Please join us for the next event in the Progressivism on Tap series featuring Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU and Chair, Change to Win, on the historical and contemporary role of labor in the progressive movement. 

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of Orthodox Christianity, will discuss the nature of progress at a lecture co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress and Georgetown University in Gaston Hall at Georgetown. In His All Holiness's words, true progress is a "balance between preserving the essence of a certain way of life and changing things that are not essential." Orthodox Christianity is a revolutionary faith and is dedicated to change. And even though the faith has never taken up the banner of progressivism per se, it has taken up many causes over the centuries that are progressive by definition. His All Holiness will address three of these causes at his lecture: nonviolence, philanthropy (specifically in the form of health care), and environmentalism.

Vice President Joe Biden, Chair of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, will host a panel of leading scholars to discuss the unique challenges facing America's middle class in the 21st century economy.

The Vice President and the expert panel will discuss the many economic developments and trends affecting middle-class families, including changes to the overall labor market in recent decades, shifting gender roles and the need for work-life balance in today's economy, economic inequality and mobility, and the increased gap between productivity and wages.

In the midst of Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal from the presidential race and President Hamid Karzai's de facto victory, the Obama administration is assessing how to move forward in Afghanistan. The "messy" election process has only complicated their efforts, as the Afghan government, deemed essential to U.S. and NATO efforts, is hobbled by corruption and weak popular legitimacy.

Meanwhile, the Taliban insurgency's strength has grown, with its forces now estimated at 25,000 members—a 25 percent increase over the past year. Policymakers have discussed negotiating with elements of the insurgency to stem its momentum. The diverse range of motivations feeding into the insurgency has convinced many that some Taliban fighters can be persuaded to switch sides in the war in Afghanistan. Little progress has been made thus far in these reconciliation efforts, however, despite overtures by President Karzai and high-level Saudi-brokered efforts.

Please join the Center for American Progress and the New America Foundation for the second in a series of discussions with experts debating key aspects of the ongoing mission in Afghanistan. The panelists will analyze the impact of Karzai's presidential victory on the insurgency, discuss the costs and opportunities offered by negotiation efforts, and share their thoughts on U.S. strategy moving forward.

China's rise is unprecedented. Never before has a pivotal power come of age in such an interdependent world, in which institutions, rules, and initiatives blanket nearly every area of international activity. A central challenge for the Obama administration's China policy is to secure the most cooperation possible on key transnational threats like global warming, economic imbalances, nuclear proliferation, and pandemics like the swine flu. What is China's attitude toward the international architecture that guides cooperation on these threats? Does it play by the rules? Does it seek to weaken or strengthen the international system?

In advance of President Obama's first state visit to China, please join Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg, John Podesta, and Nina Hachigian for a conversation about China's new global role and U.S.-China relations.

Two years ago the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Center for American Progress, and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute joined together to grade the states on student achievement. In this follow-up report to "Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness" we turn our attention to the future, looking not at how states are performing today, but at what they are doing to prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead. After decades of political inaction and ineffective reforms, our schools consistently produce students unready for the rigors of the modern workplace.

Please join us for an insightful conversation about the state of educational innovation today. The authors of the report will share their findings and how they graded the states, and shed light on the tools, incentives, and opportunities education institutions can use to reinvent themselves in profoundly more effective ways.

Please join us for the next event in the Progressivism on Tap series featuring Mark Schmitt, editor of the American Prospect, on the transformation of liberalism in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Obama administration has made it a major priority to turn around the nation's lowest performing schools but there is considerable debate over how to accomplish this goal. Some argue for bringing in new teachers or new organizations such as charter schools to turnaround failing institutions, contending that improved educational opportunities do not require a change in the mix of students in a school. Others argue that magnet approaches can turn around failing institutions by attracting a different mix of students, parents, and faculty.

Join our panelists in a debate over whether or not economic integration is important in raising the achievement of low-income and minority students. At the forum, The Century Foundation will be releasing an issue brief, "Turnaround Schools That Work."

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, brings to her job a deep understanding of immigration and border issues from her experience as Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Attorney in the State of Arizona. As the United States looks to fix its broken immigration system, Secretary Napolitano has been speaking with congressional leaders, law enforcement officials, business, labor, and faith leaders, and advocates from across the country—and across the political spectrum.

Join us to hear Secretary Napolitano discuss the work her department has been doing to prepare for broader immigration reform, and her unique perspective on this matter of vital importance to America's future. A Q & A session will follow her remarks.

In 2005, in response to the Bush administration's failed foreign policies in Iraq and Afghanistan and the marginalization of non-military sources of national power, the Center for American Progress released "Integrated Power," a progressive national security strategy. This document was a blueprint for a whole of government approach to dealing with national security challenges in order to protect U.S. citizens, interests, and allies around the world.

Since coming into office, the Obama administration has begun the arduous task of reinvigorating all elements of U.S. national power including bolstering our diplomatic corps, building up our development capabilities, and maintaining an efficient and effective military capability. These efforts are still in their early stages, but the need for an overarching national security strategy to unify these efforts and provide guidance for their implementation is clear.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a conversation on integrating the elements of U.S. national power. This event will also serve as the release for CAP's new progressive national security strategy which offers a framework for the Obama administration's efforts to coordinate and unify U.S. diplomatic, development and military strategies.

We are living in a pivotal moment: pivotal for the earth's climate, for other natural systems, and for world population. The decisions made today will determine whether human numbers grow from 6.8 billion to 8 billion, or even 11 billion, by 2050.

As the world struggles to respond to climate change, concern about population growth is making a comeback—and raising critical questions: To what extent are demographic changes a factor in today's environmental problems? Could renewed interest in population growth present an opportunity to mobilize resources for reproductive health, women's rights and other vitally important programs? Will fears of exponential growth revive population policies that trample, rather than advance, women's health and human rights?

Join Laurie Mazur, editor of A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge, and a panel of experts to discuss the complex connections among population growth, climate change and other environmental issues, and explore the policies necessary to advance environmental sustainability and reproductive rights, equity and justice.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion on the challenges and successes of implementing expanded learning time in a traditional public school environment, highlighting the role of teachers and teachers unions.

A new report from the Center for American Progress will launch the discussion. It profiles three traditional public schools to better understand the significant issues that school leaders, teachers, and union leaders must grapple with in moving to a longer day and year. The lessons that they have learned along the way are invaluable to both practitioners and policymakers alike.

In his new book, The Future of Faith, Harvard divinity professor Harvey Cox argues that faith is once again undergoing an important transformation—this time around progressive ideals and away from extremist fundamentalism.

As a writer for The New Yorker magazine, George Packer has captured the big ideas and events of the past decade spanning the September 11 attacks to the election of Barack Obama through the voices of individuals around the world. Packer's new book, Interesting Times, unites investigative pieces with personal essays and detailed narratives of travels through war zones and failed states.

Join the Center for American Progress for a discussion with Packer moderated by the Center's Senior Vice President of National Security and International Policy Rudy deLeon. The conversation will include key issues of the day such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Obama administration's foreign policy, and current trends in America's ideological debates, as well as broader themes such as the temptations and dangers of idealism, the moral complexities of war and politics, and the American capacity for self-blinding and self-renewal.

***This event is now full and we can no longer accept RSVPs. Please watch the live webcast here.***

Today in America, only half of students who enroll in college earn a degree and half of black and Latino teenagers drop out of high school. Where did we go wrong and what will it take to regain our global edge? To answer these questions, President Obama has put out the call to fix our nation's schools and he's linking billions of dollars in federal aid to states that meet criteria recently released by the U.S. Department of Education. Join three of the country's top education leaders for a frank discussion on this new opportunity to revitalize the country’s education system, and hear them talk about the state of our schools, barriers to reform, and what's at stake for our children and America's future.