Our Sacred Union: A Conversation with Eboo Patel, Megan McArdle, and Shadi Hamid
Our Sacred Union: A Conversation with Eboo Patel, Megan McArdle, and Shadi Hamid
The day after this year’s State of the Union address, how can a deeper vision of public pluralism inform the way we think about populism, DEI on American campuses, and religious diversity? 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, how does American democracy get stronger again? Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America, and Washington Post columnists Megan McArdle and Shadi Hamid give a big-think assessment of religious pluralism and how democratic life calls on all of us to do our part.
This event is organized by the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program.
Economic Opportunities Program: Worker- and Community-Led Strategies for a Fairer Economy
Workers and communities know very well what good jobs – or bad jobs – look like, because they live this reality every day. Yet our labor market and policies are often designed without the input or leadership of workers or the communities they live in.
As a result, even well-intentioned efforts to create better working conditions and a more equitable economy can fall short for similar reasons. So what does it look like to have workers and their communities at the helm of job quality strategy and advocacy?
Join the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on Thursday, March 5, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Zoom, for the second in its four-part event series on Fixing Work in the South. Drawing on the work of EOP’s Job Quality Fellows, this conversation — Worker- and Community-Led Strategies for a Fairer Economy — explores what kind of progress is possible when we lean on the expertise of workers and communities to inform strategy and empower them to shape a labor market that works for everyone.
Moderated by EOP Senior Research Associate Amanda Fins, attendees will hear from Job Quality Fellows Cecilia Behgam (Texas Climate Jobs Project), Kelly Brooks (Civic Works), Maya Ragsdale (Beyond the Bars), and Ben Wilkins (Union of Southern Service Workers).
Redefining Student Engagement: From Student Voice to Co-Agency
Join the Aspen Institute Cross-Partisan Education Policy Network for "From Student Voice to Co-Agency", the first webinar in a three-part series on redefining student engagement. Explore how students and adults can move beyond tokenism toward true shared power, drawing on student perspectives, emerging research, and examples of authentic governance that strengthen education systems and civic trust.
Low Fertility & Fiscal Sustainability: Effects of Fertility Rates on the US Federal Budget Outlook
Luke Pardue, Policy Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, discusses the paper he co-wrote with Lisa Dettling, Principal Economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, “Low Fertility and Fiscal Sustainability: The Effects of Past and Future Fertility Rates on the US Federal Budget Outlook.” The paper is part of the AESG’s new series, “Demographic Headwinds: The Economic Consequences of Lower Birth Rates and Longer Lives.”
The Age Divide in the American Workplace
Nicola Bianchi, Associate Professor of Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, discusses the findings of the paper he co-wrote with Matteo Paradisi, Assistant Professor at the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, “The Age Divide in the American Workplace.” The paper is part of the AESG’s new series, “Demographic Headwinds: The Economic Consequences of Lower Birth Rates and Longer Lives.”
The Environmental Benefits of Low Fertility and Population Decline are Overstated
Kevin Kuruc, Assistant Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, discusses the findings of his paper, “The Environmental Benefits of Low Fertility and Population Decline are Overstated.” The paper is part of the AESG’s new series, “Demographic Headwinds: The Economic Consequences of Lower Birth Rates and Longer Lives.”
Implications of Low Fertility & Declining Populations for Operations of US State & Local Governments
Jeffrey Clemens, Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the findings of his paper, “Implications of Low Fertility and Declining Populations for the Operations of US State and Local Governments.” The paper is part of the AESG’s new series, “Demographic Headwinds: The Economic Consequences of Lower Birth Rates and Longer Lives.”
Michigan is Moving Forward With Families
Momentum is building in Michigan to advance family affordability, economic mobility, and stability. This video features leaders across philanthropy, government, business, and community who are working together to move from ideas to action, grounded in listening to families and investing in what works.
This effort is part of Forward With Families, a multi-year strategy powered by Ascend at the Aspen Institute. Forward With Families builds on 15 years of advancing two-generation approaches and aligns leaders, policy, and investment around proven solutions so families can move forward with dignity, stability, and opportunity, not someday but now.
2024 NATO Youth Summit: Full Day Stream (Stockholm + Miami)
Immerse yourself in the dynamic energy of the 2024 NATO Youth Summit, a collaborative effort between NATO, The Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Romania, the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency. Taking place across the Atlantic in Miami, Florida (US) and Stockholm (Sweden) with watch parties around the world, this event delves deep into the most pressing global issues of interest to youths.
The summit serves as a platform to engage, build links, enhance understanding, exchange views, and explore how the transatlantic Alliance addresses current and future challenges.
The NATO Youth Summit 2024 starts in the morning of May 13th in Stockholm, Sweden, and continues on the same day in Miami, Florida.
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Building New Narratives on Work and Opportunity in the US South
Narratives about work in the American South have often centered on attracting business through lower labor costs, restrictions on unionization, and deregulation. The Southern economic development model, as this approach has come to be known, promised broad growth and prosperity.
That prosperity has not materialized for most. Many workers and communities in the South have been left behind, with some regions experiencing poverty rates well above the national average.
Narratives shape public perception, policy, and practice. They can also be challenged and changed. Across the South today, workers, business owners, and communities are advancing a new vision, reframing what opportunity and good work look like and who gets to share in economic success.
This event — hosted on February 19, 2026, by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — is the first of four conversations with members of our Job Quality Fellowship who are working in the South. In it, we examine narrative challenges around work and opportunity, highlight strategies for change, and explore how to amplify approaches rooted in worker dignity, quality jobs, and community wealth-building.
Our speakers include Shuh-Marraka Johnson (Principal Consultant, Deep South Strategies, LLC), Dom Kelly (Founder, President, and CEO, New Disabled South), Rachel Merfalen (Interim Executive Director, Tennessee State Center of Employee Ownership; Founder, Good Future), Alexis Tsoukalis (Senior Policy Analyst, Florida Policy Institute), and moderator Matt Helmer (Director, Job Quality and Worker Well-Being, Economic Opportunities Program, The Aspen Institute).
For more information about this event, including a transcript, speaker bios, and additional resources, visit: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/building-new-narratives-on-work-and-opportunity-in-the-us-south/
For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AspenEOP
Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go: https://pod.link/1503944129
To learn more about the Job Quality Fellowship Class of 2025-26: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/job-quality-fellowship/class-of-2025-26/
This event is part of our Job Quality in Practice series: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/series/job-quality-in-practice-webinar-series/
2024 NATO Youth Summit: Full Day Stream (Stockholm + Miami)
Immerse yourself in the dynamic energy of the 2024 NATO Youth Summit, a collaborative effort between NATO, The Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Romania, the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency. Taking place across the Atlantic in Miami, Florida (US) and Stockholm (Sweden) with watch parties around the world, this event delves deep into the most pressing global issues of interest to youths.
The summit serves as a platform to engage, build links, enhance understanding, exchange views, and explore how the transatlantic Alliance addresses current and future challenges.
The NATO Youth Summit 2024 starts in the morning of May 13th in Stockholm, Sweden, and continues on the same day in Miami, Florida.
Follow us on social media for more big ideas:
On YouTube: @aspeninstitute
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aspeninstit...
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AspenInstitute/
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On X: https://twitter.com/AspenInstitute
Winter Words with Susan Orlean - Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Bestselling author and beloved New Yorker writer Susan Orlean will discuss “Joyride,” a magic carpet ride through her life and career. The book is also a time machine to a bygone era of journalism, from Orlean’s bright start in the golden age of alt-weeklies to her career-making days working alongside icons such as Tina Brown, David Remnick, Anna Wintour and other forces who shaped the media industry as we know it today. “Joyride” is a must-read for anyone who hungers to start, build and sustain a creative life. Orlean inspires us to seek out daily inspiration and rediscover the marvels that surround us.
Moderated by Christine Benedetti
Susan Orlean is the New York Times bestselling author of “Joyride,” “The Library Book,” “Rin Tin Tin,” “Saturday Night,” and “The Orchid Thief,” which was made into the Academy Award–winning film “Adaptation,” among others. She has been called “a national treasure” by The Washington Post and “a latter-day Tocqueville” by The New York Times. Her deeply moving explorations of American stories both familiar and obscure have earned her a reputation as one of America’s most distinctive journalistic voices. A staff writer for The New Yorker for over 30 years and a former contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Vogue, she has been praised as “an exceptional essayist” (Publishers Weekly) and a writer who “approaches her subjects with intense curiosity and fairness” (Bookmarks).
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