New America Foundation
Washington, DC

General Support

Markedly lacking in our contemporary political culture is a broad vision of a America's future: a vision that both embraces and reshapes our most important values in light of emerging 21st century realities. These values include the building of democracy, appreciation for diversity, commitment to pluralism, and expansion of opportunity for all our citizens.

The primary purpose of the New America Foundation (NAF), a recent start-up organization, is to recruit, nurture, and publish the next generation of public intellectuals – young people of intellect and vision to generate new ideas that can capture the imagination of a wide sector of the American public.

Based in Washington, D.C., NAF will also bring thinkers together in regular strategic conferences, helping to develop cross-sector and interdisciplinary approaches to the problems America will face in the 21st century. Through its web magazine and other networks, NAF will disseminate the products of these alliances to the public. In so doing, NAF will contribute to creation of the broader vision America needs for the next millennium.

NAF first came to us as promising idea and was taken to the planning and implementation level through a program development grant. Led by the young idea entrepreneur Ted Halstead, NAF has hired an outstanding staff and has developed a clear statement of its mission and values. It has put together an outstanding Board of Directors, headed by former Atlantic Monthly writer and US News and World Report editor James Fallows. From a highly competitive field of over 100 applicants, it has selected its first class of fellows, who are already writing and publishing significant work.