$22.1M in expenses

Third way institute supports the development of educational materials and events on the policy challenges faced by america, focusing on a wide variety of policy issues.climate and energyin 2024, third way's climate and energy program helped solidify the united states' position as a global leader in clean energy innovation and deployment. Third way focused their efforts on addressing deployment challenges, clarifying the economic and national security benefits of clean energy, and supporting strategies that accelerate progress. Third way's work centered on three priorities: 1) equipping decision-makers with data and insight to guide the energy transition; 2) identifying and addressing non-cost barriers to clean energy deployment; and 3) increasing public understanding of the benefits of clean energy.third way bridged gaps in the clean energy economy by providing strategic analysis and solutions.social policy and politicsin 2024, third way's social policy, education and politics team focused on three core areas: 1) defining what american want from washington; 2) centering value in the higher education debate; and 3) addressing threats on social issues:defining what americans want from washington: third way's politics team answered this question by: --utilizing electoral data sources including the catalist voter file, cooperative election study, and AP votecast, to draft reports analyzing and explaining the american electorate and differences in opinion, worldview, and voting behavior across states and districts with a focus on key presidential and senate states and battleground house districts; --conducting qualitative and quantitative public opinion research to better understand what voters prioritize, how they think about current issues under discussion in the administration and congress, and what they want from candidates and policymakers; --building a case against running a well-financed third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election by employing historical and empirical data to show this candidate would have no path to victory and could only play a role as a spoiler for voters; and, --tracking how ideological divergent candidates fare in primary and general elections in 2024 to continue years of work showing americans continue to gravitate to mainstream candidates over extremism.centering value in the higher education debate: third way's education team continues to lead a coordinated movement to change the federal policy narrative on higher education from cost to return on investment and socialize a slate of actionable, defensible solutions to improve postsecondary value, quality, and accountability for students and taxpayers. Third way advanced these efforts by:--hosting the program's largest event to date, the higher ed value summit, a conference that brought together experts in the field, including former department of education under secretary james kvaal and other notable influencers, for a day of learning and connection on the biggest barriers to centering value in the industry.--conducting landmark public opinion research on high school students, demonstrating that young americans still see value in pursuing a college degree and understanding their barriers to that pursuit. --publishing the fourth annual economic mobility index, along with a dedicated website for our value metrics, to celebrate colleges and universities that open their doors to students from low-income backgrounds and prioritize their success.--championing the postsecondary student success grant program to support evidence-based college retention and completion programs and making the case for making this fund permanent.--weighing in on the formation of a new college accreditor and how they're developing their accrediting standards to hold them accountable to their role in the process of improving outcomes for students. --developing policy ideas for improving the graduate student lending system, which currently drives our high outstanding federal student debt and takes advantage of unrestricted taxpayer dollars.addressing threats on social issues: third way remains committed to addressing threats to american values and vulnerable populations on key social and cultural issues. Third way employed various tactics to make progress on crime, immigration, and LGBT rights in the past year.economics program in 2024, third way's economic program focused on three core areas: 1) making the middle class more affordable and attainable for non-college educated workers; 2) strengthening the affordable care ACT and lowering health care costs; and 3) expanding entrepreneurial opportunity in america.national security programin 2024, the national security program focused most exclusively on artificial intelligence, both domestically and as it relates to china. It is clear now that AI is the new arms race and that both the united states and china are well ahead of the rest of the world. Each country has a different model on how it will develop AI and each has goals on how it is regulated in deployed. Us-china on AI and the power competition: more than ever, the us-china competition will be decided by digital technology and AI. The national security program highlighted the importance and challenges the us faces with china. --the AI race will be shaped by the values each country holds. Third way dissected the major values america and china bring to AI innovation and informed policymakers and the public how it may determine who wins the AI race. --in third way's paper titled clash of the tech titans, we argued to the public and policymakers that the frontlines in the us-china digital competition are the companies. Third way educated the public on what each company does, how they compete, and the threat the chinese companies pose to national security and privacy. --third way's paper china's nervous neighbors educated policymakers and the public on how america's alliances are deep, but china's are transactional. While america's neighbors are true friends and partners; china's neighbors are wary and nervous. Third way explained china's capabilities of repression through AI, mass surveillance, relentless censorship, and automated disinformation operations that threaten global freedoms;--third way made the case that a digital pro-democracy model is needed to set international norms and standards to compete against the ongoing proliferation of china's digital autocracy model.artificial intelligence: how should policy makers view artificial intelligence a threat, an opportunity, both? Third way explored both ends of the spectrum:--third way educated policymakers and the public on what is new in artificial intelligence and argued that competition is good. --third way explored a new AI topic called agentic AI and explored the ramification for policymakers.--should AI be developed in a closed or open model? Third way analyzed the plusses and minuses of open source AI to help policymakers better understand this complicated and technical issue. --third way drafted many other papers on AI, held and attended dinners for policymakers aimed at exploring the contours of AI, participated in panels, and made many media appearances.