Blueprint for Millennial America

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Made possible with generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.This report would not have been possible without support from the MacArthur Foundation and the National Academy of Social Insurance, the assistance of

Roosevelt Campus Network sta!, and the many talented young people who helped analyze Think 2040 data and provide Millennial policy solutions, including:

C!"#$%&'#!$()#!)#*+)B,'+-$%"#Grayson Cooper,

Lead Policy Strategist for EducationKirsten Hill, Senior Fellow

Je! RainesFelicia Afuan

Ryan AndersonDavid Weinberger,

Lead Policy Strategist for Energy and the EnvironmentLydia Bowers, Senior Fellow Riley Wyman, Senior Fellow

Michael Tracht, Senior Fellow Weston LaabsCory ConnollyKelly Ste!enJosh Cro!

Theresa Gasinki Rocky Cole,

Lead Policy Strategist for Defense and DiplomacyCaleb Gayle, Senior Fellow

Jacob Helberg Charlie Piggo"Rachel Teco"Justin Metz

Anita Sonawane, Lead Policy Strategist for Economic Development

Katie Tu, Senior Fellow Chris Esposo, Senior Fellow

Zachary AgushChristopher MacDonald

Joe Shure Rohan Mathew

Sara John, Lead Policy Strategist for Healthcare

David SilverJake Grumbach

Erik Singh, Lead Policy Strategist for Equal JusticeJoelle Gamble

Bhavin Patel, Senior FellowMilad Alucozai

P.$#"+$(/)C!,,+.0'+(/)S'--!$#+$(Valerie ChangMike StegmanAndrew RichShanti Nayak

Lynn ParramoreMorley Winograd

Mike HaisPamela LarsonVirginia Reno

Elizabeth LammeDeric JoynerBen Veghte

Catalina Ruiz-HealyRappaport Family Foundation

Lucy MayoJohn Irons

Lawrence MishelSimon Rosenberg

Lois FuBryna Helfer

Rebecca ThompsonMichael Moschella

Eric KingsonNancy AltmanAlex LawsonRoger HickeyKarlo Marcelo

Angela PeoplesEduardo GarciaAnne Roosevelt

Joe BarrowAlison OversethMarian Breeze

Sarah Fitz-Randolph BrownTed Fertig

Ma"ie Hu"onDavid Merchant

Neil ProtoManpriya Samra

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Hilary DoeKurston CookReese Neader

Zachary KolodinTarsi Dunlop

C.3-'()N+#4!$2)F%+,6)T+.3Amy Baral

Cecille BernsteinAsher Hecht

Aaron GoldsteinRory Silver

Meg McGillivrayAndrew Burne"

Adam JuthaAmy Li"leton

Audrey HenkelsValiant Lowitz,

Vicki Peng,Zach GlasserJoshua JuddErika Solanki,

Amreen RahmanAthena Myers

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the

Roosevelt Institute, its o#cers, or its directors.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.

The Roosevelt Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization. This volume is available free of charge in print and online.

THE!ROOSEVELT!CAMPUS!NETWORK!PRESENTS

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Hilary Doe and Zachary KolodinEditors

Made possible with generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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I=..I'(%2-"+(&2';.W1)(.W#’%#.U$.A7)&',(.)'-.W1)(.W#’%#.D2&'7.A/2"(.I(Millennials are the largest generation in American history, and will constitute 33 percent of the eligible electorate by 2016.1 As we take our first steps into the “real world” — graduating college, forming our political beliefs, launching our careers, even beginning families — the United States is mired in a deep economic crisis, forcing all of us to reflect on the future that we will inherit. Amid this culture of political gridlock, young people across the country have joined together to design a Blueprint for the Millennial America — a vision for the country that reflects our shared priorities and our unique experiences. And we’re taking action today to start achieving it. We are defining what it means for our nation to flourish and creating the country we want to inherit.

Past generations have made incredible progress — women’s rights, a superpower economy, the Civil Rights movement, and extraordinary advances in tech-nology. But they have also le( Millennials, young people born between 1980 and 2000, with looming federal debt, historically high wealth disparity, alarming environmental concerns, unstable foreign relations, years of endless war, suburban sprawl, and underperforming healthcare and education systems. In many major measures — our commitment to human rights, educational achievement, average income, and life expectancy among others — America is falling behind.2 The challenges facing our generation are arguably greater than those faced by any other in America’s history. Maybe this is why so much has been said about us on our behalf — debates about whether we are “Generation Me” or “Generation We,” civic-minded or self-involved, functionally illiterate or hyper-informed, engaged or apathetic, reactionary or progressive. In March 2010, we started a movement — Think 2040 — to express, with our own voices, our American dream.

Thousands of Millennials nationwide have already contributed to this generational vision. It’s clear that despite being privileged in some ways, we are not a typical “boom” generation. We feel the current recession. It hurts. We remember the a)acks on September 11th. We feel the e*ects of skyrocketing college tuition, with average student debt having reached $24,000 for the Class of 2009.3 We are more underinsured than any other age group, face unemployment rates above 25 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and are still searching for the return on our educational investments. We are struggling, but we are optimistic. We are diverse and socially empathetic. We are demanding sweeping change, and acting locally. We are changing the system from the inside, employing ourselves, thinking long-term, and imagining a more equal, accessible, empowered, and community-minded 2040 America. Meet the Millennial America.

Photo by Sean Emerson Gordon-Marvin

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II=..M#(12-2!270Claiming to speak on behalf of an entire generation? It’s bold, frankly, and nearly impossible. But to really get a sense of our generation’s values and priorities, we wanted people to interact with each other in their “natural state,” as they thought about their country’s future. A simple survey would be too discrete and distant. It wouldn’t allow for creativity, reflect deliberation between competing priorities, or reveal the intricacies in Millennials’ opinions. Knowing this, we dreamed up the Think 2040 forum — an opportunity for young people to be idealistic, ambitious, and innovative in envisioning America’s future. Then we ranked our values and priorities and brainstormed how we, as a generation, can achieve our shared vision.

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Hundreds gathered in rooms from Georgia to Illinois to Massachuse)s to tell us what they wanted America to look like in 2040. We know we didn’t talk to every Millennial. But the Millennials we spoke to were thoughtful, diverse, and commi)ed to reshaping America.

T1#.M#(12-Why didn’t we use a traditional survey method? Mainly because we have found that Millennials respond more honestly and are more interested in participating when they are given agency to speak for themselves rather than given a predetermined list of options. We also wanted Think 2040 to empower young people to begin taking action on the issues dearest to them, instead of only extracting information from them and analyzing their preferences. Besides, the Roosevelt Insti-tute Campus Network was founded on the belief that America can benefit tremendously from young people’s unique, innovative, and sometimes groundbreaking ideas — ideas that couldn’t easily be absorbed through a traditional survey.

So, we designed Think 2040 forums. Each forum began by underscoring the importance of Millennial leadership in tackling the challenges we face: growing national debt, environmental crisis, and economic instability, among others. We then asked groups to exchange visions for the future, discuss their values, and agree upon their top priorities for 2040. With their shared vision in mind, we confronted them with the reality of today’s America — through our Think 2040 cur-riculum — and asked them to begin charting a path forward from where we are to the future we want. Millennials responded with more gusto than we could have imagined. Roosevelt members took the challenge back to their campuses and designed progressive, new solutions to address the challenges facing their communities and move us closer to our vision for America.

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i. Demographic information available for in-person participants only.

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The SpecificsDuring each forum, we brought young people together in groups to discuss elements of their 2040 vision in 15-20 minute blocks (see Figure 3). Then, we exposed participants to a snapshot of the state of America today. We encouraged them to struggle with the reality of 2010, confront the tradeo*s between their priorities, consider the barriers to achieving their vision, and ultimately chart the next steps towards achieving their goals. The Think 2040 curriculum used multimedia to visually represent the state of 2010 America. The curriculum included information on our growing wage /productivity gap, declining union membership, the recent housing and wealth bubble, rates of high school and college graduation, declining student grant aid, increased health care costs as a portion of federal spending, lagging health care quality relative to other developed countries, American misconceptions about foreign aid, demographic changes, income inequality, information on how Americans retire, a snapshot of Social Security assets and beneficiaries, our growing public debt, and a look at America’s energy portfolio.ii

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ii. For more information on the Think 2040 curriculum, visit www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org or contact [email protected] to request a copy.

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III=...A.V&,&2'.62%.(1#.M&!!#''&)!.A*#%&+)The Millennial America — uncovered through the visioning phase of Roosevelt’s Think 2040 project (“Phase 1”) — reflects the experiences of the Millennial gen-eration, the values we hold most dear, and the priorities that emanate from those values. As a result, the Blueprint for the Millennial America is ambitious, pro-gressive, and wide in scope. We recognize that in order to answer the toughest questions (How can we work within America’s budget constraints? How will we reconcile the tradeo*s inherent in pursuing our vision?), we must delve deeper and begin working toward our goals — something we will do in the action phase of Think 2040 (“Phase 2”). However, this Blueprint is a critical first step — portraying the future as Millennials would have it. It paints a picture that uniquely repre-sents the world Millennials aspire to create: more accessible, more equitable, more community-driven, more entrepreneurial, more inclusive, and be)er prepared to tackle the long-term challenges our country faces.

T1#.M&!!#''&)!.E<$#%&#'+#.When we asked Millennials in our Think 2040 forums which events had most transformed their political perspective and shaped their priorities, we saw a snap-shot of the Millennial experience. Some of the most frequent answers included the a)acks of September 11, 2001 (16 percent), and above all else, the Great Reces-sion (41 percent). We are not a boom generation. Our passage into adulthood has been marked by natural disasters, times of economic hardship, and the longest war fought in U.S. history. And our perspective has been fundamentally shaped by the Internet, which has made us hyper-informed and constantly connected the events around the world. In fact, the rise of Facebook was the second most common response to the question of which events most shaped the Millennial

generation (28 percent).

The Internet Age has informed the way that we like to be engaged — we prefer forums where we can insert our own comments, share ideas, and see results. Millennials are inclined to activism, prepared to create the change they want to see in the world. We experiment with new mediums to create change in the most e*ective way possible — leaning heavily on both the growing online community of activists and the age-old neighborhood com-munication channels to amplify our voices

O"%.V)!"#,People don’t typically walk into a room of 60 ready to share their core values. But we felt that digging deeply to outline the values that underlie Millennial priorities for America would go a long way toward helping us un-derstand the common threads uniting this diverse generation. We asked participants to begin by brainstorming priorities for the Millennial America — and then thinking about which values animated that vision.

Out of over 800 Think 2040 participants in our breakout groups, three core values of the Millennial generation emerged: a deeply held concern for equity, respect for the individual and society, and a belief in community empowerment and self-determination. Naturally, participants mentioned other important values, which are il-lustrated throughout the Blueprint for the Millennial America. As policymakers, community organizers, and other leaders seek to cra( solutions to the problems facing their communities and their country, these should be used as a benchmark. A concern for equity, respect, and belief in community self-determination will not lead America to a liberal or conservative outcome. Rather, these values can ensure that no ma)er what ideological perspective we adopt, we can stay true to the ways in which the Millennial generation seeks to shape their world.

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O"%.V&,&2'.62%.A*#%&+).&'.89:9We have developed an ambitious 22-point agenda that encapsulates our vision for America’s future. Millennials want to build an America that continues to be a model for the world in terms of innovation, productivity, and strength. But that isn’t all: this generation wants America to be a moral leader as well. That means building a system that produces more goods while ensuring more equitable outcomes, fights global warming while still delivering returns to energy companies, and provides a trampo-line back to stability for its displaced workers while embodying fiscal sustainability.

The Millennial vision starts with reforming the foundations of our economy and de-mocracy: the American education system. America must commit serious resources not only to improving K-12 education in the aggregate, but also to closing the socioeco-nomic achievement gap. For successful students, the states and federal government must adequately ensure college access and a?ordability, even among lower-income students. The Blueprint proceeds to discuss how we must restructure our economy to deal with the reality of global warming. The Millennials we spoke to called for the U.S. to coordinate a global response to climate change that accounts for the most vulnerable people in both America and the rest of the world. Dealing with the chal-lenge of climate change represents a remarkable opportunity for Americans to live more conscientiously: from eating healthy, local food to ge>ing a job building green infrastructure, the changes necessary to accommodate this unprecedented shi@ can also make us healthier and more prosperous.

From there, the Blueprint moves to an overview of restructuring the systems that govern our economic life: our healthcare system, our social safety net, and our banking system. We recommend saving money on our federal healthcare programs by emphasizing a culture of wellness and prevention. Furthermore, by building a social safety net for the 21st century, we can ensure that displaced workers become taxpaying breadwinners again more quickly, thereby alleviating chronic burdens on the welfare system. Although Millennials recognize the diAculty of finding a path to fiscal sustainability, we believe that America can get its budget back on track while still working to actively build the kind of dynamic, well-educated workforce that the 21st century demands.

Finally, the Blueprint calls for improvements in our democracy and our diplomacy. From reducing the influence of money in American politics to developing thriving interna-tional institutions that can meet global challenges like climate change and genocide, the United States can make bold strides toward preserving its military strength while also reassuming its place as a moral beacon in the world.

The Millennial Blueprint represents a remarkable collection of priorities shared by the largest-ever generation of Americans. Millennials already vote at higher rates than ear-lier generations did at a comparable age. The potent combination of this generation’s size and our political involvement ensures that the ideas outlined here will occupy the center of American political culture for decades to come. The Blueprint also provides powerful insight into the principles Millennials will use as they grow into policy-making roles. We know that America faces diAcult tradeo?s in the coming years, and that compromise is inevitable. The Blueprint o?ers guidance into how Millennials might deal with these decisions, while focusing mainly on describing the outcomes we seek. We will delve more deeply into how to turn this Blueprint into reality in the next phase of our work.

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IV=..E-"+)(&2'.&'.(1#.M&!!#''&)!.A*#%&+)America’s education challenges are not abstract ideas to Millennials. Poor preparation for college, mounting student debt, and rampant underperformance are our problems — we’ve experienced them firsthand. Millennials see educational a>ainment as the key to opportunity and abundance. We know that an achieve-ment gap exists between poorer non-white students and more a:uent, white Americans. We recognize that in comparison to suburban schools, America’s urban and rural schools lag behind. We know that the current American system produces unequal opportunities, and we are commi>ed to changing that. In doing so, however, Millennials do not want American schools to lose their creativity and civic function in order to meet state and national standards. Rather, Millennials lean strongly toward an innovative mix of federal incentives and local power, creativity, and ingenuity to revitalize American education.

In the Millennial America, first-rate education is the norm, not the exception.

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A=.E!&*&')(#.(1#.S2+&2#+2'2*&+.A+1&#3#*#'(.G)$..Millennials in Think 2040 forums identified the need to close the socioeconomic achievement gap as their highest prior-ity in education; 41% percent of Think 2040 breakout groups cited it as their highest priority in education. Leveling the playing field begins at the earliest stages of American education. Studies have shown that a great kindergarten education — complete with motivated teachers and a well-researched, rigorous curriculum — can go a long way toward reducing the socioeconomic disparities in student outcomes. Some studies estimate the monetary return to society for investing in a quality kindergarten education as high as 16 to 1.4 By providing federally funded and state-regulated pre-kindergarten and kindergarten education to all American children, we can begin to close the gap and move towards our 2040 vision. More importantly, early childhood education advances achievement through the rest of a child’s development.

B=.I*$%23#.S("-#'(.O"(+2*#,.62%.K-B8.E-"+)(&2'As Millennials enter college, we see firsthand how the American education system has failed to adequately prepare many students for higher education and participation in a skill-based economy. While we might not know that American students are ranked 19th in math among developed countries, we’ve almost certainly met talented young people who failed out of college due to poor preparation — even a(er a history of excellence in high school.5 Millennials want an American K-12 sys-tem that raises not only high school graduation rates and college enrollment, but college graduation rates — and not just in districts with high-performing high schools. Millennials want American education to be the best in the world, and envision a 2040 where the education system serves all students well (41% percent of Think 2040 breakout groups cited it as their highest priority in education).

America’s education challenges are not abstract ideas to Millennials.We’ve seen them first-hand.

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C=.I*$%23#.C2!!#7#.A++#,,.)'-.A662%-)/&!&(0Millennials believe that any student who aspires to a)end college should have access to the resources to do so; ~17% of breakout groups volunteered higher education access as a priority. To make this a reality, we must invest in critical resources for students, including career planning and assistance with financial aid. Qualified students of lower socioeconomic status o(en choose not to a)end college because they haven’t taken standardized tests, are averse to borrowing money, or feel intimidated by the sticker price of tuition and the process of applying for financial aid. Even those that do a)end o(en se)le for a program that is less selective than those they were qualified for, partially because they didn’t apply to multiple schools whose levels of selectivity were appropriate to their ability. High-achieving students a)ending lower-standing colleges re-ceive fewer later-life benefits from their schools, and have lower four-year and overall graduation rates.6

To increase college a)endance and improve college/student fit among students of lower socioeconomic status, policymak-ers must encourage college access programs. One example, the Strive for College Collaborative (www.striveforcollege.org), employs volunteer college students to advise high school juniors and seniors through the college application process.

Reduce disparities among students entering kindergarten; focus on ar-eas such as vocabulary, basic literacy, and numeracy.

Reduce achievement gaps among the highest performing students.

Provide funding to equalize and improve available resources & oppor-tunities.

Increase kindergarten enrollment nationally, and reduce disparities between districts.

Reduce distribution variance of e,ective teachers across school districts.

Raise the percentage of low-income students who can successfully qualify for and enroll in two- and four-year institutions.

Raise the number of match schools to which low-income status students apply.

Lower average student debt burden.

Improve the national high school graduation rate.

Raise the percentage of students graduating high school who are prepared for a four-year college.

Raise the percentage of National Board Certified Teachers who had significant college work in the sub-ject they instruct.

Improve post-graduation income and job placement rates for vocational program graduates, including those with only a high school diploma.

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M&!!#''&)!-G#'#%)(#-.P2!&+0.R#+2**#'-)(&2',1. “Funding for College Counseling in the U.S.”

by Grayson Cooper, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Funding for college counseling in the U.S. fails to meet the demand for counseling services. The average student-to-counselor ratio is well above the 100:1 ratio suggested by the National Association of College Admission Counselors , and reaches as high as 1000:1 in high-poverty schools. As every student should have the opportunity to a)end a four-year university, college counselors are essential in advising students on their options. Students who are overqualified to a)end the college or university where they enroll — a phenomenon known as “undermatch” — have lower four-year and overall graduation rates. Many students who “undermatch” did so because they failed to apply for more than one match school. Investing in college counseling and expanding college access programs will help move us towards our goals for the Millennial America.

2. “Advanced Placement Reform” by Felicia Afuan, Ryan Anderson, and Je! Raines, American UniversityAlthough students o(en look to Advanced Placement courses as the most rigorous their school has to o*er, AP classes frequently fail to adequately prepare students for a college-level coursework. AP reform would entail increasing AP courses’ rigor and similarity to a college course. This e*ort would help prepare students for the expectations of college, rather than simply providing them with the knowledge that will exempt them from a university course. Additionally, adding elevated scoring categories would also encourage more selective institutions to accept AP exam scores for either credit or placement. Measuring the e*ectiveness of AP reform would be established by determining the percentage of students with a given AP grade that eventually earn college credit, and by looking at these students’ grades in the subsequent college course.

In 2008, Mickey Landry, the Head of School for Lafaye>e Academy — a public Recovery School District (RSD) charter school — told a conference of Roosevelt members and Tulane students that he was disappointed in the amount of university student involvement at his school. He felt that university students could serve as great role models for his students. Recognizing the much-needed individualized at-tention and literacy support that university students could provide, Kirsten Hill, a 2010 alumna of Roosevelt’s Tulane chapter, approached Mr. Landry a@er his panel and proposed starting a volunteer, university-partnered reading program at his school. “I’m not sure if he really took me seriously at first, but based on my experience volunteering at another school in New Orleans, I knew the incredible di?erence university students could make…and I was determined to bring this opportunity to his school and students,” Kirsten said.

Over the next semester, Kirsten researched university-partnered reading programs with the Tulane chapter and wrote a proposal for Mr. Landry. Her program was ap-proved that spring, and with Lafaye>e Academy’s volunteer coordinator Lynn Loewy, Kirsten set up the volunteer materials and space for Lafaye>e Academy’s reading room. In August 2008 the program premiered with 50 university volunteers, serving approximately 150 students. With the help of Ashoka-U and a team of dedicated Tulane students, the program has developed into an ongoing initiative: Students Improving Literacy Abound (SILA), a community partnership between Tulane students and strug-gling local elementary schools that places university students with public school students as personal tutors and mentors. The program invokes universities’ duties to the communities around them, gives university students a stake in the local public education system, and fosters shared ownership over the community’s success.

Since its founding, the size of the Lafaye>e Academy Reading Room has nearly doubled. For her e?orts, Kirsten was recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) and was invited to a>end CGIU’s annual conference in 2008 and 2009. Through a Roosevelt National Education Initiative, Kirsten and other young people are work-ing to found additional university-public school partnerships and implement similar programs in other public schools across the country. “The power that we, as students, have to drastically improve our local education systems…is truly incredible. I hope to see many more universities participate in SILA, taking ownership of their communities and improving … the school experience for public school students,” Kirsten said.

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V=..E'#%70.)'-.(1#.E'3&%2'*#'(.&'.(1#.M&!!#''&)!.A*#%&+)Millennials approach America’s environmental problems with the same set of values that informs their broader vision for America. They feel that environmental challenges fundamentally alter the texture of their communities, and see these challenges as deeply personal. Millennials in our Think 2040 conversations dis-cussed their deep respect for our natural environment. In our conversations, it was clear that Millennials support policies that respect the environment, while also respecting the needs of America’s communities. We should consider the costs of our actions on communities nationwide — from the coal towns of West Virginia to our blustery coastlines, ripe for wind-energy development.

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iii. For IPCC indicators on infrastructure vulnerabil-ity, please see h!p://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assess-ment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter19.pdf

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Millennials rarely saw successful mitigation of climate change as their primary objective (~7% mentioned it without prompting), but when asked about the underlying reasons for their priorities, mitigating climate change emerged from 24 percent of breakout groups. In addition to pre-venting or reversing climate change, Millennials also recognize the impor-tance of adapting to the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change. They agree that all levels of government must act immediately to implement sustainability policies. Emissions-reduction frameworks can decrease greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the most devastating consequences; coastal cities should invest to mitigate the e?ects of ris-ing sea levels and severe weather. Through this dual approach, Millen-nial America will be prepared for the threats that climate change presents, and prepared to stop or reverse its e?ects moving forward.

Appalled by the record income in-equality in America10 and the de-moralizing decline of America’s in-dustrial sector,11 Millennials imagine a labor market in which the most hotly sought-a@er jobs are in the green sec-tor; ~24 percent cited creating green jobs as their top priority among envi-ronmental issues.vi

The rise of new forms of manufactur-ing and production represents a new hope for the Millennial Generation. This group imagines a middle-class resurgence that will take America through the 21st century, decreasing unemployment, promoting long-term sustainable development, and ensur-ing equitable access to green jobs across geographic, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. An investment in the green jobs sector today will yield a stronger and more sustainable America in 2040.

A be>er food system is central to im-proving public health, reducing our carbon footprint, and revitalizing lo-cal economies in Millennial America; ~14 percent identify it as a top pri-ority. Given Millennials’ core values of equity and community empower-ment, their concern for food-system imbalances and food security is not surprising. They want a future where all people, regardless of ethnicity, race, or socioeconomic status, have access to healthy, a?ordable, locally-grown food. In the US today, many inner cities and low-income rural ar-eas are characterized as “food des-erts” — areas without grocery stores and healthy alternatives to fast food. Grocery stores follow demand, so if they can’t be sure an area has the purchasing power to support their business, they won’t set up shop. In 2040, the average food item traveled 1,494 miles to our plates.12 We want to prioritize local production and ensure that everyone has access to healthy food.

Developing renewable sources of en-ergy was a top priority for many Think 2040 working groups; about 31 per-cent volunteered it as a top priority. In fact, Millennials in our Think 2040 forums prioritized the development and usage of renewable sources of energy above all other environmental solutions. Millennials see the devel-opment of strong, domestic, renew-able energy as essential for the long-term health of our environment and our economy, and believe that renew-able energy is crucial to maintaining national and global security, preserv-ing biodiversity, and promoting long-term job growth.

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iv. For definition of “at-risk” cities, please see h!p://www.loicz.org/imperia/md/content/loicz/print/news-le!er/inprint_2009_2small.pdf

v. For Ernst and Young’s Renewable Energy Country A)ractiveness Indices, please see h)p://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Renew-able_energy_country_a)ractiveness_indices_Issue_25/$FILE/Renewable_Energy_Issue_25.pdf

vi. For the purposes of this report, a “green job” is defined as any job whose mission it is to lower an individual’s or a community’s ecological foot-print, either directly or indirectly.

11

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Increase the ratio of lo-cally grown food consumed to industrially grown food consumed.

Reduce the number of people who live in food deserts.

Increase the percentage of people with access to clean public drinking water.

Improve scientific projec-tions of the severity and e,ects of climate change, such as predictions for severe flooding.

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Reduce infrastructural sus-ceptibility to imminently rising sea levels and inor-dinately severe weather conditions, as measured by IPCC indicators for infra-structure vulnerability to climate variation.

Reduce percentage of cit-ies identified as being “at risk,” particularly coastal cities, which show no sign of impending catastrophe by 2040.

Induce a steady and sig-nificant annual decline in carbon parts per million in the atmosphere.

Increasing percentage of renewable energy source production and consump-tion, as a proportion of GDP.

Improving position of the United States on an international ranking of renewable-energy indus-tries.

Increasing percentage of the domestic energy port-folio created by renewable energy.

Increasing the percentage of energy that is able to be stored at any given time.Increasing energy exports, as a percentage of GDP.

Increasing percentage of labor force employed in a green jobs.

Increasing percentage of graduating high school and college students who iden-tify a “green job” as among their top career choices.Achieving competitive sala-ries in green job sector.

Increasing the percentage of young adults graduating with advanced degrees in science and engineering.

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1. “Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: The Campground Solution”by Weston Laabs, Michigan State University13 In response to growing demand from consumers for low-environmental-impact vehicles, automobile manufac-turers are introducing cars that run primarily — or solely — on ba)ery power. However, before ba)ery-powered cars can take o*, major improvements in the availability of charging stations and/or ba)eries have to be made. Weston Laabs, a student at Michigan State University, proposed a solution to this problem in Roosevelt’s 2010 10 Ideas for Energy and the Environment. In his memo, Weston proposes using existing campground sites as charging and ba)ery-swap points — increasing access to the ba)ery power necessary for electric cars to func-tion outside of high-density areas and short-distance applications. It’s a practical solution, using pre-existing spaces, with a high profit potential to the electricity providers. If charging stations become more available, the market and industry to support electric cars will grow, bringing jobs with it.

“I feel like so o@en we think that the concerns of people and a concern for the environment are in conflict. It doesn’t have to be that way,” says Cory Connelly, a recent alumnus of Michigan State University. Like Millenni-als nationwide, Cory and the other members of Michigan State’s Roosevelt chapter are commi>ed to environ-mental sustainability. Cory recognizes that the maintenance of natural beauty through the mitigation of climate change and an emphasis on green jobs might also be an e?ective tool to combat the economic woes that his post-industrial state is facing. He has reason to believe this is true—he and the other members of his Roosevelt chapter at Michigan State University are making it happen.

“I’m pre>y sure that the post-industrial buildings in the Midwest can make it the Silicon Valley of green manufacturing if we decide that’s what we’d like it to be, ” he says. Recognizing this, he didn’t wait for government or labor to take action. He wrote recommendations for state investments in renewable-energy usage and increased energy eAciency — beginning with school sites. He tirelessly called and visited Michigan’s State Capitol, touting the ideas and values he believed could make a di?erence, and eventually inspired proposals for state legislation that created a revolving loan fund to support renew-able energy on Michigan school sites. Cory’s work even a>racted national a>ention. His recommendations for renewable-energy policy, wri>en alongside a group of his peers’ work, were recognized by the White House’s Center for Environmental Quality. The White House invited Cory and his co-authors to an in-person meeting with White House advisors to discuss America’s energy future. Cory was only 21.

Josh Cro?, Kelly Ste?en, and Theresa Gasinki are carrying on the Michigan State Roosevelt chapter’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Last year, Josh and Kelly successfully made the case for Zipcars on campus — implemented by the University — and Theresa designed a bike share program to cater to the Michigan State campus and surrounding community. It is now being implemented in East Lansing.

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Municipalities can use zoning tools to promote grocery store development in targeted areas, and to lower the barri-ers to urban farming. Promoting locally

grown produce ensures fresh food availability, decreases food’s carbon

footprint, and keeps profits local.

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2. “Green Bu?er Zones” by Lydia Bowers, Mt. Holyoke CollegeBecause of climate change, oceans are ge)ing warmer and sea levels are rising. As the planet warms, storm severity will increase, endangering lives and threatening coastal real estate. Currently, federal disaster relief gives funds to the victims of real-estate damage so that they can rebuild in the same loca-tion. Instead, the United States should adopt policies that o*er those at the highest levels of risk the opportunity to relocate to safer areas through federal disaster-relief funds, as well as government loan programs and incentives. This decreases the disproportionate e*ects of climate change on lower-income individuals by allowing those who previously lacked the resources to relocate to do so. Additionally, any vacated land could be used to create “green” bu*er zones along the coastline, which protect inland real estate from extreme storms. Cities can also reclaim abandoned industrial sites or regenerate damaged wetlands to create bu*er zones — and jobs — on their coasts.

13

VI=..A.M&!!#''&)!.V&,&2'.62%.(1#.A*#%&+)'.E+2'2*0.The Millennial Generation has experienced the greatest economic turbulence the nation has endured since the 1930s. Young people in our Think 2040 conver-sations want to ensure that the United States can weather its next economic storm with more resilience than it did the Great Recession. Underlying all other economic priorities for the Millennial America is an emphasis on encouraging innovation and lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship. The Millennial Genera-tion’s desire to build an American economy that supports and rewards creativity, ingenuity, and personal determination to succeed drives support for economic priorities from banking reform to the strengthening of the social safety net. With this in mind, the Millennial Blueprint calls for the responsible reduction of our federal debt, structural reforms to banking and the social safety net, and an emphasis on economic growth engines such as infrastructure projects. The United States has a steep road ahead in the next 30 years to ensure that our economy remains strong. Young people are poised to lead us with new ideas and the sweat required to build our nation’s infrastructure for a flourishing, green, 21st century economy.

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The Great Recession has personally and profoundly a*ected Millennials, altering their perception of risk and inspiring them to learn about the American finan-cial sector that has been partially responsible for the instability in our economy since 2008. The size of current financial institutions poses a major economic and political risk. While the size of these banks probably didn’t contribute directly to the financial crisis, their political clout causes instability. The size of the big banks and the lobbying power they wield has created an extremely close connection between them and the federal government. As such, big banks have the capacity to influence Congress to pass legislation that is favorable to banks but not in the best interest of the common citizen or the economy as a whole. The Millennial Blueprint calls for a dramatic restructuring of American banking, such that by 2040, it will be)er serve the purposes of economic stability, pro-vide credit to fuel the economy, and serve consumers. Specific policies we recommend include limitations on bank size, regulation of the “shadow banking” industry,vii rating agencies, and the derivatives market, executive-pay reform, and bankruptcy reform that addresses moral hazard.

B=..R#-"+#.F#-#%)!.)'-.H2",#12!-.D#/(..Although Millennials in our Think 2040 conversations were deeply concerned by the rising tide of federal debt, they are not overwhelmed by these fears. Millennials themselves understand that debt is a feature of modern life — this is a generation graduating college with more student debt than any other in history. Indeed, what is a greater issue than an imminent debt crisis is a cost-of-living crisis. Since the 1970s, debt-fueled consumption has driven up quality of life in America while real median incomes have barely risen (and, in fact, fell during the George W. Bush administration). Neither individual households nor the federal government can a*ord to pay for the prototypical American lifestyle any longer. Millennials want to enact sustainable fiscal policy without harming American households; 31% of breakout groups cited reducing federal debt as their top economic priority.

Health care costs have rapidly outpaced inflation for years, leading to escalating burdens on the federal government due to the rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid. With the passage of the Patient Protection and A*ordable Care Act, the burden on the government increased to include health-insurance subsidies for lower-income Americans. In fact, the MacArthur Foundation’s Choosing Our Nation’s Fiscal Future report projects that health care-related spending by the government will grow 207 percent by 2050, in comparison to -7 percent growth on all other non-interest related spending (inflation-adjusted).15 All this is to say that rising debt levels are unlikely to abate without significant reform. However, we cannot just project the costs of care for the poor and elderly back onto individual households. Ballooning healthcare costs would break the back of the American middle and working-class even more than ballooning mortgage payments did during the housing crash. Millennials have no illusions about this: “entitlement reform” alone won’t solve this problem. In our Think 2040 conver-sations, Millennials argued for a three-pronged solution to reducing the debt burden: reduce health care costs to families, businesses and the government by

continued on page 16vii. The shadow banking system includes investment products developed by hedge funds and investment banks that are generally opaque and are not highly regulated, including collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)

and structured investment vehicles (SIVs).

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Millennials are proud of what America stands for, and despite the current recession, we have benefited enormously from the remarkable productivity of the American economy. However, many Millennials realize that American’s infrastructure lags behind 21st century demands — the cost of repairs to essential infrastructure is staggering ($2.2 trillion as of this writing) and that number fails to account for the demands of new 21st century industries (almost 31% of breakout groups mentioned strengthening America’s infrastructure as a priority, without prompting).14 An ambitious program to build the infrastructure needed to power a 21st century green, information-based economy can put Americans back to work in 2010, position the U.S. to be a leader in new industries by 2025, and provide the basis for broader prosperity in 2040. Investments in infrastructure represent an asset to the United States that should be considered as seriously as our national debt. Without continued focus on maintaining the strength of these assets, the U.S. could find itself with an “infrastructure deficit” that crushes economic growth.

D=..S(%#'7(1#'&'7.(1#.S2+&)!.S)6#(0.N#(Although Millennials deeply appreciate the social safety net’s role in helping Americans retire and put food on the table (38 percent of Think 2040 breakout groups cited strengthening the safety net as their paramount economic priority), they nevertheless feel disconnected from it. Although the Think 2040 breakout groups prioritized the safety net when asked about it specifically, very few raised it without any prompting. A@er all, its core programs were designed prior to 1970. Millennials are coming of age in a very di?erent world from that of FDR and LBJ, the principal architects of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. However, Millennials are commi>ed to strengthen-ing existing programs and, as Aaron Cohen from American University put it, building not just a net but a “social safe-ty trampoline.” America needs a flexible social-insurance program that gets stronger in times of crisis, in contrast to our current system. In the Great Recession of 2008-2010, spending for welfare programs dried up just as demand increased. As a result, 82 percent of America’s human-service organizations were forced to cut back on their bud-gets16 — a measure with dire consequences for the 14.3 percent of Americans that live below the poverty line.17 The Millennial Blueprint calls for a flexible safety net that can o?set the risks of a 21st century economy — one that not only supports the elderly and poor, but also provides health benefits, retirement security, unemployment benefits, and retraining opportunities. The safety net in Millennial America will lower barriers to entrepreneurship, enable workers to rebound in times of need, and combat intergenerational poverty by allowing children the opportunity to succeed regardless of their family challenges.

developing a culture (continued from page 14) of wellness and prevention (discussed in Blueprint for Health Care); generate additional revenue through the tax system; and reduce the cost of entitlement programs to the government by restructuring the safety net for a 21st century economy and demography.

M&!!#''&)!-G#'#%)(#-.P2!&+0.R#+2**#'-)(&2',.62%.(1#.A*#%&+)'.E+2'2*01. “Northwest Passage: Improving Rail between Boston and Portland, ME”

by Zachary Agush and Christopher MacDonald, Wheaton CollegeInvestments in transportation infrastructure will strengthen the U.S. economy and improve our global com-petitiveness. Increased vehicular tra;c and massive highway congestion has led to 4.2 billion lost hours of productivity. And while China has invested nearly $300 billion in high-speed rail to tackle transportation ine;ciencies, the United States lags behind at only $8 billion in high-speed rail investment. In some areas, investments in high-speed rail are of extreme importance. In the New England corridor between Boston, MA and Portland, ME, for example, Maine’s emerging health industry has created huge demand for skilled labor to travel quickly and easily between the two states. High-speed rail in this corridor could transform transporta-tion for the millions of people who commute between suburbs in the Northeast corridor everyday. Addition-ally, by increasing the e;ciency of travel, high-speed rail in the corridor would also increase property values near stations, and stimulate housing markets in southern Maine, while catalyzing the growth of an economi-cally important industry.

Ensure personal access to high-speed internet for every American.

Reduce average commut-ing times to work.

Ensure excellent mobile-communication capability for every American.

Bring all existing infra-structure up to date, as evaluated by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Improve median household savings rate.

Reduce ratio of federal debt to GDP.

Reduce growth in health-care costs.

Improve median annual retirement income.

Increase average salaries of unemployed persons returning to work.

Reduce annual percent-age of individuals filing for bankruptcy.

Reduce commercial and investment bank leverage ratios.

Ensure transparency of all financial transactions made by publicly traded compa-nies.

Ensure that no single institution poses an exis-tential threat to the global financial system (“too big to fail”).

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Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act.1. Separate the types of financial transactions 2. that any institution can make.Implement regulations of investment banks 3. akin to restrictions placed on depository banks and other “shadow banking” institutions.Regulate credit rating agencies, which will 4. expand federal government’s power to sue for misinformation.Improve derivatives regulation, and create a 5. derivative exchange overseen by a regulatory agency.Reform the executive-pay structure.6.

Perhaps because he came from a long line of small-business owners — mechan-ics, carpenters, quilters, even dog trainers — Joe Shure recognized the need for change when he heard the stories of aspiring entrepreneurs unable to succeed. While working for the Rutgers Daily Targum, Joe and Rohan interviewed dozens of hardworking people seeking to start businesses of their own, but it seemed like they all had the same problems: either not enough start-up funding, or too li>le accounting know-how to get their businesses up and running. “A person who’s willing to work hard deserves a fair shot at success. When our society lets race, gender or economic background preclude business ownership, it is crushing dreams and squandering precious talent. Let’s level the playing field and make the American Dream a reality,” Joe says.

Joe and Rohan Mathew, members of the Roosevelt chapter at Rutgers Univer-sity, decided to take action. Believing that entrepreneurship and innovation had made America great, they wanted to ensure that all New Brunswick residents had the opportunity to pursue their own entrepreneurial dreams. The pair be-gan to research microfinance options available in the community, interviewed aspiring entrepreneurs to determine what resources and support they needed, and in 2008, Joe and Rohan became entrepreneurs themselves. They founded the Intersect Fund, a student-run nonprofit organization that empowers entrepreneurs to start businesses, generate income, build assets, and spark dramatic social change.

To date, the Intersect Fund has served hundreds of entrepreneurs in the New Brunswick area. Joe and Rohan continue to establish partnerships with community organizations, Rutgers University students, and corporations invested in furthering the positive impact that the Intersect Fund has made so far. Meet the entrepreneurs at www.intersectfund.org.

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2. “The Social Entrepreneurship Solution” by Erika K. Solanki, University of California, Los AngelesThe 2007-8 financial crisis triggered a credit crunch felt especially by emerging entrepreneurs, who saw investments dry up with few opportunities to access new capital. Because many job losses cause by the recession are now permanent, restoring full employment a(er the recession will require creating new jobs, according to a Brookings study. Entrepreneurship will be essential. In order to maximize the benefits of entrepreneurial activity, we must support and encour-age social entrepreneurship — a form of conscious capitalism that blends social good with the strategies of business professionals. A government program that helps to seed these socially conscious ventures will provide much more than economic stimulus. Such a program could also become a pillar of American civic engagement, founded in our values while encouraging our prosperity.

For more information on these policy proposals, see the 2010 edition of 10 Ideas for Economic Development.

Photo by Nick Romanenko.

17

VII=..H#)!(1+)%#.&'.(1#.M&!!#''&)!.A*#%&+).When it comes to health care, Millennials are most concerned with access — specifically, equitable access. As the US becomes increasingly suburban, Millen-nials worry that Americans in rural areas will have to drive extreme distances to get care they need.20 Many in urban areas also lack access to a*ordable health care, and must resort to expensive emergency rooms.21 We envision a nation that addresses these systemic inequalities and ensures access to quality care for all. Specifically, we want to build a culture of wellness in America, keep health costs down for both citizens and government, and ensure that no one lacks care.

A=.I'+%#),&'7.E*$1),&,.2'.W#!!'#,,When Millennials think about what it takes to build a healthy society, look beyond their doctor. Yes, a strong medical system will always be a fundamental part of healthy societies, but those we spoke to emphasized a more holistic vision of a healthy America in 2040: a diet based on healthy local food; a citizenry more fully equipped with knowl-edge of how to stay healthy; a culture of medicine more oriented toward promoting wellness than treating sickness (29 percent of breakout groups ephasized wellness as a priority). Millennials envisioned an inclusive definition of wellness that reaches beyond physical health to incorporate mental and emotional wellbeing. The nation’s shi( from “sick care” to healthcare will only be accomplished through a prevention-focused system. Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign is a powerful example of awareness-raising and creating infrastructure that prioritizes pre-vention.22

B=.K##$&'7.H#)!(1.C)%#.C2,(,.D24'The importance Millennials place on wellness and local food doesn’t mean they can’t see the systemic problems of the American health care system. When asked to consider what the world ought to look like in 2040, many Mil-lennials saw high healthcare costs — to individuals, businesses, and the federal government — as a major threat, and named lowering health care costs a key priority (listed by about 29 percent of breakout groups). One group in Arkansas summed up the Millennial desire by identifying “a health care system that saves lives and money by focus-ing preventative care” as a key priority. This emphasis on preventive care reflects Millennials’ general preference to head o* problems before they become crises — a disposition perhaps born out of the instability of the 2000s. Par-ticipants in Think 2040 forums repeatedly expressed genuine concern that the burdens of the nation’s unsustain-able healthcare system might hinder the federal government’s ability to continue spending on social programs. Millennials are not ready to take shortcuts when it comes to their wellbeing, however. Instead, they demand that our country take steps toward a new health paradigm: healthier food, be)er health education in school, and a cul-ture of prevention in both society and medicine. Currently, healthcare spending accounts for almost 18 percent of our GDP.23 The current growth in costs of the U.S. health system is unsustainable. What’s more, our high spending does not translate into high quality: The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation yet falls below most other industrialized nations in quality of care and numbers insured.24 Millennials realize the need for a shi( to an emphasis on prevention in order to drastically reduce spending on costly diseases that require a lifetime of expen-sive treatment. They are commi)ed to decreasing the financial burden that future generations will inherit.

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18

M&!!#''&)!-G#'#%)(#-.P2!&+0.R#+2**#'-)(&2',B=.“P%#3#'(&'7.T0$#.8.D&)/#(#,;.A6(#%,+122!.E<#%+&,#.&'.H&71-R&,5.A%#),” by Kurt Anthony, University of Chicago26 The increased incidence of early-onset diabetes and rise in undiagnosed diabetes among America’s children continues to exacer-bate the country’s public health challenges. To combat this health crisis among America’s youth, we must take action. One strategy to decrease the prevalence of early-onset diabetes is to implement a(erschool exercise and nutrition programs. In order to reach the greatest number of young people, schools should house the program, beginning with those schools in high-risk communities such as low-income areas and disproportionately a*ected minority populations. As PE classes are increasingly cut due to school budget constriction, exercise programs — which have the potential to save billions of dollars in increased citizen productivity and decreased healthcare spending — should become an even higher priority.

8=.“H#)!(10.S)'.F%)'+&,+2;.A.L2+)!.P"/!&+.O$(&2'” by Jake Grumbach, Columbia University27 Since the federal government could not institute a public option in its healthcare reform bill, shi(ing to a local lens could prove more successful. Why is this so important? It is more cost-e*ective to enroll everyone than to leave residents without insurance. Furthermore, small businesses, whose healthcare costs are much higher than those of large firms, will finally have an a*ordable healthcare option for their employees, as will young people and other groups less likely to be insured.

The dualistic employer mandate and access plan model can bring a public option to any metropolitan area, though costs must be tailored to reflect the level of uninsured residents and the capabilities of the existing healthcare safety net. In this model, enrollees elect a “medical home” to receive primary and preventa-tive care. Since San Francisco already boasts universal healthcare for children and workers at firms with government contracts, as well as an extensive clinic system, it would be especially well-suited for this program. Relatively unionized cities like Las Vegas and New York would likely mobilize behind a Healthcare Security Ordinance as well.

C=.I',"%)'+#.C23#%)7#.62%.A!!Insurance coverage for every person in the United States is a lo(y goal, but by 2040 our generation is determined to achieve it (ensuring quality health insurance for every U.S. citizen was one of the most popular of respondents’ priorities, listed by about 32 percent of breakout groups in the Think 2040 forums). Access to care is crucial for a well-functioning healthcare system. Currently, 50 million Americans are uninsured.25 Although recent national healthcare reform took steps to decrease that number, the remaining number of uninsured will be well above zero. Not only should access to care be granted as a basic human right, insuring everyone also makes economic sense. Taxpayers foot the bill for uninsured Americans who go to “safety net” hospitals, and, to make up for the low reimbursement rate hospitals are paid, insurance premiums increase for all. With access to primary care, overall ER visits and escalation of preventable diseases will decrease, reducing the financial burden to the health system. Universal access to a*ordable care is our moral and fiscal responsibility in Millennial America.

19

“Coloradoans in rural areas are marginalized by our current healthcare system. My dad’s stories from evenings working in the Pueblo, CO emergency room confirmed, for me, the importance of preventative care and frequent checkups. All people deserve access to care. And if the current system isn’t working, we should update it.” David Silver, a Roosevelt member from the University is just like many other members of his generation. He grew up using cu>ing-edge technology to chat with friends, play video games, and watch videos online. Why not utilize it to transform our healthcare system?

For example, telehealth — the use of technology to monitor patients’ blood pressure, glucose levels, etc. through an electronic system — has been proven to reduce both the instance and length of hospitalization among users in rural communities. Unfortunately, the lack of reliable broadband technology in many rural areas limits opportunities for telehealth options. A much larger number of people in rural areas have access to television. Recognizing this, David de-signed a proposal to develop the bandwidth le@ unused a@er the switch to digital television and use it to provide fast Internet access for rural telehealth programming.

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David’s proposal “Using Old TV Bandwidth to Expand Rural Telehealth” was featured in the Roosevelt Campus Network’s 2010 edition of its 10 Ideas for Healthcare. He is currently in conversations with rural health organizations and state technology organizations in Colorado and California, and the idea is being considered by the Lieutenant Governor’s OAce in the State of California.

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Decrease obesity rates (BMIs) and prevalence of co-morbidities associated with obesity (heart disease, hypertension, stroke.

Decrease prevalence of prevent-able disease in the most at-risk socioeconomic groups.

Increase state funding for mental health.

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Decrease the share of GDP expended on healthcare costs.

Decrease the share of healthcare spending on progressed prevent-able diseases, while increasing the share spent on early-stage preventable disease.

Increase use of generic drug options.

Increase percentage of covered individuals

Grant all Americans, including immigrants, access to healthcare as a basic human right.

VIII=..T1#.M&!!#''&)!.V&,&2'.62%.S2+&)!.J",(&+#.)'-.D#*2+%)(&+.P)%(&+&$)(&2'.As Millennials survey the state of our nation today, they disapprove of rising inequality and civic disengagement across the country. Despite growing up in the on-line age, Millennials seem to yearn for stronger, more tightly-knit communities that work be)er for the most disadvantaged in society. We are not surprised. Core Millennial values like equality of opportunity, respect, and community empowerment play powerful roles as young people examine our democracy, immigration in America, and distribution of wealth.

By 2040, Millennials seek a more inclusive society that works not only for the middle class and wealthy, but also for lower-income Americans and immigrants.

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When asked to identify their top priorities in Social Justice and Democratic Participation, reducing income inequality and improving socioeconomic conditions were the most popular options, each chosen by about 48 percent of breakout groups in the Think 2040 forums. In order to improve socioeconomic outcomes for the most disadvantaged, the trend of rising income inequality and the resulting socioeconomic stratification must be slowed, and the policies encouraging it must be reversed. The trend towards growing income inequality in the U.S. has intensified sharply in the last 30 years. With our generation’s e*orts, we believe that in the next thirty years we can reverse it. We can start by countering those policy decisions that have contributed to the problem, such as the decline in the top marginal U.S. tax rate and the reduced role of labor in negotiating wages. We must also transform the minimum-wage system to create a more equitable standard of social and economic stability that will meet the demands of living in modern America.

B=..R#-"+&'7.(1#.I'6!"#'+#.26.M2'#0.&'.P2!&(&+,The Millennial generation believes that the impact of money on election results negatively influences Ameri-can politics; reducing money’s influence was identified as a top priority by approximately 22 percent of break-out groups in Think 2040 forums. For many Millennials in the Think 2040 forums, the problem with money in politics comes down to the core value of respect — respect for honesty and for the uninhibited voice of the people. Successful senatorial campaigns spent an average of $7.3 million in 2008.28 High levels of anonymous spending by third-party groups, which has increased exponentially since Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, also stand in stark contrast to our values of fairness and respect. In the 2010 midterm elections, these third-party groups spent a total of $293 million.29 Reducing the role of money in elections will diversify the choice of candidates by helping to reduce the literal cost for political candidates to enter the field, creat-ing a more open, accountable, and democratic electoral system.

“No one deserves [to be homeless] — especially students forced to pick between a place to sleep and a credit hour.”

- Joelle Gamble, UCLA21

C=..I'+%#),&'7.(1#.E!#+(2%)!.)'-.C&3&+.P)%(&+&$)(&2'.26.D&,#'6%)'+1&,#-.G%2"$,Informed by the core value of community empowerment, Millennials aim to increase the participation of all Americans — especially the traditionally disenfranchised — in U.S. elec-tions (identified as a priority by approximately 19 percent of breakout groups in the Think 2040 forums). The unfortunate reality is that many Americans today have lost their right to vote, either in practice or by law. Voters who have been disenfranchised include the disabled, minorities, low-income Americans, felons, and the homeless. The disabled face inaccessible entrances at polling places and the prohibition of assistance at the polls. Those citizens with poor English skills o(en have di;culty registering and voting. Low-income Americans work full time, o(en at more than one job, have di;culty taking time o* to vote, resulting in underrepresentation. Finally, without a verified address, registering to vote can be nearly impossible for the homeless. Millennials believe that the right to vote is a funda-mental tenet of our society. By addressing some of these barriers, in law and in practice, all citizens will truly have the right to vote in the Millennial America.

D=..D#3#!2$.)'.I**&7%)(&2'.S0,(#*.T1)(.E'+2"%)7#,.P%2,$#%&(0.)'-.S#+"%&(0Millennials in our Think 2040 forums channeled the deep anxiety that working class America feels about the diminishing possibilities for well paying jobs in their communities. Young people from across the political spectrum discussed the polarization in their communities around the issue of immigration — which has roared to life in the American political discourse serving as a bogeyman for the economic instability of the middle and working classes. Demographic change that leads the US toward becoming a majority-minority country also su*uses policy-making with racial tension.30 However, Millennials in our Think 2040 forums recognize the problems facing their communities run much deeper than an influx of new labor, or a change in the racial demographics of their high school class. Fighting economic instability with immigration policy does not do justice to the seriousness of the problems facing America’s middle class.viii That being said, a functional immigration system undergirds continued economic prosperity and security in America. By 2040, Millennials want an immigra-tion system that can funnel top talent from around the world into high-skill positions in America, they want an immigration system that binds us together as a diverse nation — not a system that creates second class citizens without full allegiance to this country, and finally, they want a system that supports immigrants becoming economic breadwinners for their families and the country (13% of breakout groups volunteered immigration as a top priority, without prompting).

American immigration policy should amplify the positive economic benefits that immigration has for the American economy. We can start with higher educa-tion. The American higher education system is one of the most globally dominant industries that our country has. We a)ract the brightest minds from across the world and spend billions in taxpayer money to train them. As the American economy shrinks as a total percentage of global economic growth (due to the rapid expansion of developing economies in Asia and South America), we need to work harder to retain international students so that they can contribute to the American economy, not compete against it. Any international student who earns a masters degree or higher in high-priority fields, such as engineering, health care, or biotechnology, should be o*ered citizenship.

Finally, we need immigration policy that encourages citizenship in the fullest sense of the word. Denying social services and educational opportunity to any tax-paying resident of this country creates an insecure class of citizens, who cannot fully enjoy the benefits of the American system. Immigration policy that consistently creates cleavages between new arrivals and native-born citizens undermines the fabric of our society. Therefore, the Millennial Blueprint calls for pathways to full citizenship to all US residents, contingent upon rigorous programs in national service and completion of secondary education.

viii. We discuss how to address economic hardship in the Blueprint for Economic Development.

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Increase income growth rate for the 20th percentile of the American population, the greater lower-middle class, and the working-class segments of the population.

Reduce the number of children living in poverty.

Establish a robust minimum-wage that rises every two years and is indexed to track with inflation.

Slow but steady increase in tax rates for the highest-income segments of the population, reflective of rates in place in the 1940s and 1950s — the prime era of the Great Compression of income equality in the U.S.

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Pay for 30 to 50 percent of national elections (presi-dential and congressional) with public money.

Full disclosure of campaign contributions for money not taken from the public fund. Caps on spending for elec-tions by candidates and regulations for how much contributors (individuals and firms) can contribute.

Standardize and simplify voter registration systems in all states for local and federal elections. These systems of voter registra-tion should be alike from state to state.

Provide voting aid to the elderly and those not proficient in English.

Legislate that citizens can take su:cient time o, from work to vote.

Increase retention of high-skill foreign talent educat-ed in the United States.

Increase the percentage of non-native born resident who become citizens.

Decrease the percentage of persons entering the United States illegally.

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“Because of inadequate financial aid, soaring rent, and the lack of job opportunities in the area, some students are going hungry. Some are even homeless because they can’t even find housing in the area that’s a?ordable for them. No one deserves that — especially students forced to pick between a place to sleep and a credit hour,” says Joelle Gamble, a junior in the Roosevelt chapter at the University of California-Los Angeles says. Recognizing this urgent need, Joelle and her peers at UCLA formed a taskforce to design and campaign for so-lutions to the hunger and homelessness plaguing some of their peers. One of their specific recommendations outlined the establishment of a 24-7 food closet on campus, run by donations from the community and area busi-nesses. A@er months of tireless campaigning, UCLA’s OAce of Residential Life and Housing & Dining Services approved the creation of a new food closet on their premises, in order to meet the needs of students who have li>le means to eat elsewhere. “Although this new solution neither completely eradicates student homelessness nor addresses all of its adverse e?ects, it has laid the foundation for more individually-initiated action toward improving student welfare,” Joelle says.

Today, Joelle and UCLA’s Roosevelt chapter are assessing the urgent housing crisis in Los Angeles, with the goal of creating and maintaining a housing network to provide temporarily homeless students with a place to stay until they are able to find a?ordable housing, and, in the long term, plan to work with UCLA’s student government to secure subsidized short and long term housing for students without a?ordable housing options within a two hour drive of campus.

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M&!!#''&)!-G#'#%)(#-.P2!&+0.R#+2**#'-)(&2'.“Automatic Registration and Voter Accommodation: Placing the Burden on the State”

by Erik Singh, Denison UniversitySome political scientists have argued that the act of voting is “irrational” given the costs voters incur. In our system, each state has its own requirements for voter registration based on time of residency and crime record. Some states also require individuals to register before voting, rather than automatically enrolling them on voter eligibility lists. Creating a universal, automatic system of voter registration for all U.S. citizens would fix some of the inhibiting problems of voter registration by placing the burden of voter registration on the state, rather than on citizens. Residents in all states should be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18. Automatic registration can be accomplished through a universal system that will register Americans to vote based on their possession of a Social Security Number. This system of voter registration would be automatic from state to state. Other voting “costs” include the fact that many voting centers do not accommodate the “un-average” voter. Turnout of disabled voters in Los Angeles County was very low for many years until the large-scale implementation of wheelchair accessibility ramps ensured access. Similarly, states and counties o(en do not provide materials for non-English speaking voters. Providing equitable access to the polls for all American citizens should be a priority for states in times of elections. A universal American system that places more responsibilities associated with voting on the states would reduce the individual costs of participat-ing in our democracy, and would help to increase voter turnout nationwide.

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IX=..A.M&!!#''&)!.V&,&2'.62%.D#6#',#.)'-.D&$!2*)+0As Millennials, we’ve grown up in a post-Cold War world — a period of history marked by unquestioned American dominance. Our perspective on American foreign policy has been further defined by the “War on Terror” and an expanding five-front war in the Middle East, East Africa, and South Asia. Initiated as a unilateral response to the terrorist a)acks of 9/11, the so-called “Long War” has become the longest war fought in U.S. history and is costing trillions in dollars, thousands of American casualties, and a precipitous loss of global political capital for our country.31 In the Think 2040 forums, Millennials argued that America must pursue international cooperation to solve the world’s evolving problems, and continue to serve as a leader of the global system. Furthermore, the rise of genocide in the 20th century has led to a fundamentally di*erent conception of America’s international responsibility: Millennials want the high value we place on social empathy to be expressed through America’s foreign policy. The wars fought in the 21st century will involve rebuilding failed states and ba)ling non-state actors fueled by ideological extremism. In the Millennial America, the U.S. will have to work with its allies across the globe to promote sustainable de-velopment, capacity building, and community ownership, instead of invading and occupying enemy territory. It must use diplomacy and development as weapons against the poverty that fuels civil conflict and ideological extremism. This requires a bipartisan Grand Strategy to exercise “smart power,” promoting defense, diplomacy, and development as equal pillars of U.S. foreign policy.

A;$D#3#&!7$('1$E6#5)-#$($C!2#"#'-$P&('$.!"$G&!9(&$L#(1#"*2%7$-!8("1*$G"#(-#"$S#5)"%-0<$H)4('$D#3#&!74#'-<$('1$P#(5#Millennials do not oppose war in all cases. Rather, they oppose war without a clear and defensible purpose. Cur-rently, Millennials consider U.S. foreign policy reactive, rather than proactive. The development of a Grand Strat-egy, like the Marshall Plan in the post-War era, would also allow the U.S. to rethink budget priorities, develop a clearer conception of our nation’s interests, and most importantly, create an agenda reflective of American interests and concerns. In the past, Grand Strategies consolidated the interest of the American political system and directed e,ort toward a unified goal. The Marshall Plan, for instance, was implemented a=er numerous gov-ernments rescinded their commitments to decimated countries in the wake of World War II; concentrated U.S. foreign-aid e,orts around a unified purpose led to a rebuilt, safer, more interdependent Europe, which had been wracked by instability for 70 years at that point.ix A new Grand Strategy could reinvigorate U.S. e,orts to provide for greater security, human development, and peace.

B;$$P"!4!-%!'$!.$H)4('$R%/2-*In our lifetimes, Millennials have seen the rise of genocides from Kosovo to Rwanda to Sudan. Watching such extreme injustice has fundamentally altered our worldview, and as a result, Millennials in Think 2040 forums na-tionwide expressed a resounding commitment to the promotion of human rights. One key strategy for addressing genocide and promoting global human rights by 2040 will involve empowering international institutions like the United Nations to undertake greater responsibility with greater latitude of action — and with the support and cooperation of the United States.

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ix. “Featured Document: The Marshall Plan.” National Archives and Records Administration. h)p://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/marshall_plan/ (accessed November 9, 2010).

C=.R#-"+&'7.C2'6!&+(.)'-.R#&'3&72%)(&'7.I'(#%')(&2')!.I',(&("(&2',In the a(ermath of World War II, the United States created a system of global cooperation to promote human rights, poverty reduction, and conflict resolution. Globally minded Millennials share an over-whelming belief that it is the moral duty of the United States to reduce global conflict by reinvigo-rating international institutions. Inequality has many faces. Where citizens are denied the right to choose the systems, parties, and people that represent them, where there is an unequal distribution of natural resources (such as water and food), or where economic and social dislocation exist, conflict is likely to arise. In order to maintain its position of global leadership the U.S. must collaboratively govern the global commons that shape the potential for conflict. To accomplish our generation’s vision for America, the United States must continue strengthening the international institutions that provide legitimacy and promote sustainable development, capacity building, and community ownership. In this way, the U.S. can help to rebuild failed states, ba)le the non-state actors that fuel global conflict, and realize the future that Millennials want to inherit.

D=.B"&!-&'7.S(%2'7#%.D&$!2*)(&+.T&#,.Millennials in Think 2040 forums consistently envisioned a strong relationship with other nations, as well as a dynamic international trade system. Achieving these goals requires strong diplomatic ties with powers such as the European Union, China, and India. The relationship between the U.S. and Iran or Syria will also have far-reaching implications for the stability of the international system, and more specifically, the continued supply of petroleum over the short-term medium-term.

Improve the U.S. score on the “Commitment to Develop-ment” Index, which will reflect a strengthened response to global security challenges.

Improve our scores across the board in the Environmental Vul-nerability Index and Environmen-tal Sustainability Index, which will demonstrate success of a U.S.-led international approach to defeat-ing climate change and promoting global sustainability.

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Improve across the board in the Human Development Index, which measures quality of life, for all nation-states.

Recognize property rights and intellectual property rights for indigenous communities and the traditionally underserved across the globe.

Reduce scores across the Failed States Index, which will demon-strate increasing global coopera-tion to rebuild failed states and improve global security.

Improve across the board in the Freedom House Index, Press Freedom Index, and Transparency International Index scores for nation-states, which will demon-strate success of U.S. a>empts to promote democratization and liberalization.

M&!!#''&)!-G#'#%)(#-.P2!&+0.S2!"(&2'“Expanding Naval Humanitarian Aid”

by Charlie Piggo", University of Michigan In 2006, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates initiated a naval humanitarian program, sending hospital ships to ports in Latin America, West Africa, and Asia.

Over 100,000 patients were treated in Latin America from a single ship on a single voyage. The ship program currently costs $250 million per year; or less than 0.1 percent of the Defense Department’s budget. The DoD has been funding the ship program through various discretionary funds, with no dedicated source of money for the programs. Providing a formal budget line for naval humanitarian aid can allow the DoD to expand the successful program and continue to forge partnerships with local governments and NGOs. Further, humanitarian aid programs improve the reputation of the United States abroad by associating American troops with peacemaking. Meeting the needs of impoverished citizens in fragile regions of the world also improves global security and can counter the influence of rogue actors who spread influence by providing social services that local governments cannot.

“Growing up in France, hearing stories about my grandparents’ survival in Auschwitz, I related at a pre>y personal level with the su?ering of peoples in former European colonies, like Haiti,” Jacob, a Roosevelt member at George Washington University, said. “All people deserve opportunity—access to choices for their future. In today’s interconnected world…aspirations are universal. Opportuni-ties aren’t. And there is a lot that we can do across borders to expand…opportunities in Haiti, while helping them recover from the historic tragedy of January 12th.”

Jacob leapt into action when the January 2010 earthquake struck Haiti, and developed a model of community redevelopment based on the Israeli kibbutz model. This Self-Sustainable Micro-Commu-nity (SMCC) model combines short-term relief with long-term development, meeting Haiti’s urgent needs while equipping Haitians with the tools and resources necessary to pursue their aspirations and become competitive in the global economy. This model addresses past challenges that impeded Haiti’s development by accounting for the interconnectedness of development issues, ensuring the mushrooming of development at a regional level, and decentralizing overpopulated urban areas. In a framework that guarantees real, measurable Haitian ownership over the products of cross-border brainstorming and investment, the SSMC stresses two main issues—more, be>er Haitian jobs and increased access to quality education. By educating, employing, and investing in Haiti’s human capital, SSMC is an instrument to incrementally spread opportunity to all Haitians through long-lasting foundations of development, with a particular emphasis on traditionally disenfranchised women in the community.

Today, Jacob is working directly with an NGO in Haiti to make his SSMC model a reality and has formed partnerships with universities across the country to seed academic exchange programs. His e?orts have a>racted the a>ention of the French Embassy, the U.S. State Department, and young people nationwide through Roosevelt’s Defense and Diplomacy policy center. “The joint support brought by the U.S. State Department and the Embassy of France to the United States throughout this endeavor is a powerful testimony to international as well as inter-generational cooperation in instances of crisis resolution,” Jacob says.

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27

X=..N#<(.S(#$,How will a Blueprint for America transform the country? Simply outlining what Millennials want America to look like won’t make it so. In fact, we — Americans, young people, and even world leaders — write millions of words every day asserting that things ought to be di*erent, without changing a thing. So how can we ensure our ideas don’t languish? By e?ecting local change in our communities and our states right now.

Through our experiences over the last six years, Roosevelt has learned how to e?ectively create change. We have experimented with di*erent models of activism, from academic articles to analysis of hot-bu)on national political issues, and we have found that actually designing policy solutions with community participation is most e*ective and most representative of our values. We call this grassroots, sleeves-rolled-up approach to policy activism Think Impact. As our chapters across the country participate in Think Impact, they engage with community members, local nonprofits, and elected o;cials from school boards to state legislatures, and write unique policy solutions tailored to the needs of their communities. Roosevelt’s most innovative chapters began projects that later became models for Think Impact. In 2006, for example, the University of Michigan initiated a chapter-wide project designed to help New Orleans a(er Hur-ricane Katrina. Chapter members volunteered in New Orleans, interviewed local residents, connected with nonprofits, elected o;cials, and regional authorities, and then dra(ed policy ideas to address the challenges and achieve the goals that city residents articulated. Policy recommendations — published in Roosevelt Relief — included proposals to start teacher communities (modeled on New Orleans jazz communities), re-emphasize tourism, clean up area brownfields, ad-dress post-hurricane mental-health needs, and ensure the human rights of disaster victims. These ideas did not languish. Due to the extraordinary emphasis that University of Michigan students placed on building local support, a State House candidate from New Orleans incorporated student ideas into his platform and worked to implement them in the city.

Through the Think 2040 program, we are scaling up this transformative process nationwide. Think 2040 provides a structure that enables young people to break down the policymaking process into manageable pieces, enabling them to identify key challenges and key stakeholders, and then design plans of action to build a team and create change more quickly. We don’t need disasters like Hurricane Katrina to inspire transformative community action — we can start today. Think 2040 also builds power among the Millennial Generation by aggregating our priorities, articulating our values, stating our goals, and using our influence as the largest generation in American history to e*ect major state and national policy change.

Over the course of the next year, we will use Think 2040 Phase I results — the values, issue areas, and priorities outlined in this report — to launch a second phase of action across the country. Informed by the goals we’ve set for Millennial America, Roosevelt members nationwide will continue organizing in their chapters and, city by city, create change that moves us towards our 2040 goals. In 2011, we will engage thousands more in Think 2040 forums. We will dynamically incorporate their voices into our generation’s vision for Millennial America, be>er define our priorities, design concrete policy proposals to create change, and take action together to achieve the future that we want to inherit.

Get Involved. Contribute Your Vision. Shape Your Future.

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By specifying how we will measure the Millennial vision for America, Roosevelt sought to ensure that we not only stated a general desire for a be>er America but provided a roadmap for how to get there. We hope that these metrics pro-vide guidance not only in imagining the Millennial America, but also for stu-dents across the country in developing their policy ideas.

Taken together, the progress metrics outlining our 2040 priorities constitute the beginnings of our “Future Preparedness Index”—a set of measureable goals that encapsulates the Millennial Vision for America.

Check out www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/projects-programs for more information on the Future Preparedness Index.

1. Check out the website

2. Find a chapter on your campus

3. Contact us @vivaroosevelt

4. Meet your regional sta, and chapter head

5. Change the world

1. No chapter on campus?

2. Email [email protected]

3. Meet your regional coordinator

4. Get start-up materials & launch

5. Change the world

1. Head to www.think2040.org

2. Click “Build the Blueprint”

3. Check calendar of events

4. Contact Roosevelt

5. Change the world

1. Visit www.think2040.org

2. Click “Organize Event”

3. Want tips & support? Email us!

4. Bring together your campus & community

5. Change the world

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XI=..C2'+!",&2'Think 2040 reveals a hopeful Millennial America. An America that tackles our greatest challenges — climate change, educational achievement gaps, federal debt, international conflict — and proposes ambitious action, progressive solutions, and innovative, collaborative thinking. The Millennial America emphasizes the im-portance of good ideas, not political divides. It underscores the importance of considering both sides — the people who work in the mines and the people down-river — and cra(ing entrepreneurial solutions beyond the “right” and “wrong” options characterizing the tone of current debate — solutions that point toward a brighter, safer, more accessible, a*ordable, and equal future.

Most encouraging of all, Millennials nationwide recognize that this is only the beginning. Dreaming up a shared vision was challenging, but we know that achieving a debt-free country that is a leader in innovation, education, human rights, and social safety will be harder still. The challenges didn’t deter Cory, Joe, Kirsten, Joelle, David, Jacob, or the thousands of other Roosevelt members nationwide who have designed solutions to ensure children get healthcare access, protected city residents from predatory lending, secured living wages and benefits for local laborers, designed charter school programs to overcome education barriers, guaranteed college tuition to area public-school graduates, created green walls in airports to reduce the presence of emissions, and founded business incubators to ease refugees into the Ohio economy. The challenges also haven’t deterred the Think 2040 participants who have commi)ed to working through Phase II of the Blueprint for America project, in which they will deepen our understanding of the preferences explored here, prioritize our generation’s first steps, and dig more deeply into the complexities we are sure to find en route to the 2040 we’ve envisioned together.

We can achieve our generational vision for the future. With this shared vision in hand, we are well on our way.

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E'-'2(#,Leyten, Peter, and Ruy Teixeira. 1. The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation. San Francisco: New Politics Institute, 2007.“World Health Report 2000.” World Health Organization. h)p://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/whr00_en.pdf. 152-204 (Statistical Annex). (accessed March 15, 2010).2. Student Debt and the Class of 2009. Oakland, CA: Project on Student Debt, Institute for College Access and Success, 2010.3. “Lifetime E*ects: The HighScope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40.” HighScope. h)p://www.highscope.org/content.asp?contentid=219 (accessed November 9, 4. 2010).“Staying Competitive.” National Math and Science Initiative. h)p://www.nationalmathandscience.org/index.php/staying-competitive/ (accessed November 9, 2010).5. Bowen, William G., Ma)hew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson. “High Schools and “Undermatching.” 6. Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. 87-111.Clinedinst, Melissa E. “State of College Admissions.” edited by David A. Hawkins. Arlington, VA: The National Association for College Admission Counseling, 2008.7. Haskins, Ron, Harry Holzer, and Robert Lerman. “Promoting Economic Mobility by Increasing Postsecondary Education.” Economic Mobility Project, 2009.8. Bowen, William G., Ma)hew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson. “High Schools and “Undermatching.” 9. Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. 87-111.DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernade)e D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith. 10. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010.McCormack , Richard. “The Plight of American Manufacturing.” 11. The American Prospect. h)p://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_plight_of_american_manufacturing (accessed November 17, 2010).Pirog, Rich and Andrew Benjamin,“Checking the food odometer: Comparing food miles for local versus conventional produce sales to Iowa institutions,” Leopold Center 12. for Sustainable Agriculture, h)p://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/sta*/files/food_travel072103.pdf (accessed 09 Nov. 2010). Laabs, Weston. “Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: The Campground Solution.” Roosevelt Campus Network 13. 10 Ideas for Energy and the Environment II (2010): 14-15.American Society of Civil Engineers. “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.” h)p://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ (accessed November 10, 2010).14. National Research Council and National Academy of Public Administration. “Chapter 10: Fiscal Stewardship.” 15. Choosing Our Nation’s Fiscal Future (2010): 303. www.ourfis-calfuture.org/thereport. Washington, DC. National Academies Press. (accessed November 15, 2010).Roberts, Joel John. “America’s Social Safety Net is Being Torn Apart by Budget Cuts .” Will Blog for Food. h)p://willblogforfood.typepad.com/will_blog_for_food/2010/10/16. americas-social-safety-net-is-being-torn-apart-by-budget-cuts-.html (accessed November 10, 2010).Msnbc.com sta* and news service reports. “More Americans living in poverty.” Life on Msnbc.com. h)p://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39211644/ns/us_news-life/ (accessed 17. November 10, 2010).Kuhn, Anthony.“China Aims to Ride High Speed Rail into the Future.” 18. NPR. January 3, 2010. h)p://www.npr.org/templates./story/story,php?storyId=122179548 (accessed November 10,2010)Baily, Martin Neil and Douglas J. Ellio).”The US Financial and Economic Crisis.” Initiative on Business and Public Policy at Brookings. June 2009. h)p://www.brookings.19. edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2009/0615_economic_crisis_baily_elio)/0615_economic_crisis_baily_ellio).pdf (accessed December 27, 2009).Hutchison, Linnae, Catherine Hawes, and Lisa Williams. “Access to Quality Health Services in Rural Areas.” 20. Rural Healthy People 2010 3 (2005), The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, School of Rural Public Health. www.srph.tamhsc.edu/centers/rhp2010 (accessed November 8, 2010).Alcindor, Yamiche Alcindor. “Critical Situation for Area Hospitals, Primary Care Needs Spill Over Into ERs.” 21. Washington Post, July 13, 2009. h)p://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/12/AR2009071202256.html?wprss=rss_health (accessed November 8, 2010).“Let’s Move: America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids.” Let’s Move. h)p://www.letsmove.gov (accessed November 8, 2010)22.

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“Trends in Healthcare Costs and Spending.” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - Health Policy, Media Resources, Public Health Education & South Africa - Kaiser Family 23. Foundation. h)p://www.k*.org/insurance/upload/7692_02.pdf (accessed November 8, 2010).“World Health Report 2000.” World Health Organization. h)p://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/whr00_en.pdf. 152-204 (Statistical Annex). (accessed March 15, 2010).24. DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernade)e D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith. 25. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010.Anthony, Kurt. “Preventing Type 2 Diabetes: A(erschool Exercise in High Risk Areas.”26. 10 Ideas for Healthcare vol.II (2010) Roosevelt Campus Network: 8-9.Grumbach, Jake. “Healthy San Francisco: A Local Public Option.”27. 10 Ideas for Healthcare vol.II (2010) Roosevelt Campus Network: 8-9.Fiegerman, Seth. “The Cost of Running for Political O;ce.” MainStreet powered by TheStreet. h)p://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/cost-running-28. political-o;ce (accessed November 3, 2010)Levnithal, Dave.“Bad News for Incumbents, Self-Financing Candidates in Most Expensive Midterm Election in U.S. History.” OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets blog. November 29. 2010. h)p://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/11/bad-night-for-incumbents-self-finan.html (accessed November 9, 2010).Roberts, Sam. “In a Generation, Minorities May Be the U.S. Majority - NYTimes.com.” 30. The New York Times. h)p://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/washington/14census.html# (accessed November 10, 2010).Bacevich, Andrew. “The Long War: Year Ten Lost in the Desert with the GPS on the Fritz.” Breaking News and Opinion on The Hu;ngton Post. h)p://www.hu;ngtonpost.31. com/andrew-bacevich/the-long-war-year-ten-los_b_754454.html (accessed November 9, 2010).

Photography by Alex Cornell du Houx or from stock, unless where noted. Special thanks to Sean Emerson Gordon-Marvin and Nick Romanenko for their photographic skill.

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