Emma Vadehra Writes Piece on Reimagining Think Tanks – Next100
Commentary   Changing the Game

Emma Vadehra Writes Piece on Reimagining Think Tanks

Think tanks can only help pave the path toward a more inclusive, just, and equal country if we modernize our concept of expertise, re-think who gets to drive policy change, and re-imagine how policy is developed.

Next100 executive director Emma Vadehra wrote a piece for Stanford Social Innovation Review arguing that think tanks that aim to provide the intellectual backbone to policy movements—through research, data analysis, and evidence-based recommendations—need to change their approach. Emma writes:

“Think tanks alone cannot change the larger cultural and societal forces that have historically limited access to certain fields. But they can change their own practices: namely, they can change how they assess expertise and who they recruit and cultivate as policy experts. In doing so, they can push the broader policy sector—including government and philanthropic donors—to do the same.”

 

Read the full piece, “We Need to Reimagine the Modern Think Tank.”

About the Author

Emma Vadehra Education + Early Years

Emma Vadehra was the founder and former executive director of Next100. She previously served as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education under Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King, Jr. and as senior education counsel for the late senator Edward M. Kennedy. She is an education policy wonk, an advocate for progressive policy change, and a believer in the next generation.

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