Holding onto Hope in 2025: Why Long-Term Policy Solutions Still Matter

The past few weeks have felt awful for public policy and its important role in American life. 

Every day brings news of another agency gutted, experts laid off, lifesaving research canceled, and more people vilified for spending their careers in public service, doing their best to make America better in ways large and small. The move-fast-and-break-things approach being taken by the Trump administration amounts to the wholesale vandalism of government agencies and the many nonprofit organizations that rely on federal grant funding.  

It is often all too easy to forget that policy work is about people—ideally, helping people. With every system broken, piece of funding retracted, and worker laid off, people are harmed. Some of those harms are immediate: For example, over 90 high school students lost support from a pilot program designed to help children with disabilities transition to adulthood, and a vital aid program for 9/11 survivors faced significant cuts—reductions that could mean the “difference between life and death” for some. At the same time, the mass firings of tens of thousands federal workers are destabilizing the economy, leaving families in crisis and communities reeling. Other harms will unfold long term, as research that could have cured degenerative diseases is postponed, and universities and health systems freeze hiring and hike up tuition to compensate for funding cuts. In the policy world, it feels a little bizarre to publish briefs and blog posts on ideas that are focused on making things better for Americans in the long run, rather than responding to this current wave of destruction.  

In all the chaos, one of my team members, as they were publishing a blog about long-standing work to improve childcare for parenting students, had a “what is the point?” moment. They were understandably feeling as if writing about our regular policy work felt like shouting into the void. 

I have had more than a few moments like that myself over the past few weeks. What keeps me going, and what I shared with them, is this: At some point, we are going to need to fix things. To do that, we need to have continued the slow and unglamorous work of coming up with good policy ideas. At New America, we work across several policy areas to improve our education systems, boost the economic security of American families, advance global security for people and the planet, strengthen our political institutions, and foster a sustainable and inclusive digital future. If we fail to do this work now, we will have little to build on when the time comes to fix the damage being done.

All of New America’s work recognizes that the promise of America requires constant renewal, and that policy solutions should be designed based on evidence, science, and the best interests of the people impacted. Our approach is in stark contrast to the ideologically driven slash-and-burn approach the current administration is taking, which seems driven by animus over evidence. 

“Managing this moment means balancing the immediate crisis with the important big picture.”

Managing this moment means balancing the immediate crisis with the important big picture. We cannot tilt at every piece of chaos. Rapid-response work, legal strategies, and general resistance are vitally important, but we cannot let them consume our entire focus. 

Continuing to do the everyday work will look different depending on where you sit. For me and many others in policy, it will be defending our work from the worst of the current attacks while continuing to develop ideas we hope will improve life for all Americans. For folks who work in direct service roles, it will be doing your best to protect constituents and clients. Legal organizations will be leading the charge to oppose illegal administration actions. For the philanthropy world, it means remembering that organizations will need continued support to do effective policy work and resisting the temptation to pull back. 

Not everyone is in a secure enough position to have the luxury to keep doing the day-to-day work. But if you are, hopefully there is motivation in thinking about our need to be ready to fix our democratic institutions. 

I will keep holding onto hope that when this moment of wanton destruction ends, or at least slows down, we will be ready with the people and ideas to help usher in the next stage of renewing America’s promise. 

For policy organizations like New America, bringing attention to the necessity of supporting federal funding for public services that Americans rely on, and the experienced workers who keep those services running, is not just a response to the assault on government. It’s also doing what we’ve always done.

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