data, charts and graphs—with blog-style opinion and information aggregation. The site allows readers to comment, not only on blog entries, but also on policy reports and other traditional content. We believe strongly that a think tank needs to be a forum for sharing and refining ideas, including ones that may not be fully formed, but could be helped along and improved by the insights of others.

Blog entries are written by Shawn Fremstad, Rachel Gragg, or Margy Waller, but we also invite guest bloggers to post their thoughts from time to time. In our blog entries we often take stands on issues and express opinions in a manner consistent with other leading generalist policy and political blog sites, such as TPM Café and TAPPED, as well as policy blog sites run by think tanks, including Education Sector's Eduwonk, OMB Watch's Budget Blog, and the Drum Major Institute's DMIBlog.

The opinions expressed in blog entries are those of the authors, and don’t represent the view of Inclusion as an organization, or the views of other organizations, unless expressly noted. You’ll even see that we don’t always agree with one another about various issues, despite sharing similar guiding values. Similarly, outgoing links do not constitute an endorsement. In fact, we make a conscious effort to link to sites and viewpoints that we disagree with so that readers can easily get both sides of the argument.

We encourage our readers to send in tips and other information that might be relevant, as well as more general feedback about the site and our approach. You can send tips and other feedback to tips@inclusionist.org.

Welcome to Inclusion. We hope you like it.

Founders

Shawn Fremstad is the interim Director of Bridging the Gaps at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and an adviser to several national non-profits on social and economic policy issues. He worked for many years at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, DC, and before that, as an attorney and policy specialist for legal aid programs in Minnesota. Shawn is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and has studied art and design at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

Rachel Gragg is the Director of Federal Policy for The Workforce Alliance, a Washington, DC-based national coalition of community-based organizations, community colleges, unions, business leaders, and local officials advocating for public policies that invest in the skills of America's workers. Prior to joining The Workforce Alliance, Rachel was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Community Change in Washington, DC. Rachel also worked as a senior policy advisor to former U.S. Senator Paul D. Wellstone (D-MN), where her portfolio included a number of issues affecting low-income workers and their families. Rachel was the 1999 American Sociological Association (ASA) Congressional Fellow. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington.

Margy Waller is Director of The Mobility Agenda. Previously she was Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, with a joint appointment in the Economic Studies and Metropolitan Policy programs. Prior to Brookings, she was Senior Advisor on domestic policy in the Clinton-Gore White House. Before joining the Administration, Margy was Senior Fellow for Social Policy and Director of the Working Families Project at the Progressive Policy Institute. She also served as Director of Public Policy at United Way of America, and Director of Policy Development at Public/Private Ventures in Philadelphia, and a congressional fellow in the office of U.S. Representative Eric Fingerhut (D-OH). Margy has written extensively on low-wage work and transportation issues, with a particular focus on access to private vehicle transportation options. She received her BS in communication studies at Northwestern University and a law degree from The Ohio State University.

Opinions expressed on Inclusion are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of any organization the author is affiliated with.

Our CMS

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