BPC @ SXSW | March 2022

BPC @ SXSW | Harmonizing DEI, Free Expression, and Academics

Date: March 8, 2022

Time: 2-3pm CT

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown

Moderator: Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Bipartisan Policy Center

Panelists: Linda Livingstone, President, Baylor University; Ronald A. Crutcher, President Emeritus, University of Richmond; Carol Sumner, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President, Texas Tech University

Description: Gen Z students are the most diverse in our history but are arriving from “think-alike communities,” unskilled in discourse across difference. For them, DEI seems to be in direct conflict with free expression. How do presidents and administrators create a welcoming and respectful learning environment for all students that upholds commitments to open intellectual inquiry? This panel will explore this tension, analyzing the contributing factors, and provide a strategic framework for addressing it.

Check out #BPCxSXSW on social media to follow along with Bipartisan Policy Center at SXSW. If you’ll be in Austin, fill out this form so we can connect with you.

BPC @ SXSW | Future of Democracy: How Tech Will Shape Elections

Date: March 11, 2022

Time: 11:30am-12:30pm CT

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown

Speaker: Katie Harbath, former Facebook Public Policy Director, Bipartisan Policy Center Fellow

Description: The world is not ready for the coming electoral tsunami. In 2022, there are elections in France, Kenya, Australia, Brazil, the Philippines, and the United States. In 2024, the United States, India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Taiwan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the European Parliament will go to the polls. Never before have all these countries held national level elections in the same year. How tech platforms decide to direct their resources, adapt their policies and enforce their rules will determine if democracy continues to backslide or starts to recover.

Check out #BPCxSXSW on social media to follow along with Bipartisan Policy Center at SXSW. If you’ll be in Austin, fill out this form so we can connect with you.

BPC @ SXSW | Governing a Divided Country–By Leaving Washington

Date: March 12, 2022

Time: 4-5pm CT

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown

Moderator: Jason Grumet, President, Bipartisan Policy Center

Panelists: Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) and Peter Meijer (R-MI-3)

Description: Bipartisan relationships of trust are key to collaboration and a functioning legislative process. Yet, opportunities for building these bonds have all but evaporated in Washington. Many lawmakers are actually good people responding to bad incentives in a highly polarized environment. We must create authentic opportunities for them to connect despite the rawness and divisions. Getting members of Congress from opposite parties outside the beltway to visit each other’s districts and literally see where each other is coming from is essential to restoring consensus-based problem solving. Join Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) as they discuss why it is important to be open to have bipartisan conversations and relationships.

Check out #BPCxSXSW on social media to follow along with Bipartisan Policy Center at SXSW. If you’ll be in Austin, fill out this form so we can connect with you.

BPC @ SXSW | Childcare: A System Too Critical to Fail

Date: March 13, 2022

Time: 10-11am CT

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown

Moderator: Linda K. Smith, Bipartisan Policy Center’s Director of Early Childhood Initiative

Panelists: Libby Doggett, early learning expert, former head of the Office of Early Learning at the U.S. Dept. of Education; Tammy Mann, President and CEO of The Campagna Center; Diana Rauner, former first lady of Illinois, President Start Early

Description: Children’s experiences in their first five years have a profound impact on their lives. Early education programs, including child care, play a key role in building a quality foundation to prepare children to learn, grow, and develop critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills — traits needed for the future workforce that are established during the earliest years. But millions of American families struggle to find quality, affordable child care. Congress and the Biden Administration are on the precipice of a historic investment in early childhood education. While increasing parents purchasing power for child care services will help, it sadly will not solve our nation’s child care crisis. This panel will discuss how to address the dwindling child care supply.

Check out #BPCxSXSW on social media to follow along with Bipartisan Policy Center at SXSW. If you’ll be in Austin, fill out this form so we can connect with you.

BPC @ SXSW | Cracking the Housing Affordability Code

Date: March 14, 2022

Time: 10-11am CT

Location: Hilton Austin Downtown

Moderator: Henry Cisneros – Former HUD Secretary and Mayor of San Antonio; Board Member, Bipartisan Policy Center

Panelists: Dennis C. Shea – Executive Director, J. Ronald Terwilliger for Housing Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center; Former U.S. Ambassador to the WTO and HUD Assistant Secretary; Karen Freeman-Wilson – President and Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Urban League; Former Mayor of Gary, Indiana; Dana Wade – Former HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner; Chief Production Officer, Walker Dunlop

Description: Stable, affordable housing can lead to better health and serve as a springboard for upward mobility. During the pandemic our homes were our workplaces, our schools, and much more. Unfortunately, securing decent, safe, and affordable housing is a struggle for too many families. Millions of low-income households pay unsustainable rents, often more than half their income. Millions of other families simply cannot afford to buy their first home and hundreds of thousands live on the streets as part of a growing homeless population. As one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful countries, America can and must increase the supply of affordable rental homes, address the racial gap in homeownership, increase federal rental assistance, and revitalize the aging stock of public housing.

Check out #BPCxSXSW on social media to follow along with Bipartisan Policy Center at SXSW. If you’ll be in Austin, fill out this form so we can connect with you.