The Growth & Resilience Project has received dozens of applications, and one of them may be a match with your own giving strategy.
Below is a summary of all the proposals for funding that met our basic criteria for consideration. Just because a particular project has not yet been funded from our program does not mean it lacks creativity or achievable impact. Like all funders, we have scarce resources and must ration them accordingly.
Each description indicates if the project is new or was already existed at the organization. It also indicates which of the four key categories the project falls into: Employment and Job Creation, Economic Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, or Countering Narratives.
If one of the projects below seems like something you’d consider reviewing for your own giving, please email us at ResilienceNow@donorstrust.org. We are happy to share the full proposal.
The Proposals
Alaska Policy Forum – Lift Barriers to Telehealth in Alaska – reduce barriers to entry in the health care field by allowing medical practitioners with a license in good standing from any state to provide telehealth services in Alaska without having to obtain an Alaska license. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
American Legislative Exchange Council – A Rapid Response Roadmap to Reopen America and Save Our Country – a multifaceted rapid response strategy aimed at not only mitigating the current pandemic and preventing future economic destruction but leveraging the current landscape to achieve permanent free-market policy victories in key areas including healthcare and education. It will launch an outreach campaign to engage lawmakers and business leaders to take necessary action to reopen the economy and install permanent regulatory reform. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation)
Archbridge Institute – Lifting Barriers to Human Flourishing – a series of weekly op-eds and essays focused on human ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and private initiative during this crisis. The focus will be more targeted towards the general public and opinion leaders that are craving a more positive take on the current crisis and a narrative that focuses on human potential and agency. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Badger Institute – Unfettering Free Enterprise in the Wake of COVID-19 – this project will educate residents and officials on how government intrusion into our lives undermines public health and financial well-being. Badger will work to eliminate regulatory barriers so that people can reenter the workforce and reduce the long-term economic effects of the pandemic. (New Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Ballotpedia – The Next Steps Forward – The overall vision for this project is to find, catalog, and curate the proposals and policies being put forth as well as the actual open-up orders that will be signed by various governors and mayors. It will make it very easy for voters and lawmakers to encounter the best plans so they can usefully influence their rapid adoption. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Beacon Center – How do we get Tennesseans Back to Work – expand capacity to pursue research around broad innovation waivers, licensing reform, creating the fastest licensing process of any state, and the ability to spur local governments to embrace permit freedom. This will include a public awareness campaign to boost public support and educate policymakers. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Reducing Barriers to Entry) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Beacon Center of Tennessee – Turning the COVID-19 Crisis into Opportunity – a multi-phase marketing initiative to influence citizens and policy makers in Tennessee to remove government restrictions and lift suspensions that are in place due to COVID as well as a few that were around before such as healthcare restrictions and business shutdowns. (New Project; Deregulation)
Better Cities Project – Getting Back to Work: A Policy Playbook for Local Government –develop a playbook of immediately implementable public policies to jump-start local economies effected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The resulting playbook will be distributed to local elected officials and will be backed by a national publicity campaign. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Countering Narratives)
Better Together – Better Work – will take the group’s proven job-fair model and translate it to an online medium, safe for hundreds of job seekers to make connections with dozens of employers without leaving the comfort and safety of their homes. This innovative approach can assist families who need work now by connecting them to companies desperately looking for employees. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Better Together – We’re Stronger Together – a new webinar series, We’re Stronger Together,which welcomes guest speakers to address the most pressing topics families in our Southwest Florida home, and all across the nation, face. We’re Stronger Together offers practical, step-by-step approaches families can take to look for work now, prepare for the post-COVID job market, manage their finite finances, parent well outside of the public school system, preserve and improve their marriages and family units, and build faith and emotional resilience. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Bulgarian Libertarian Society – Free Market Healthcare Works – The Bulgarian Libertarian Society will build on its recent successes to turn the tide away from coercive measures and restrictions. It will work towards two crucial goals: reopening of society with cutting edge public health policy and seizing the moment to demonstrate the superior performance of more free market health systems in times of crisis. The desired end result is to shed many recently introduced, poorly designed, coercive measures ASAP and to bring liberalization in the healthcare system. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
California Policy Center – Leveraging the Threat of Chapter 9 – with guidance from a CPC-led coalition of experts, As many California municipalities face severe budget shortfalls, CPC will help local government officials navigate bankruptcy proceeding, allowing governments to change debts such as union pensions, which typically are unable to be changed by law. Government unions then have the option to renegotiate their pension obligations or have a federal judge do so in bankruptcy proceedings. (New Project; Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Capital Research Center – Inside the Left’s Voting Machine: The Secret Plan to Use Electoral “Reforms” to Entrench Left-wing Majorities – This project proposes to investigate and expose the expanding network of left-wing groups working to change America’s election processes. The research would be released as it is produced and then compiled into a printed report and a microsite on the web. The information flow would be distributed via CRC’s existing content stream and provided to other organizations in the liberty movement. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Cato Institute – Developing A Free-Market Health Care Policy Response to COVID-19 – This project will show which government interventions in health care are ineffective and inconsistent with individual rights, and will lay the groundwork for substantial reforms that would have profound positive effects on America’s health care system, both during the pandemic and beyond. It will engage local, state, and federal policymakers in its ideas for reform, as well as serve as a resource for Cato’s nationwide network of state-level free-market think tanks, who can then replicate these efforts across the country. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Cato Institute – Cato Institute Initiative for Financial Inclusion: Empowering Households to Survive the COVID-19 Crisis – Cato scholars will highlight the importance of letting financial services providers meet the exceptional needs of hard-pressed households and businesses. It will critique the financial regulations that currently restrict access to financial products— especially for the most vulnerable consumers—and identifies policy and regulatory changes that would increase competition among financial providers. (New Project; Deregulation)
Cato Institute – Defending the Free Economy in the Wake of COVID-19 – a project dedicated to developing real-time responses centered around how to reopen the economy, mitigate the devastating effects of the pandemic, and implement deregulatory measures that could bring more flexibility to the economy. The project will leverage and coordinate Cato’s existing expertise in this area by leveraging our online resources and strong social media presence to proactively push ready-made and quotable content about our research to media outlets, and to identify and target key audiences of policymakers, thought leaders, and the general public. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Center for Education Reform– Accelerating Change through Innovation and Opportunity NOW (ACTION) – This program addresses the urgency of providing families, schools and leaders with resources, ideas, connectivity to each other for an expansion of effective remote learning and policy changes.. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Center for Indonesian Policy Studies – Keeping Markets Open: Fighting the Harmful Myth of Self-Sufficiency Project – addressing the harmful global trend towards national self-sufficiency in strategic goods, which threatens to prevent or delay a speedy recovery. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $25,000*
Certell – Answering the Call—COVID-19: Online Education for Everyone – funding would go to support production of easy to use materials to accommodate both traditional teaching styles and self-paced, self-directed learning. The content encourages user engagement and emphasizes the day-to-day relevance of the material. Additionally, it would host a half-day virtual event or a series of live webinars, featuring prominent speakers ranging from business leaders to economists, educators to policymakers. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Civitas Institute – Study Supporting States Eliminating Their Corporate Income Tax to Hasten Economic Recovery After the COVID-19 Pandemic – a nationally-expanded, comprehensive study of the potential economic impact of states eliminating their corporate income tax, without raising taxes elsewhere, is to encourage state legislators to repeal or reduce their corporate income tax and, as a result, create a better climate for economic recovery, employment, and job creation. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation)
Committee to Unleash Prosperity – Prosperity Hotline – The grant would be used to support its new daily newsletter, the Prosperity Hotline, which shares the latest coronavirus studies, polling data, economic impact reports, and cases of government overreach, to a distribution list of politicians, top Wall Street executives, free-market champions, and other prominent opinion leaders. A portion of the grant will be spent on a digital marketing program to grow its list and influence. (New Project; Employment/Job Creation, Countering Narratives)
Commonwealth Foundation – The Race to Rebuild: American Innovation in the Post-COVID-19 World – support its ongoing issue campaigns, coalition building, and education for lawmakers and citizens. By spreading its message in the media, continuing to equip our state lawmakers, and crafting bold and innovative policy proposals, we can jump start our economy from this crisis-induced slumber and make Pennsylvania a national leader for recovering prosperity and individual liberty. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation)
Competitive Enterprise Institute – #NeverNeeded Campaign – focuses attention on the social and economic harms imposed by ill-conceived rules and regulations, and leveraging public outrage to eliminate needless rules and make systemic reforms. (Existing Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Conscious Capitalism, Inc. – Conscious Capitalism Expanded Virtual Conference – to convert and pivot the Annual Conference into a month-long, free, virtual offering in order to best serve the business community in this time of need. There is proven high demand for online support through this disruption, as they are trying to find any advantage they can to help their business survive the disruption and come out growing on the other side. Attendees will work to constantly elevate their own practice of business leadership and elevate the public perception of capitalism. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
EdChoice – COVID-19 Impact on Private and Public Schools – Already working on a thin line of budgetary prudence, any significant increase in public school students would add a very large burden to each school. This strain will not only impact the budgets but also the ability of faculty to accommodate larger class sizes and facilities likely at or near capacity. This project will collect and share best practices in private schools, discover problem areas and work collaboratively in finding solutions, and hold virtual conferences/zoom discussions/webinars/podcasts to share and distribute findings and data. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Empire Center – Aiding New York’s Recovery – a project that presents ideas to New York policy makers for recovery through a published report focusing on maximizing job opportunities, exposing and repealing regulations that hinder entrepreneurship, and encouraging innovation in the health care field. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Foundation for Government Accountability – 2020 Short Term Policy Response – state and federal policy response strategy to COVID-19, designed to cut down government red tape that stands in the way of a fast recovery, move people back to work, and preserve resources for the people who need them the most. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Franklin News Foundation – COVID-19 News Project – The Center Square newswire service provides local and state news about the issues affecting taxpayers from the taxpayers’ perspective, reaching individuals in the middle of the political spectrum. This program will offer an alternate perspective to legacy media’s unfair coverage of individuals who disagree with state shutdowns as radical or heartless and will be republished around the country in state and local newspapers, which are starved for local COVID-19 news content. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives) **Received a grant of $50,000**
Free Market Foundation (Hungary) – No Stone Unturned – This project is designed to re-establish investigative journalism in Hungary. It will organize workshops in rural Hungary for media ventures with a regional focus to teach journalists how to write investigative pieces, how to find sources, how to pursue stories, how to request information, and how to write them in an easily consumable manner. In addition, FMF will develop a legal toolkit for journalists so that they know their rights, and what is legal to do, alongside an investigative toolkit containing useful websites, contacts, methods etc. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Free the People – Freedom over Fear – video series on the history of America’s response to national emergencies. Gathering historical examples of how we lose our civil liberties, our property rights, and our economic freedoms when we allow fear to trump commonsense and rational discourse. (New Project; Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Free the People – Coping with COVID – 3-4 part video series profiling business owners, community centers, artists, and entrepreneurs who have been affected by mandated closures. The series will explore the remarkable propensity for human beings to adapt and survive in difficult circumstances, while illustrating the nimble flexibility that occurs when decisions are made at the local level. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Free the People – Understanding How Complex Economies Function and Why We Need a Functioning Market Now – 5-6 part video series translating complex economic principles into commonsense explanations in the light of the current economic situation. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Free the People – an on-line screening of the feature-length documentary, How to Love Your Enemy: A Restorative Justice Story, for audiences to stream at home. It will be a vehicle to shine a light in these dark times and remind people that there is a better way to do things outside of government intervention. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Free the People – Written Content – to help produce short, readable, written analysis and thoughtful commentary on COVID and the public response to it. Will also compile written content from other free-market content producers. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Free to Choose Network – A State of Action: A Weekly Blog Series – A weekly video blog series featuring state-based initiatives that could lead to nationwide change. This project leverages its existing base of support and will provide high quality, weekly video-based content for the social media feeds of each of the SPN affiliates. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Freedom Foundation – Worker Freedom: Turning New Challenges into Opportunities – temporarily redirect its face-to-face canvassing capacity, increase its phone and mail outreach and formulate and advance messaging that highlights the adverse impact of unions on workers’ and families’ well-being during this time of great economic uncertainty. This will also enable it to step up litigation efforts against government union machinations that take advantage of workers already hard-pressed by the economic crisis. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
FreedomWorks – The Economic Reopening and Recovery Plan – using the Committee to Unleash Prosperity’s Economic Recovery Plan and content produced by their scholars, FreedomWorks will educate the grassroots community, engage the public with op-eds, radio, television, and social media to reach people with this message, utilize their advocacy platform to drive emails. phone calls, and social media to elected leaders, and highlight the successes in individual states. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
FREOPP – Getting America Back to Work – a commonsense approach to reopening our economy that recognizes, balances and mitigates public health risk. Instead of one size fits all restrictions, it advocates a targeted approach that continues to restrict activities for at risk populations while permitting others to resume their normal daily activities. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Countering Narratives)
FREOPP – Getting America Back to School – in addition to calling for a return to the classroom, it will work to put forward reforms that decrease students’ reliance on traditional classroom education for all educational needs. They will take advantage of the opening for game-changing reforms to give families greater control of education funding. This includes education savings accounts as well as increased access to online learning. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
The Fund for American Studies – “Economics of Disaster” Online Course – Redevelop and distribute their “Economics of Disasters” online course, which will fully modernize and update this program targeted at high school teachers in the United States. This will equip educators with a proper understanding of the real economic impact of draconian government measures, and counter the overwhelming narrative in favor of these efforts. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Fundación para el Avance de la Libertad – Private Health Care Saves Lives Initiative – Spanish think tank that proposes an urgent deregulation, tax cuts and advocacy initiative in response to the COVID-19 crisis and to its abuse in pursuance of nationalization. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $25,000*
Goldwater Institute – Protect Our Future Economy and Home Based Businesses from Government Overreach – A multi-faceted approach designed to help businesses and create jobs. It includes advocating for legislation that will give businesses the certainty they need to expand and create jobs, promoting a fair, flat, and predictable tax system, and, if necessary litigating against government overreach. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
The Georgia Center for Opportunity – Hiring Well, Doing Good – a two-pronged approach to help address the economic devastation from the COVID-19 crisis. It will undertake comprehensive welfare reform to support individuals who truly need it and scale its Hiring Well, Doing Good initiative to coordinate the private sector efforts of businesses and non-profit service providers to help the chronically un- and underemployed enter or re-enter the workforce. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation) **Received a grant of $30,000**
Goldwater Institute – Defending the Right to Earn a Living – This program is designed to capitalize on legislators’ appetites to come back to their statehouses with solutions to fix their economies and give them the information needed to make lasting change that will benefit workers. It would give licensed professionals the freedom to work when they move to a new state, make it harder for the government to deny occupational licenses, and bring fairness to the government permitting process. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Goldwater Institute – Reducing Barriers to Entry into Healthcare – this effort will speed the development and use of innovative treatments by reforming the Food and Drug Administration’s drug approval process and ensuring doctors have the best information to treat patients by removing restrictions on off-label communications, expand access to healthcare by eliminating certificate of need laws, promoting telemedicine, and permanently permitting healthcare professionals to work across state lines. (Existing Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Goldwater Institute – Giving Parents the Tools to Educate Their Children – this program is designed to help children get a better, more custom educational experience long after this crisis is over. It will expand its work, help more families and children, and seize the opportunity to reform our nation’s education system. The project works toward the publication of six policy reports that leads to introduction of proposals for education savings accounts or academic transparency in at least five states by the end of 2021. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Human Rights Foundation – CovidCon 2020 – a conference that will provide a virtual platform for informing the public on the importance of preserving a free society in times of crisis, and how authoritarian regimes have made the situation worse and exploited it to expand their grip on power. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
The Idaho Freedom Foundation – Reopen Idaho – Generate public outrage against government erosion of our liberties and leverage that outrage to install safeguards on government emergency powers. In addition, IFF seeks to return state and local governments to their previous scope, ensure temporary free-market gains are made permanent, champion safeguards on executive power, activate and engage thousands more Idahoans for liberty, and export IFF’s policy strategy to a national audience. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Independent Women’s Forum – Prevent COVID-19 Emergency Paid Leave Programs from Becoming a Permanent, New Entitlement – drawing on its past efforts to fight back against one-size-fits-all paid leave mandates, this project is a multifaceted approach to prevent the creation of a new paid leave entitlement by shaping the narrative, identifying our most persuasive and impactful arguments, and getting this information and messages to policy influencers, policy makers, and the public. (Existing Project; )
The Institut économique Molinari (IEM) – Liberalization of testing is vital to get the French economy moving again – This project will illustrate the appeal of a less regulated and less taxed society. This project will focus on economic deregulation and barriers to entry in health care. It will help counter crisis intervention narratives and will challenge government overreach and will illustrate the appeal of a less regulated society. IEM will also publish a report by the Institute documenting the shortage of testing and the regulatory causes. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Institute for the American Worker – Entrepreneurship in the Post-COVID Economy – I4AW scholars will produce a comprehensive report laying out the policies federal leaders can advance to give Americans greater flexibility in how they earn a living and who they hire. It will also launch a new series of at least three virtual training events focused on advancing a positive package of policies that will help American entrepreneurs and the workforce. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Job Creators Network Foundation – Get Back to Work – Through its Healthcare for You framework, JCNF has developed relationships with dozens of doctors and healthcare professionals willing to speak out on policy issues and explain to the public how consumers and workers can safely start working again. Similarly, JCNF has developed a stable of small business owners to speak on economic policy issues in the media. Through radio interviews, op-eds, letters to the editor, social media, and TV appearances, JCNF’s physician corps can provide reliable advice about loosening restrictions. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Countering Narratives) **Received a grant of $50,000**
John Locke Foundation – Grow Great Carolina: The Right Response to COVID-19 – an aggressive social media marketing campaign to educate North Carolinians on why free-market policies will lead to a stronger, more prosperous Carolina post-COVID-19. In addition, it will counter arguments being pushed by well-funded special interests seeking to grow government and its control of North Carolinians lives. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Countering Narratives)
Kansas Policy Institute – Reopen Kansas – KPI is seeking to partner with the academic staff of the Gwartney Institute at Ottawa University and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) to get input from Kansas small business owners on the best steps to reopen the Kansas economy in the COVID environment. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation)
Let Grow – Independence Challenge for Kids – in collaboration with Jonathan Haidt and Dr. Peter Gray they developed a survey to measure the change in the “independence behaviors” of children who used the Independence Kit and participated in the Independence Challenge for Kids over the quarantine. This will be followed by a national PR campaign to publicize the survey results. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Lithuanian Free Market Institute – #Laissez-faire Lithuania -It will build a #NeverNeeded regulatory register and produce six bi-monthly deregulation packages paired with targeted policy advocacy campaigns, aimed at removing regulatory barriers that have prevented flexible private-sector responses. (New Project; Deregulation, Countering Narratives) **Received a grant for $30,000**
Libertas Institute – Tuttle Twins book – author a new book in the children’s Tuttle Twin series that presents a counter-narrative to COVID exploring the tendency of government to grow during periods of crisis and how a fearful populace is more easily taken advantage of. (New Project; Deregulation)
Libertas Institute – Utah Regulatory Sandbox – Replace funding lost to the COVID crisis for a project presented at SPN’s 2019 LaunchPad event that creates “regulatory sandboxes” in Utah. These create a legal environment where innovation in a wide variety of sectors can take place with fewer regulatory constraints, in order to allow more experimentation and flexibility. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Lincoln Network – COVID-19 Data Project – a project meant to fill the gap in reliable, data-driven modeling. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $30,000*
Mackinac Center – Restarting Michigan’s Economy –publish and market a set of guiding principles for safely and expeditiously restarting Michigan’s economy. This will help policymakers evaluate paths for ending the restrictions enacted to mitigate the pandemic as well as public policy changes that foster well-being for the state’s residents. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Countering Narratives)
Manhattan Institute – City Journal’s Coverage of the COVID-19 Epidemic – the project seeks to advance empirically grounded, historically informed policy discussions within the City Journal publication from some of the nation’s leading thinkers, focused on restoring public health and economic prosperity. (Existing Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Manhattan Institute – MI’s E21 Responds to the Covid-19 Crisis – support to help E21 (Economic Policies for the 21st Century) meet increased editorial, graphic design, and publishing costs related to the pandemic. Published digitally, in real-time, its analysis and commentary can immediately address the developments deemed most significant by MI’s scholars or by the site’s growing roster of expert contributors. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Mercatus Center – Bending the Regulatory Curve – a multi-part project that will analyze and draw attention to re-regulation after deregulation from COVID response, while also providing regulatory reform strategies to help jumpstart America’s economic recovery. (New Project; Deregulation)
Mercatus Center – COVID-19: The Last Straw for Public Pensions – commission policy briefs from experts on public pensions and leverage its outreach to ensure that policymakers and other leaders receive information on solvency, reform, and the false promise of bailouts. This effort will be focused on states like California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, and New Jersey, and findings and recommendations will be shared with state-level think tanks and university-based research centers. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Mercatus Center – Crisis and Leviathan: Monetary Policy and the CARES Act – This project has three overall goals: (1) draw policymaker and public attention to the risks the CARES Act poses to freely traded financial markets; (2) provide real-time analysis of the CARES Act implementation and oversight; and (3) inform policymakers on approaches to unwinding the Treasury-Fed program as the crisis abates. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Mercatus Center – Expanding Access to Free-Market Education – develop coronavirus-specific lesson plans on its Marginal Revolution University platform about the power of incentives, innovation, and markets in responding to the pandemic. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Mercatus Center – Market Based Healthcare Policies for COVID-19 – publish research briefs on urgent policy issues like rapidly increasing healthcare system capacity and enabling experimental treatments. As the crisis evolves, it will explore the long-term implications of policy failures exposed by this pandemic and show how markets—not mandates—are essential to healing America’s healthcare challenges. (New Project; Deregulation)
Mercatus Center – Ideas for Economic Recovery: Policy proposals from the Mercatus Center to jumpstart America’s economy – As policymakers prepare to “un-pause” the economy in the coming months, the Mercatus Center is publishing new briefs almost daily and communicating the best ideas in a new website for federal and state policymakers, titled “The Way Forward.” These briefs delve into topics like economic and fiscal policy, regulatory policy, monetary policy, and healthcare. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry)
The Montreal Economic Institute – Ensuring Maximum Objectivity about the COVID-19 Pandemic Narrative and Its Aftermath on a Global Platform – MEI aims to monitor key pages of Wikipedia for distortions and omissions that might paint a biased or incomplete picture of the current crisis in terms of public policy and governance, and to make a concerted and sustained effort to correct such bias on Wikipedia. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Mountain States Legal Foundation – Center to Keep and Bear Arms – litigate cases such as one recently filed against the state of New Mexico in response to its refusal to designate firearm retailers and ranges as essential businesses in the wake of COVID-19. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools – an advocacy campaign to provide equitable language and guidelines to protect charter schools and their teachers, students, families, and communities. This will include working with the Administration, Congress, and relevant agencies at both the state and federal level. In addition, NAPCS has created a platform to share guidance and resources with state charter school associations, networks, and independent charter schools. (Existing Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
National Taxpayers Union Foundation – Telemedicine Revolution –NTUF proposes a vigorous campaign of research and public outreach to help achieve a much-needed revolution in telemedicine. NTU will produce further policy analysis of remaining restrictions on telemedicine in the post-COVID-19 world, and will pair that with an aggressive campaign of outreach to state and federal legislators, state think tanks, and the broader public making the case that heavy-handed regulatory restrictions on telemedicine were never needed in the first place. (New Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
National Taxpayers Union Foundation– Fighting Against Government Overreach After COVID-19 project – develop effective, pragmatic tax policy solutions to the crisis while protecting taxpayers from overreach. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation) *Received a grant of $30,000*
Network of Enlightened Women – provide programming on three complementary tracks to serve our goal; (1) professional development programming; (2) policy programming; and (3) coffee breaks known as “Empower Chats.” These serve a second function of teaching speakers how to use the online platforms that should produce additional content down the road. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs – Oklahoma Re-Open – OCPA will lead the effort to get Oklahoma Re-Open, protect businesses from government overreach and to advance legislation during the legislative session this month to expand quality schooling options to Oklahoma’s most vulnerable. Viable and functioning businesses and adaptable and highly performing K-12 schools are the keys to accomplishing this, especially in times like these. (New Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Pacific Legal Foundation – A Guidepost for Liberty – this project will bring together a coalition of liberty-minded experts on the topic emerging from the pandemic to develop a knowledge base of ideas and advance strategies to push back against the inevitable rise of more government interference in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. This working group would serve as a resource for like-minded organizations and individuals to identify the best opportunities for litigation, legal policy or legislative action, strategic research, or public education campaigns. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation, Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Pacific Research Institute – Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity During the COVID-19 Crisis – promote freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility in the realms of entrepreneurship and other forms of independent work. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Pegasus Institute – COVID-19 Response Project – Emerging Kentucky think tank aiming to produce content for newspapers, radio stations, and network affiliates around the state as well as blogs and podcasts critical of any overly intrusive government response. (Existing Project; Deregulation, Countering Narratives)
The Pelican Institute – Get Louisiana Working – The Pelican Institute will arm lawmakers with their Get Louisiana Working agenda, which includes recommendations for tax, budget, legal, education, technology, and regulatory policies. It will use social media to market Get Louisiana working, and highlight that Louisiana is among the states most heavily reliant on federal dollars. Lessons learned will be used as a cautionary tale not only Louisiana but across the country. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Pioneer Institute – the Institute will explore the costs and economic impacts of a range of federal, state, and local policies. It will identify ways to ensure short- and long-term alignment, especially on issues that have traditionally been of local and state jurisdiction. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation)
Pioneer Institute – Hard-Hit Industries: Rebuilding Restaurants, Retail, and Travel & Hospitality – this project will produce research that analyzes hard-hit economic sectors in order to craft strategies to increase business viability and employment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It will focus on restaurants, retail, and travel and hospitality, as the pandemic’s effect is magnified for these industries. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives) **Received a grant of $44,100**
Pioneer Institute – Reducing Barriers to Entry in the Healthcare Market: Telehealth and Scope of Practice – research project to craft a policy guide for Massachusetts and other states that examines how telehealth is currently being used during COVID-19, and how it can be embraced in the future. The Institute’s work will provide important leadership on this issue, as hospitals in the Northeast wield a considerable influence on medical trends for the rest of the country and for healthcare policymakers at the national level. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
PragerU – The PragerU Liberty Project – This project is designed to increase the number of young people exposed to concepts of liberty and resiliency during COVID-19 by producing video content to be distributed online. It will educate young Americans about the concepts of free markets, free speech, self-reliance, and limited government and why documents like the Constitution and Bill of Rights are essential. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Platte Institute – Growth, Reform, & Resilience Initiative – conduct timely research, provide fiscal oversight, and advocate for greater economic opportunities for all Nebraskans now and once this crisis has passed, along with a campaign to educate opinion leaders, legislators and voters to make certain that short-term emergency measures for COVID-19 do not smother long-term recovery efforts. (Existing Project; Deregulation, Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
RealClear Foundation – Editorial Initiative on Economic Policy Response to COVID-19 – this initiative will feature pieces that are timely, give voice to the working people whose lives have been upended by the shutdown, and offer clear and practical guidance for policymakers. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Reason Foundation – COVID-19 Pandemic: Preserving Civil Liberties – journalism focused on highlighting egregious actions by state actors using this crisis as an opportunity to chip away at our civil liberties. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Reason Foundation – Pension Integrity Project – This grant would support work researching, writing, and marketing solutions to help states and localities deal with the potential impacts of COVID-19 on state retirement programs. Their expertise can build a bigger pool of ‘motivated customers’ who are willing and able to work with Reason’s implementation team on reforms in 2021 state legislative sessions. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
Reason Foundation – Monetizing State and Local Transportation Assets – Reason proposes a large-scale study of long-term public-private partnership (P3) lease agreements for a large sample of U.S. airports and toll roads. The project will analyze 30 large and medium commercial airports owned by city, county, and state governments, and nine of the largest toll road systems owned by state governments. In addition, it would offer pro-bono consulting to motivated public officials and other stakeholders to help them design and implement pension reforms that improve plan solvency, lower financial risks borne by taxpayers, and promote retirement security through sustainable benefit designs. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Rio Grande Foundation – Catalyzing Action: Occupational Licensing Reform – launch an education campaign for policymakers and the general public making the case for occupational licensing reform in New Mexico. This project will use an ongoing public relations and advocacy effort that includes media outreach, op-eds and letters, social media, coalition building, and events. It will focus on how occupational licensing reform can create second chances for prior offenders by eliminating barriers to employment. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Tax Foundation – COVID-19 Response Center – this is an online education utility that provides the media, elected officials, and the general public with real-time updates that explain the many moving parts that comprise the economic implications and legislative responses to the crisis. This effort will also include dynamic modeling, an unemployment claims tracker, and both state and global response trackers designed to show the impact of responses to Covid-19. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Technology Policy Institute – A Natural Experiment in Distance Learning: The Covid-19 Experience – build a database that includes detailed information about distance learning techniques by school district. This data would be collected and organized systematically to facilitate hypothesis testing in the medium-future once measures of student outcomes, like grades and test scores, become available. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry)
Texas Public Policy Foundation – Addressing COVID-19: Center for Innovation in Education – address the shortcomings that currently hinder Texas’ K-12 education system. With its recommendations for The Texas Virtual School Network, this program would increase access to a quality education for many students across the state. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives)
Texas Public Policy Foundation – Addressing COVID-19: Right on Healthcare – using practical policy recommendations, this program will address shortcomings, particularly overregulation, within the United States’ healthcare systems. TPPF has crafted a multi-pronged strategy to tackle reforms at the state and federal levels, including but not limited to telemedicine and licensing reform. (New Project; Reducing Barriers to Entry, Countering Narratives) *Received a grant of $50,000*
Texas Public Policy Foundation – Addressing COVID-19: Economic Recovery Agenda – develop a strategic economic recovery agenda that establishes priority solutions and policy actions that will reanimate America’s economy. These include recommendations for the White House, Congress, state governments, and foreign policy. (New Project; Employment/ Job Creation)
Universidad Francisco Marroquin (UFM) – seeks to contribute to the efforts of like-minded organizations around the world to change the overarching narrative, drive public policy toward rolling back government overreach, and clear the way for innovation and the creation of wealth. They will do this through directed discussions for influential communicators, micro-documentaries, analysis in UFM Market Trends and on a Crisis and Liberty Landing page. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Yankee Institute – Civil Society and Fiscal Restraint in a Time of COVID-19 Initiative – counter narratives of beneficent big-government interventions in a way that resonates with the non-ideological public, encourage a complete audit of state spending to root out line items that are clearly wasteful and inappropriate during a time of state and national emergency, and spotlight the need for pension reform through analysis and presentation of alternatives. (New Project; Countering Narratives)
Young Voices – Freedom Should Be the #NewNormal” – an article, TV/radio, and social media campaign designed to counter the narrative for increased government overreach in the areas of regulation, spending, and civil liberties. (Existing Project; Countering Narratives)
