Greater Jamie Rubin & Cheryl Cohen Effron

Jarret Berg, cofounder of VoteEarlyNY, says there's a lot that's about to change about voting in New York, and a public education campaign is needed. Following up on our previous conversation about ranked-choice voting, we talk about other ways in which the vote can be suppressed in New York City, and the reforms to combat those issues. 

Susan Lerner is one of the city's leading experts on ranked-choice voting. As Executive Director of the nonprofit Common Cause, she was instrumental in the campaign during New York City ballot initiative to bring ranked-choice voting to New York City primaries and special elections. That measure goes into effect in 2021. But while an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers voted in favor of the change - there's still a lot of confusion about what it is, how it will work - and who stands to benefit.

Sally Susman, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer, gives an insider’s look at how quickly development of a safe Covid-19 vaccine is coming along. The New York City-based pharmaceutical giant is working closely with nonprofits, government, and other private companies to solve the biggest problem facing the world today.

Jonathan Harber has been pushing for innovation in learning long before it became such a necessity during the pandemic. As someone who has started a charter school, as chairman of StartEd Inc, and as a board member of the Fund for Public Schools, he supports a community of innovators looking to find the pain points in education - and solve them.

Harber is arguing for, among other things, an innovative approach to repurposing school gyms and cafeterias for distanced learning.

Nick Turner has spent decades working on the criminal justice, policing and community issues. As president of the Vera Institute of Justice, he oversees nonprofit work in key areas like prison conditions, misuse of jails, and equitable justice systems.

Nick talks about the impact the coronavirus epidemic and subsequent protests against police brutality are having on his advocacy work, and the ways in which he thinks enormous policing budgets could be better spent. 

Bradley Tusk is a man who does many things to help democracy bring about positive change - from mobile voting to working the levers of government to bring an end to hunger. In this episode he also learns he's an unwitting trisector evangelist, as his work bridges the non profit, private, and government sector worlds in his efforts to help New Yorkers.

Tusk is CEO of Tusk Ventures and Tusk Strategies, and he joined us to talk about how public policy can be shaped in the future.