About
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 to bring people together across disciplines and divides to address pressing challenges. In recent years, the state of American democracy and the related state of the nation's economy have been a focus of Academy work.
In 2020, a bipartisan Academy commission produced a consensus report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century, while also recognizing that improving the way Americans experienced the economy was essential to strengthening democracy. A subsequent Commission on Reimagining Our Economy issued a photojournal, new economic metric, and a final report with recommendations.
In its final report, the Commission called for promoting cross-class relationships, which gave rise to the Economic Connectedness Working Group, which brought people together from different sectors -- including housing, K-12 education, arts and culture, and civil society -- to develop ideas for how to foster these connections.
This website is designed for community leaders, practitioners, philanthropists, policymakers, and others who are at the forefront of creating opportunities for economic connectedness. It features essential information on cross-class relationships, a collection of case studies, and guiding questions to get readers started on their economic connectedness journey.
Economic Connectedness Working Group Members
- Kathy Cramer, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Chair)
- Russell Booker, Spartanburg Academic Movement
- Emily Dickens, Society for Human Resource Management
- Julia Freeland Fisher, Clayton Christensen Institute
- Anthony Flaccavento, SCALE, Inc.
- Jessica Fulton, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
- Lynda Gonzales-Chavez, YMCA
- Ann Helmke, City of San Antonio
- Tonika Lewis Johnson, Folded Map Project, NFP
- Mark Joseph, Case Western Reserve University
- Eric Klinenberg, New York University
- Theresa Kuchler, New York University/Opportunity Insights
- Goodwin Liu, California State Supreme Court
- Sarah Oppenheimer, Opportunity Insights
- David Oxtoby, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Daniel Stid, Lyceum Labs
- Johannes Stroebel, New York University/Opportunity Insights
- Melanie Welch, American Library Association
Supporters
This work is an extension of the research and recommendations of the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy. The work of the Commission is supported by a $1 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and additional funding provided by C&P Buttenwieser Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Omidyar Network, David M. Rubenstein, and Patti Saris.