Happening now: Bold Ideas for a New Progressive Majority
We’re live today at the University of California Washington Center. This free event will be both in-person and live streamed. In-person, lunch will be provided and the Symposium will be followed by an evening reception. Join us live now!
Schedule
Registration and Coffee (9:00 – 10:00)
Opening Remarks & Reflections on Henry A. Wallace (10:00 – 10:20)
– Tope Folarin, Institute for Policy Studies
– Wallace Family Member, Wallace Global Fund
Creating an Economy that Empowers Working People (10:20 – 11:10)
– Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies
– Faiz Shakir, More Perfect Union
– Erica Smiley, Jobs with Justice
– Saket Soni, Resilience Force
Short Break (11:10 – 11:20)
Forging a New Coalition for a Just Climate Transition (11:20 – 12:10)
– Ben Beachy, Global Fund for a New Economy
– Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies
– Johanna Bozuwa, Climate and Community Institute
– Aru Shiney-Ajay, Sunrise Movement
Lunch (12:10 – 1:10)
Envisioning a New Role for the US in the World (1:10 – 2:10)
– Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
– Keane Bhatt, Congressional Progressive Caucus
– Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO
– Khury Petersen-Smith, Institute for Policy Studies
Special Address (2:10-2:30)
– Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA)
Short Break (2:30 – 2:40)
Strategy Breakouts (2:40 – 3:30)
Reaching Rural Communities through Powerful Organizing
– Kate Hess Pace, Hoosier Action
Activating Youth for Climate Justice
– Ennedith López, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action
– Feleecia Guillen, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action
Growing the Movement Against Militarism
– Lindsay Koshgarian, National Priorities Project
– Alliyah Lusuegro, National Priorities Project
– Savannah Wooten, Public Citizen
Short Break (3:30 – 3:40)
Defending and Reimagining Democracy (3:40 – 4:55)
– Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD)
– Tope Folarin, Institute for Policy Studies
– Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen
– Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic
Final Remarks (4:55 – 5:00)
– Tope Folarin, Institute for Policy Studies
Reception and Conversation (5:00 – 6:30)
All times approximate and subject to change
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This year’s Wallace Symposium is part of the Good Trouble Lives On mobilization and day of action across the U.S. on July 17 to honor the late civil rights champion Congressman John Lewis on the 5th anniversary of his passing and call for protection of vital civil rights and civil liberties in the face of threats to our democracy. Attendees are encouraged to join the evening march and rally in downtown DC following the Symposium. More information can be found here.
About the Wallace Symposium
The Institute for Policy Studies, alongside The Nation and Public Citizen, is hosting its second annual Wallace Symposium on Thursday, July 17th. This symposium is a capstone event of IPS’s Henry A. Wallace Fellowship Program, supported by the Wallace Global Fund.
As FDR’s vice president in 1944, Henry Wallace presciently warned about how racism, oligarchy, and media manipulation were nurturing the conditions for fascism in the United States. In order to defeat American fascism, Wallace wrote, we must boldly “go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic, and social democracy a practical reality.”
As the fascism Wallace warned about becomes a reality, progressive movements are fighting back on multiple fronts. But as Wallace pointed out, only a bold vision for the future can gather the forces necessary to preserve and rebuild our democratic institutions, rein in the oligarchs, and achieve a once-in-a-generation transformation.
How can we inspire the nation to build anew after the Trump administration? How can we replace the GOP’s cruel, militaristic budget for the few with a budget for people and the planet?
How do we expand democracy, transition to a green economy that lifts all workers, and advance a progressive rural agenda that actually comes from rural America? How can the U.S. be a good neighbor internationally, not a global cop or bad actor?
Bringing together elected officials, movement leaders, policy experts, and grassroots activists, this year’s Wallace Symposium will offer vigorous conversation about those big questions — and how to unite our different movements around the answers.
