Carlos Mark Vera

Nonpartisan institutions that rely on facts and research to shape public understanding are being left behind — not because they lack insight, but because they lack presence where it matters most. Today’s media ecosystem rewards authenticity, resonance, and networked participation — not credentials, citations, or carefully crafted op-eds. Institutions can’t afford to treat audience engagement as an afterthought. Renee DiResta and I just published a new paper with the Carnegie Endowment: "For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies." We argue that the old top-down comms playbook — press releases, Sunday shows, reports behind paywalls — isn’t just outdated, it’s increasingly speaking only to a niche audience. So we offer alternatives strategies for building trust, networks, and long-term partnerships, in a call-to-action for funders, think tanks, and public interest institutions: Read the whitepaper here. And if you're experimenting with new ways of connecting with audiences, we'd love to hear about them: https://lnkd.in/eHvKNaBN

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In a new CGD blog, I make the case for donors to refocus education aid on catalyzing greater government spending—especially as aid budgets face unprecedented pressure. 💡Government budgets in low- and middle-income countries already account for 61% of total education spending. However, in the poorest countries, spending levels remain critically low. Here, donor support can still play a key role in “crowding in” additional public investment. 💡Education budgets are heavily skewed toward wages, indicating that aid could deliver greater value by boosting the efficiency of non-wage spending. 💡My analysis of how efficiently education budgets translate into Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS) reveals that many low-spending governments are making the most of limited resources. This suggests there are latent, underutilized practices that donors could help scale to enhance system-level efficiency.

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How do views on racial inequality differ among BIPOC-led philanthropy and non-BIPOC-led philanthropy? Democracy Fund’s Lauren Hill unveils a new analysis of funders for Candid, explaining how “BIPOC-led philanthropy is stepping up. But building a more diverse, resilient, and sustainable pro-democracy field—and through that field, a stronger American democracy—will require more donors and grantmakers of all backgrounds to step forward.”

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With EDC in flux, Council Speaker Menin builds her own economic development team While the New York City business community is still waiting for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to name a new leader of the powerful Economic Development Corp., City Council Speaker Julie Menin is assembling her own economic development team. The new speaker is shifting her office’s Division of Strategic Partnerships to focus specifically on economic development. It has been renamed the Office for Advancing Partnerships and Economic Expansion, or APEX, and is tasked with “building strategic partnerships and advancing initiatives that expand economic opportunity across the five boroughs.” Menin appointed Joe Daniels, former president and CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, and Lea Goldman, a well-connected journalist and editor, to lead the expanded team. Behind the appointments is Menin’s vision for the council to take a more ambitious approach to governing, and she wants her office to be particularly aggressive on business-related issues. “These appointments help bolster our efforts to take the Council in a new, more proactive direction to deliver results for every resident of the five boroughs,” Menin said in a statement. “Their experience and leadership will help us build stronger partnerships, expand economic opportunity and ensure the Council is equipped to meet the greatest challenges facing our city.”

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The Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP) in partnership with the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division (CJPPD) at OPM is launching an ARPA funded Digital Pathways Program. It's aimed at advancing digital opportunities for justice-impacted populations.    We invite Connecticut libraries to partner with us by responding to the attached RFP! Libraries play a critical role in bridging the digital gap, and your participation can help deliver training that supports re-entry, employment, education, healthcare access, and civic engagement. 

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