About Us

The Progressive Policy Institute is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform.

Based in Washington, D.C., with offices in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Ukraine, PPI’s mission is to generate radically pragmatic ideas for governing that can help elected leaders restore confidence in liberal democracy at home and abroad.

Amid a worldwide surge of illiberal populism and extreme nationalism, PPI believes the overriding challenge facing Democrats and other center-left parties is to champion the economic prospects and moral outlook of ordinary working people. At a time when those parties risk being captured by highly educated and professional elites, PPI works to ensure that working families’ voices are heard and respected by their elected representatives.

Advocating for sound, responsible economic policies.

PPI advocates for economic policies that are pro-worker, pro-business, and pro-innovation; for fiscally responsible public investment and fairer tax burdens; for dramatically expanding apprenticeships, work-study opportunities, and career pathways for non-college Americans; for lower health care and housing costs; for center-ground solutions to immigration and crime; for a realistic clean energy transition; for modernizing America’s outdated public education system; and for resolute U.S global leadership in defense of liberal democracy.

PPI also believes center-left parties must not become complacent about public sector dysfunction. Because they believe in active government, they have a special responsibility to make government better, not just bigger.

Connecting a strong network of pragmatic partners.

To connect ideas and political action, PPI relies on an extensive network of partners. We have close ties to pragmatic Democrats in Congress, as well as leading governors, attorneys general, and mayors and metro leaders. Our partners include rising elected leaders, a national grassroots network of young, pragmatically liberal activists, as well as progressive thought leaders and think tanks around the world.

Founded in 1989, PPI started as the intellectual home of the New Democrats and earned a reputation as President Bill Clinton’s “idea mill.” It helped to organize the Clinton-Blair “Third Way” dialogues and more recently has launched the Project on Center-Left Renewal to write a new playbook for international efforts to modernize progressive politics.