James Spiegelman, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs
Ph: 202.736.3849; Fx: 202.833.1813
jim.spiegelman@aspeninstitute.org

The Aspen Institute policy programs advance public and private sector knowledge on significant policy issues confronting contemporary society.  Policy programs frame critical topics and convene leaders and experts from relevant fields to reach constructive solutions. While each is unique in substance and approach, Aspen Institute policy programs all share a common mission and methodology. Each serves as an impartial forum, bringing a diversity of perspectives together in informed dialogue, research and action.

Currently, the Aspen Institute policy programs are:

Agent Orange in Vietnam Program promotes dialogue within the
US policy community, and between the United States and Vietnam,
on solutions to the continuing impact of the wartime use of
herbicides in Vietnam.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/agentorangeprogram)
Advocacy Planning and Evaluation Program (APEP) advises
leading foundations and nonprofits who want to increase the impact
of their service delivery by addressing the policies that constrain
their work. APEP develops tools and offers services to help
organizations in the United States and internationally learn from
their advocacy experience and adjust their strategy as they go.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/apep)
Ascend, the Family Economic Security Program, is a hub for
breakthrough ideas and proven strategies that move parents,
especially women, and their children beyond poverty. The program
focuses on three key areas – engagement, education, and economics
– to build a network of leaders and elevate policies and community
solutions that increase families’ economic security and educational
achievement. Ascend takes a “two-generation” approach in its
strategy – focusing on both parents and their children.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/ascend)
Aspen Institute Program in the Arts was established to support
and invigorate the arts in America and to return the arts and artists
to the center of the Aspen Institute's "Great Conversation". It brings
artists and art works to the Institute, and it also brings together
leading artists, arts managers, sponsors and patrons.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/artsprogram)
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a
global network of more than 110 organizations that invest money
and expertise to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets.
ANDE members are at the vanguard of a movement focused on
supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) that create
economic, environmental, and social benefits for developing
countries. Ultimately, ANDE’s goal is to build sustainable
prosperity in the developing world.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/ANDE)
Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence is an annual
award for the Nation’s best community colleges. The program
recognizes and disseminates information about the practices on
community college campuses that result in exceptional levels of
achievement for students during their programs and after they have
completed their degrees. (www.aspenccprize.org)
Aspen Strategy Group (ASG) convenes a bipartisan group of
prominent foreign policy and national security experts to consider
changes in the geopolitical landscape and examine the important
challenges facing the United States in the world today.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/asg)
Business and Society Program (BSP) is dedicated to developing
leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogues and
path-breaking research, it creates opportunities for executives and
educators to explore new pathways to sustainability and valuesbased
leadership. Its websites, www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org
and www.CasePlace.org, are the leading sources of innovative
curriculum in top business schools around the world.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/bsp)
Center for Native American Youth, founded by former US
Senator Byron Dorgan, is committed to combating the challenges
and empowering Native American youth across the United States,
in order to improve their overall health, safety and well-being, and
to reduce tragic suicide rates and premature death.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/cnay)
Commission on No Child Left Behind is a bipartisan effort to
develop recommendations to improve and build on the law’s core
concept of transparent, data-driven accountability for the
achievement of all students and to drive consensus behind
additional reform priorities necessary to promote college readiness
and completion. Co-Chaired by former Governors Roy Barnes and
Tommy Thompson, Commissioners include a diverse group
representing national civil rights organizations, state legislators,
principals and teachers, business leaders, state education chiefs,
district superintendents, higher education leaders and researchers.
They are national leaders in education reform debates and effective
influencers in their respective networks and on both sides of the
political aisle. (www.nclbcommission.org)
Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process was
formed in 2010 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation as an
independent, nonpartisan effort to evaluate the Federal government's
vetting and clearance procedures, to identify opportunities for
improvement, and to work with interested parties to effect reform of
the process. The commission is co-chaired by former US Senators
Bill Frist and Chuck Robb and former White House officials Mack
McLarty and Clay Johnson. The Commission was created to work
with the White House, Congress and other interested parties to help
identify and adopt measures to streamline and expedite the vetting
process without sacrificing high standards of quality for government
leaders. The goal is to assure that Presidents can more quickly fill
key positions particularly during the first six months of a new
administration with the qualified people necessary to serve the
public interest, while reducing the burden and intrusiveness on
nominees. (www.aspeninstitute.org/federal-appointments)
Communications and Society Program (C&S) promotes dialogue
and innovative decision-making in the fields of communications and
information policy. It convenes leaders to assess the impact of
digital and network technologies on individuals and society, and
develops new models for communications policy.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s)
Community Strategies Group (CSG) designs and manages peer
learning exchange and critical examination opportunities among
community leaders, practitioners and policymakers engaged in
improving regional and community economic development, civic
capacity, family livelihoods, and the development of local
philanthropic resources. (www.aspeninstitute.org/csg)
Congressional Program offers nonpartisan educational programs
designed to foster leadership on public policy issues among
members of the US Congress.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/congressional)
Council of Women World Leaders promotes good governance and
gender equality and aims to increase the number, effectiveness and
visibility of women in top leadership roles. (www.cwwl.org)
Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) supports fields of
practice that make economic opportunity more accessible to those
who are struggling in the changing economy. Fields in which we
work include workforce training and education, microenterprise
development and financial services. (www.aspeninstitute.org/eop)
Education and Society Program provides an informed and neutral
forum for education practitioners, researchers, and policy leaders to
engage in focused dialogue regarding their efforts to improve
student achievement, and to consider how public policy changes can
affect progress. Through meetings, analysis, commissioned work,
and structured networks of policymakers and practitioners, the
Program for nearly 30 years has developed intellectual frameworks
on critical education issues that assist federal, state, and local
policymakers working to improve American education.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/education)
Energy and Environment Program This interdisciplinary policy
program stimulates open-minded dialogue about the state of the
natural world, global energy and environmental challenges, and
sustainable solutions. It draws on the knowledge and experience of
leaders in science, government, business, and civil society and
raises public attention through policy dialogues and forums, a
leadership initiative, and major public events. For more than three
decades, its Energy Policy Forum has convened senior industry,
government, environmental, and other leaders to report on a broad
range of energy issues, including climate change, electricity
markets, nuclear power, renewable fuels, and fuel efficiency. The
program also spearheads the Aspen Arctic Commission, the Catto
Fellowship Program for young environmental professionals, and
partners with National Geographic to convene the annual Aspen
Environment Forum. With all of these efforts, it advances
collaborative dialogue and collective knowledge to help solve
critical environmental problems. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ee)
Global Health & Development’s mission is to identify and
promote breakthrough solutions for global health and poverty.
GHD does this by informing and strengthening the capacity of
political leaders, moving country level best practice to global
policy attention, developing and promoting new evidence, and
providing high-level forums for debate and implementation of
innovative strategies with the potential to result in large scale,
significant impacts. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ghd)
Global Initiative on Culture and Society seeks to build a neutral
platform for reflection, network building, policy formulation,
leadership development, and resource mobilization in the fields of
arts, culture, and socioeconomic development.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/cultureandsociety)
Health, Biomedical Science, and Society Initiative (HBSS)
examines societal issues related to health policy, medicine,
nutrition and biotechnology through a combination of roundtable
discussions, speaker series and public convenings.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/health)
Homeland Security Program examines the issues relating to US
homeland security, assesses America's preparedness for terrorism,
and makes recommendations to make the nation safer.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/security)
Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) is a leading policy program
dedicated to helping bring about the policies and financial products
that enable all Americans to save, invest, and own.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/ifs)
Justice and Society Program (J&S) develops leaders and
educates the public on the rule of law and the meaning of a just
society through seminars, conferences, international professional
exchanges and working groups. Current foci include the free
exercise clause and religious tolerance, judicial independence,
international education on the American judicial system, and
human rights and humanitarian law.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/justice)
Market Building Initiative generates dialogue, creates
frameworks, and evaluates approaches for building legitimate
market economies in the developing world. Complementary to the
Institute for State Effectiveness’ work on state- and civil-society
building, the program seeks to understand economic constraints and
opportunities, provide ideas on how best to reorient activities and
supports the rules and processes that can allow citizens to participate
in the benefits of a globalizing world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/mbi)
Middle East Programs (MEP) is focused on a comprehensive
approach toward the Middle East, and includes Partners for New
Beginning, the US-Palestinian Partnership, the Emirates-Aspen
Forum on Innovation, the North Africa Partnership for Economic
Opportunity, the US-Lebanon Dialogue, and the Huda and Samia
Farouki Speakers Series. These programs and initiatives work with
prominent American, Middle Eastern and Muslim business, as well
as political leaders throughout the regions, that are dedicated to
working for a peaceful resolution of all Middle East conflicts and to
forging partnerships between the United States and the Muslim
world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/mideast)
Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation employs
seminars, leadership programs and evidence-based discussion and
communications to strengthen and inform philanthropy, the nonprofit
sector and social enterprise so that each can contribute to the
good society, domestically and internationally.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/psi)
Program on the World Economy begun in 1981, the Program on
the World Economy has the ongoing goal of promoting sustainable
economic growth and financial stability in the world economy. The
Program convenes each summer a group of prominent leaders with
the aim of advancing pragmatic solutions to major global economic
and financial challenges and of advancing cooperation and
coordination on key issues. Its conference is by invitation only.
(www.aspeninstitute.org/pwe)
Roundtable on Community Change (RCC) distills lessons about
how to revitalize distressed urban and rural communities, and helps
policymakers, funders and practitioners develop effective strategies
for promoting vibrant, racially-equitable communities in which all
children and families have the same opportunity to succeed.
(www.aspenisntitute.org/rcc)
Skills for America’s Future is a partnership of businesses and
community colleges to address the dual problems of high
unemployment and the difficulty many employers face in finding
workers with the right skills. Skills for America’s Future helps
connect employers to community colleges and other workforce
partners so they can equip their students with the skills necessary to
find and retain jobs in our 21st century economy.
(www.skillsforamericasfuture.org)
Sports & Society Program convenes leaders, fosters dialogue,
and inspires solutions that help sport serve the public interest. The
program covers a range of topics and will initially focus on the
development of active children and communities. The goal is to
elevate the conversation around the critical need to get, and keep,
more children involved in healthy sport into the teenage years and
beyond—a key component in confronting the nation's obesity
epidemic. The program is the first of its kind to bring together
high-level leaders from across the disjointed sports landscape, as
well as those from policy and other realms, with the aim of
addressing the barriers that limit widespread participation in sport.
(www.sportsandsociety.org)

Agent Orange in Vietnam Program promotes dialogue within the US policy community, and between the United States and Vietnam, on solutions to the continuing impact of the wartime use of herbicides in Vietnam. (www.aspeninstitute.org/agentorangeprogram)

Advocacy Planning and Evaluation Program (APEP) advises leading foundations and nonprofits who want to increase the impact of their service delivery by addressing the policies that constrain their work. APEP develops tools and offers services to help organizations in the United States and internationally learn from their advocacy experience and adjust their strategy as they go. (www.aspeninstitute.org/apep)

Ascend, the Family Economic Security Program, is a hub for breakthrough ideas and proven strategies that move parents, especially women, and their children beyond poverty. The program focuses on three key areas – engagement, education, and economics – to build a network of leaders and elevate policies and community solutions that increase families’ economic security and educational achievement. Ascend takes a “two-generation” approach in its strategy – focusing on both parents and their children. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ascend)

Aspen Institute Program in the Arts was established to support and invigorate the arts in America and to return the arts and artists to the center of the Aspen Institute's "Great Conversation". It brings artists and art works to the Institute, and it also brings together leading artists, arts managers, sponsors and patrons. (www.aspeninstitute.org/artsprogram) 

Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of more than 110 organizations that invest money and expertise to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. ANDE members are at the vanguard of a movement focused on supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) that create economic, environmental, and social benefits for developing countries. Ultimately, ANDE’s goal is to build sustainable prosperity in the developing world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ANDE)

Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence is an annual award for the Nation’s best community colleges. The program recognizes and disseminates information about the practices on community college campuses that result in exceptional levels of achievement for students during their programs and after they have completed their degrees. (www.aspenccprize.org)

Aspen Strategy Group (ASG) convenes a bipartisan group of prominent foreign policy and national security experts to consider changes in the geopolitical landscape and examine the important challenges facing the United States in the world today. (www.aspeninstitute.org/asg)

Business and Society Program (BSP) is dedicated to developing leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogues and path-breaking research, it creates opportunities for executives and educators to explore new pathways to sustainability and valuesbased leadership. Its websites, www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org and www.CasePlace.org, are the leading sources of innovative curriculum in top business schools around the world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/bsp)

Center for Native American Youth, founded by former US Senator Byron Dorgan, is committed to combating the challenges and empowering Native American youth across the United States, in order to improve their overall health, safety and well-being, and to reduce tragic suicide rates and premature death. (www.aspeninstitute.org/cnay)

Commission on No Child Left Behind is a bipartisan effort to develop recommendations to improve and build on the law’s core concept of transparent, data-driven accountability for the achievement of all students and to drive consensus behind additional reform priorities necessary to promote college readiness and completion. Co-Chaired by former Governors Roy Barnes and Tommy Thompson, Commissioners include a diverse group representing national civil rights organizations, state legislators, principals and teachers, business leaders, state education chiefs, district superintendents, higher education leaders and researchers. They are national leaders in education reform debates and effective influencers in their respective networks and on both sides of the political aisle. (www.nclbcommission.org)

Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process was formed in 2010 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation as an independent, nonpartisan effort to evaluate the Federal government's vetting and clearance procedures, to identify opportunities for improvement, and to work with interested parties to effect reform of the process. The commission is co-chaired by former US Senators Bill Frist and Chuck Robb and former White House officials Mack McLarty and Clay Johnson. The Commission was created to work with the White House, Congress and other interested parties to help identify and adopt measures to streamline and expedite the vetting process without sacrificing high standards of quality for government leaders. The goal is to assure that Presidents can more quickly fill key positions particularly during the first six months of a new administration with the qualified people necessary to serve the public interest, while reducing the burden and intrusiveness on nominees. (www.aspeninstitute.org/federal-appointments)

Communications and Society Program (C&S) promotes dialogue and innovative decision-making in the fields of communications and information policy. It convenes leaders to assess the impact of digital and network technologies on individuals and society, and develops new models for communications policy. (www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s)

Community Strategies Group (CSG) designs and manages peer learning exchange and critical examination opportunities among community leaders, practitioners and policymakers engaged in improving regional and community economic development, civic capacity, family livelihoods, and the development of local philanthropic resources (www.aspeninstitute.org/csg)

Congressional Program offers nonpartisan educational programs designed to foster leadership on public policy issues among members of the US Congress. (www.aspeninstitute.org/congressional) 

Council of Women World Leaders promotes good governance and gender equality and aims to increase the number, effectiveness and visibility of women in top leadership roles. (www.cwwl.org)

Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) supports fields of practice that make economic opportunity more accessible to those who are struggling in the changing economy. Fields in which we work include workforce training and education, microenterprise development and financial services. (www.aspeninstitute.org/eop)

Education and Society Program provides an informed and neutral forum for education practitioners, researchers, and policy leaders to engage in focused dialogue regarding their efforts to improve student achievement, and to consider how public policy changes can affect progress. Through meetings, analysis, commissioned work, and structured networks of policymakers and practitioners, the Program for nearly 30 years has developed intellectual frameworks on critical education issues that assist federal, state, and local policymakers working to improve American education. (www.aspeninstitute.org/education)

Energy and Environment Program This interdisciplinary policy program stimulates open-minded dialogue about the state of the natural world, global energy and environmental challenges, and sustainable solutions. It draws on the knowledge and experience of leaders in science, government, business, and civil society and raises public attention through policy dialogues and forums, a leadership initiative, and major public events. For more than three decades, its Energy Policy Forum has convened senior industry, government, environmental, and other leaders to report on a broad range of energy issues, including climate change, electricity markets, nuclear power, renewable fuels, and fuel efficiency. The program also spearheads the Aspen Arctic Commission, the Catto Fellowship Program for young environmental professionals, and partners with National Geographic to convene the annual Aspen Environment Forum. With all of these efforts, it advances collaborative dialogue and collective knowledge to help solve critical environmental problems. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ee)

Global Health & Development’s mission is to identify and promote breakthrough solutions for global health and poverty. GHD does this by informing and strengthening the capacity of political leaders, moving country level best practice to global policy attention, developing and promoting new evidence, and providing high-level forums for debate and implementation of innovative strategies with the potential to result in large scale, significant impacts. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ghd)

Global Initiative on Culture and Society seeks to build a neutral platform for reflection, network building, policy formulation, leadership development, and resource mobilization in the fields of arts, culture, and socioeconomic development. (www.aspeninstitute.org/cultureandsociety)

Health, Biomedical Science, and Society Initiative (HBSS) examines societal issues related to health policy, medicine, nutrition and biotechnology through a combination of roundtable discussions, speaker series and public convenings. (www.aspeninstitute.org/health)

Homeland Security Program examines the issues relating to US homeland security, assesses America's preparedness for terrorism, and makes recommendations to make the nation safer. (www.aspeninstitute.org/security)

Initiative on Financial Security (IFS) is a leading policy program dedicated to helping bring about the policies and financial products that enable all Americans to save, invest, and own. (www.aspeninstitute.org/ifs)

Justice and Society Program (J&S) develops leaders and educates the public on the rule of law and the meaning of a just society through seminars, conferences, international professional exchanges and working groups. Current foci include the free exercise clause and religious tolerance, judicial independence, international education on the American judicial system, and human rights and humanitarian law. (www.aspeninstitute.org/justice)

Market Building Initiative generates dialogue, creates frameworks, and evaluates approaches for building legitimate market economies in the developing world. Complementary to the Institute for State Effectiveness’ work on state- and civil-society building, the program seeks to understand economic constraints and opportunities, provide ideas on how best to reorient activities and supports the rules and processes that can allow citizens to participate in the benefits of a globalizing world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/mbi)

Middle East Programs (MEP) is focused on a comprehensive approach toward the Middle East, and includes Partners for New Beginning, the US-Palestinian Partnership, the Emirates-Aspen Forum on Innovation, the North Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity, the US-Lebanon Dialogue, and the Huda and Samia Farouki Speakers Series. These programs and initiatives work with prominent American, Middle Eastern and Muslim business, as well as political leaders throughout the regions, that are dedicated to working for a peaceful resolution of all Middle East conflicts and to forging partnerships between the United States and the Muslim world. (www.aspeninstitute.org/mideast)

Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation employs seminars, leadership programs and evidence-based discussion and communications to strengthen and inform philanthropy, the nonprofit sector and social enterprise so that each can contribute to the good society, domestically and internationally. (www.aspeninstitute.org/psi)

Program on the World Economy begun in 1981, the Program on the World Economy has the ongoing goal of promoting sustainable economic growth and financial stability in the world economy. The Program convenes each summer a group of prominent leaders with the aim of advancing pragmatic solutions to major global economic and financial challenges and of advancing cooperation and coordination on key issues. Its conference is by invitation only. (www.aspeninstitute.org/pwe)

Roundtable on Community Change (RCC) distills lessons about how to revitalize distressed urban and rural communities, and helps policymakers, funders and practitioners develop effective strategies for promoting vibrant, racially-equitable communities in which all children and families have the same opportunity to succeed. (www.aspenisntitute.org/rcc)

Skills for America’s Future is a partnership of businesses and community colleges to address the dual problems of high unemployment and the difficulty many employers face in finding workers with the right skills. Skills for America’s Future helps connect employers to community colleges and other workforce partners so they can equip their students with the skills necessary to find and retain jobs in our 21st century economy. (www.skillsforamericasfuture.org)

Sports & Society Program convenes leaders, fosters dialogue, and inspires solutions that help sport serve the public interest. The program covers a range of topics and will initially focus on the development of active children and communities. The goal is to elevate the conversation around the critical need to get, and keep, more children involved in healthy sport into the teenage years and beyond—a key component in confronting the nation's obesity epidemic. The program is the first of its kind to bring together high-level leaders from across the disjointed sports landscape, as well as those from policy and other realms, with the aim of addressing the barriers that limit widespread participation in sport. (www.sportsandsociety.org)

Download in PDF Format.