This fall, IDEAS launched the first in a series of digital long-form essays called IDEAS in Action. This online feature brings together the efforts of multiple Institute programs working in similar subject areas in one deeply reported, data-rich, handsomely designed article. For our first piece, senior digital editor and producer Matt Connolly interviews first-generation college students whose lives have been touched by the Institute’s work in higher education. Data-visualization tools include an interactive map of Institute educational initiatives all over the country and charts of first-generation educational outcomes versus those of continuing-generation students.