The Roosevelt Institution
Finalists from Hyde Park 2007 - not chosen for the 2007-2008 school year:
The Challenge: guarantee good health to every American.
Good health, as noted in Roosevelt's statement of principles, is essential to other life functions. In America, though we spend more of our GDP on healthcare than any other country, we have worse public health outcomes than many other first-world countries. Besides a healthcare system that is a pain in the neck to navigate, health issues are class issues in our unequal healthcare system. We could drastically improve healthcare outcomes at the same time as making our healthcare system more equitable by taking easy policy steps.
America must face the growing crisis in its healthcare system. Spiraling costs and an increasing population of under- and uninsured individuals must be addressed.
The Challenge: ensure that human migration is beneficial to everyone it affects.
Migration, as a political issue, is rapidly evolving. About three percent of the earth’s population migrates across international borders each year. Immigration now accounts for over 60% of US population growth. As we have seen in recent US history, its magnitude is constantly reshaped by economic ebbs and flows, changes to natural landscapes and resource availability, and political conflict and violence. This summer’s intense congressional debate over various nuances to proposed immigration legislation evinces this issue’s capacity to reshape debate along political cleavages that challenge strict partisanship. It is because the issues sparked by migration are too new to have been fully debated that fresh ideas will have such great impact. Unlike issues that have stagnated along strict partisan lines, a challenge on migration would offer Roosevelt the freedom to conceive progressive ideas from its own angle.
Immigration into the United States is being addressed from a protectionist and xenophobic perspective. We must rethink the causes of migration, and the important role immigrants play in our society and economy, and learn to integrate new citizens into our country.
The Challenge: prevent violence rather than trying to deal with its effects.
2004 World Health Report estimated the cost of interpersonal violence in the United States (excluding war-related costs) at $300 billion per year. In our country alone, a violent crime is committed every 23.1 seconds. In addition to the deep emotional costs to families and youth from violence, the government expends billions of dollars on medical services for victims and loses tax revenue from the loss of productivity and wages when victims leave the workforce. But who loses the most? The youth of America. Children watch as parents are stuck in a cycle of violence and desperation, youth join gangs looking for respect, family and support, and thousands of students do not attend school each day from fear of bullying or violence. But there exists a light at the end of this tunnel. Organizations and programs around the country are focusing on violence prevention methods that save lives and money. For instance, Providence, RI was one of the only large cities in the United States to see a decrease in violent crime over the last year, in part due to the programs such as the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, which works to prevent youth and gang violence within the city. Many prisoner rehabilitation programs, when funded, have proven their ability to reduce rates of recidivism and help participants to successfully reintegrate into society after being convicted of a crime. But the change effected by these prevention programs will not be sustainable without increased funding and structural support from the government and local communities.
Violence has incredible costs on our economy and society. We need to approach violence as something to be prevented, with accompanying costs reduction and an improvement of our social fabric. From gang violence to the prison system, we need improvements on the way the state deals with conflict.
The Challenge: realize the American promise of merit-based advancement and social mobility.
Though founded on principles of meritocracy, America's increasing polarization of wealth has reduced chances for social mobility and advancement for the poor and middle class. Low quality urban schools and the skyrocketing cost of college tuition place barriers in front of students from low-income backgrounds. Predatory lending practices prey on vulnerable individuals, trapping them in endless cycles of poverty. Inadequate health care coverage place additional burdens on over 45 million Americans struggling to get by. Working to correct these problems will greatly help low and middle-income individuals in their struggle to advance in America.