Please join the Center for American Progress and Secretary of Commerce John Bryson on January 6 to unveil a major new report that will identify key structural challenges to U.S. economic competitiveness and serve as a blueprint for the economic policy debate in 2012 and years to come.

With high trade deficits and wages for the middle class continuing their decade of stagnation, Congress asked the secretary of commerce to conduct a detailed analysis of the structural problems with our nation’s engine of innovation, job creation, and growth. Referred to as “the COMPETES report,” this first-of-its kind analysis assesses the biggest challenges and opportunities our economy faces as we move forward into an increasingly competitive and innovation-driven 21st century global economy.

Secretary Bryson will present the key findings of the report, and a distinguished panel of experts will then discuss the findings in more detail. The panel discussion will be followed by “science fair” breakout sessions hosted by COMPETES report advisory board members.

On December 6 President Barack Obama said that the kind of inequality that we have in America today, higher than at any time since the Great Depression, "hurts us all." He went on to outline how growing inequality and a shrinking middle class are at the root of our economic problems. These trends mean less stable consumption, unsustainable debt, a concentration of power in the hands of the few, and the unraveling of the American Dream that portrays the United States as a land of opportunity for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules. In short, an economy that doesn't work for all of us, isn't working.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Alan Krueger, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, about how inequality threatens both the middle class and the economy at large.

Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who served as an advisor for both the Massachusetts and national health care reform bills, teamed up with an illustrator to explain the mechanics and importance of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, in graphic novel form. Gruber’s book, Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, and How It Works, breaks down the significant but undoubtedly complex policy into fun, easily digestible comic strips through characters such as Betty on Medicare and unlucky Carlos, who must purchase his own insurance.

Please join us as the Center for American Progress celebrates the release of Gruber’s book and hosts a discussion with Gruber, other policy experts, and a physician on the ACA’s current successes. Together we’ll unpack the additional reform efforts critical to ensuring the promise of quality coverage for all.

In a time of declining fiscal resources and greater demand for public services, districts with fewer resources to spread around are focusing on partnerships that leverage the strengths of multiple organizations to improve student outcomes. Such partnerships form the basis for community schools, which provide an integrated approach to academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. As important as partnerships may be, however, they are not always easy to build and sustain over time.

Join us for a conversation with community school, district, and union leaders to discuss their strategies for building and maintaining strong relationships with partners. We will launch the conversation with a paper by the Coalition for Community Schools that examines the coalition-building approaches undertaken by seven different community school initiatives around the country. We will continue and expand on the discussion with a panel of distinguished community school experts.

Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, Americans continue to experience stark social, economic, and health disparities despite significant gains in securing basic rights for LGBT people over the last decade. According to recent data families headed by black same-sex couples are more likely to raise their children in poverty, black lesbians are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases, and black LGBT youth are more likely to end up homeless and living on the streets.

These statistics suggests that some of the high-profile gay policy priorities that have garnered the most attention and advocacy—such as marriage equality—underserve this population even though they are important for overall progress. This also applies to racial and economic justice priorities that overlook gay and transgender people within their constituencies. How can we make progress in bridging these gaps?

Please join us for the launch of CAP’s FIRE Initiative, which works to eliminate the social, health, and economic disparities faced by gay and transgender people of color, for an engaging conversation about our new report, “Jumping Beyond the Broom: Why Black Gay and Transgender Americans Need More than Marriage Equality,” which sheds light on these issues and discusses why progressives committed to equality for all Americans should be engaged in the various policy and advocacy solutions that can address them.

The Center for American Progress and the American Constitution Society are marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision by hosting a discussion on the role corporate money will play in the 2012 election season.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.

At the event, E.J. Dionne, a Washington Post columnist and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, will moderate a discussion with leading thinkers and advocates about the future of campaign finance reform as well as the latest developments on efforts to amend the Constitution to reverse the Supreme Court’s holding that corporations are people with free speech rights.

Religion is a dynamic force in America, so it should be no surprise that every four years issues involving religion raise compelling questions for the media and public. How deeply should the religious beliefs of a candidate be tested? What press questions involving religion are suitable, and what are out of bounds, irrelevant, or trivial? What religious voting blocs will help shape the election? How influential will “culture war” issues be in the 2012 election? What religious beliefs undergird views toward the economy and budget cuts? And how do the growing number of nonreligious voters respond to God-talk on the campaign trail?

The Center for American Progress invites you to join our panel of experts for a lively and informative conversation.

After a costly decade of war and nation-building, the Obama Administration recently announced a shift towards a more agile and sustainable military posture for the 21st century. The cornerstones of this change: an increased reliance on naval and air superiority to project power around the globe, and a reduction in the size of the ground forces back to pre-9/11 levels.

Please join the Center for American Progress and Truman National Security Project for a discussion of the merits and risks of this strategy shift. This event will analyze the extent to which President Obama’s new strategy addresses the strategic and fiscal realities facing the Pentagon while setting up the U.S. military to maintain its superiority in the 21st century.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion of the Obama administration's national security policy and the new challenges we face around the world with Benjamin Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications. Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress, will lead a session examining the first three years of the Obama administration's record on foreign policy and looking ahead to the emerging national security challenges in 2012.

In the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama challenged Congress to pursue policies that recognize that a strong middle class is the key driver of economic growth. He stressed that the United States will not have an economy that works until it has one that works for all Americans.

Join us for a conversation with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions Committee, as he reflects on what he's learned from the series of HELP Committee hearings and events on the decline of the middle class, and outlines a policy agenda that puts the middle class first. In the coming months, Senator Harkin plans to introduce sweeping legislation that will rebuild America's middle class through investments in areas like education and workforce training, our nation's infrastructure, and manufacturing jobs, as well as securing pensions and ensuring college is affordable.

Senator Harkin's remarks will be followed by a panel of distinguished economists and policy analysts exploring how the middle class is a key engine of economic growth.

This is the second in a year-long series of events and publications on the importance of the middle class to our economy.

Open CourseWare and other open educational resources are beginning to draw the attention of higher education policymakers and other leaders. Why? These web-based educational tools hold the promise of both reducing the cost of high education and helping learners to complete their degrees by providing access to top quality course materials and instruction.

By radically reducing the costs of course content, delivery of instruction, textbooks and related materials these open resources can make college more affordable. Further, by enabling “learning from-anywhere” for students who have work and family obligations, the same technologies provide expanded access to higher education for millions of non-traditional learners.

But how do they work and are they for every kind of student? Does current policy encourage the use of these tools?

Please join the Center for American Progress and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning to explore these and other questions about Open Source Education Resources and how they can impact college affordability and access.

President Obama appointed Aneesh Chopra as the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer in May, 2009, to spur innovation and collaborative processes to solve problems and grow the jobs and industries of the future. Along with a growing team of leaders across the Federal Government, Chopra has worked to increase the potential of open innovation in areas like health IT, learning technologies, and smart grid. He has also championed the role of the White House as an “impatient convener” of public- and private-sector parties to tackle grand challenges.

As Chopra wraps up his tenure this month as the first U.S. CTO, please join him and a panel of innovation experts for a discussion of progress made and lessons learned—and for the unveiling of a new “Open Innovator’s Toolkit” that will facilitate wider use of these strategies across government, including at the state and local level.

Please join Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley for a conversation about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the success of the Massachusetts health care law it is modeled on.

Attorney General Coakley worked to implement the successful Massachusetts health care reform law that former Gov. Mitt Romney signed in 2006, which allowed the state to achieve near-universal health coverage, even as coverage declined throughout the rest of the country. Drawing on her experience in Massachusetts, Coakley will explain how the Massachusetts framework that provides full access to insurance, ensures that individuals will take responsibility for their health care, and makes health care affordable to all individuals played an essential role in successfully providing unparalleled access to health care coverage for Massachusetts residents.

Attorney General Coakley and Tanden will discuss why the Affordable Care Act’s adoption of the Massachusetts framework fits comfortably within the United States’ constitutional authority.

Turkey operates in a unique space between Europe and the Middle East and has dramatically expanded its influence in recent years throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. Understanding Turkey’s changing role in the region is critical to U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the wake of the Arab Spring. “The Perceptions of Turkey in the Middle East 2011” is a regional public opinion survey conducted in late 2011 in 16 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Including Egypt, Iran, Libya, Syria and Tunisia, the survey is the third annual poll of regional public opinion conducted by TESEV. The study sheds light on general trends in the region, perception of the Arab Spring and the region’s future, as well as the role of Turkey, including regional opinion of the protests of the last year in all countries, including Syria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Iran; the role of international actors in the events of 2011; perspectives on security; and perceptions of the Turkish model and what makes Turkey valuable in the eyes of the region.

Please join the Center for American Progress and the TESEV Institute as we host a presentation and discussion of “The Perceptions of Turkey in the Middle East 2011”, a new study by the TESEV Institute on perceptions of Turkey by its Middle East neighbors on the Arab Spring, Iran, and Turkey.

"Love Free or Die" is about a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and for his partner Mark. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. The film follows Robinson from small town churches in the New Hampshire North Country to Washington’s Lincoln Memorial to London’s Lambeth Palace, as he calls for all to stand for equality—inspiring bishops, priests, and ordinary folk to come out from the shadows and change history.

The Center for American Progress, in partnership with AFI SilverDocs, GLAAD, Groundswell, Integrity USA, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the Institute for Welcoming Resources, and St. Thomas Parish, presents a special screening of "Love Free or Die," followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session featuring Bishop Gene Robinson, director Macky Alston, and ThinkProgress culture blogger Alyssa Rosenberg.

The Last Great Senate draws from historical documents, first-hand recollections, and interviews with dozens of former senators, staffers, and Carter administration officials. What emerges is a portrait of a Senate that, for a short period of time, came as close to fulfilling the vision of the Founding Fathers as it ever has in our history.

Throughout the book, author Ira Shapiro brings to life the main characters on the Senate’s stage—Robert Byrd, Howard Baker, Ted Kennedy, Jacob Javits, Henry Jackson, Ted Stevens, Ed Muskie, Richard Lugar, George McGovern, Bob Dole, and Russell Long. These men—whatever their human foibles—were all passionate and serious about their work and service to the country. Shapiro captures their conversations, debates, beliefs, and machinations, offering a fascinating and illuminating look into how work is really done on Capitol Hill.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion on this new book.

Copies of The Last Great Senate will be available for purchase at the event.

On June 9, 2011, Alabama enacted H.B. 56—the most extreme state-level anti-immigrant bill passed to date. The act, designed to make every aspect of life unbearably difficult for undocumented immigrants living in Alabama, deploys fear as a weapon to marginalize and oppress an unwanted population just as segregationist policies did 50 years ago. It has been nine months since the law’s passage and its path of destruction is still palpable from children too afraid to come to school to potential economic losses of up to $10.8 billion. Adding to the cacophony of voices opposed to H.B. 56 that includes leaders from the civil rights, faith, education and business communities is a new and notable voice—from Hollywood.

Please join the Center for American Progress as we, along with America’s Voice Education Fund and Define American, release a series of videos by Chris Weitz, acclaimed director of the film "A Better Life" and a host of other notable films. Weitz turns the camera on and asks, “Is This Alabama?”

We will also be releasing the report “Alabama’s Immigration Disaster: The Harshest Law in the Land Harms the State’s Economy and Society,” by journalist Tom Baxter, which goes even more in depth into how H.B. 56 is destroying the fabric of Alabama’s society and economy.

Joining Chris to discuss the videos and the report will be Pulitzer Prize-winning undocumented journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has spent a considerable amount of time in Alabama, amplifying the stories of those who have lost so much because of H.B. 56, and Tom Baxter, author of "Alabama's Immigration Disaster: The Harshest Law in the Land Harms the State's Economy and Society."

Anti-tax hardliners and bi-partisan efforts to curb the budget deficit are making it very difficult to increase federal investments in infrastructure. The recently passed Federal Aviation Bill failed to invest at needed levels. Both the House and Senate are now moving surface transportation legislation. The House Bill puts transit and rail funding at risk and the Senate Bill maintains the current level of federal investment. Neither bill is sufficient to bring our surface transportation systems up to world class standards.

Is there a way forward? Join a discussion with former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who dramatically increased state investment in road, bridge and water repairs while curing a gapping state budget deficit; and former reporter, financier and White House economic expert Steve Rattner, who led the nation's successful overhaul of the auto industry while serving in the White House; and John Podesta as they discuss the short term options for increasing the pace of infrastructure repair that could gain bi-partisan support, while also sharing their observations about the long term reforms needed to return America's infrastructure to world class standards.

Using a community schools strategy of combining student support services—such as family engagement programs and health services—with strong academics seems like an intuitive approach to raising student achievement in high-poverty schools. Little is known, however, about the optimal combination of support services needed to raise achievement or about the students who benefit most from a community schools strategy.

Join us for a conversation to discuss new research on leveraging specific student support services to improve achievement. We will launch the conversation with a paper by researchers at Stanford University’s John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities that analyzes how students and families utilize support services at community schools in one California school district and how those services impact student outcomes. We will continue the discussion with a panel of distinguished community school experts.

Race-baiting has often been the source of charged debates in newspapers, blogs, and on television sets across the nation. Programs aiding those in poverty are often at the center of the storm.

Unfortunately, in the midst of the name calling and punditry, we as a nation often forget to ask some important questions. How do race-baiting, stereotyping, and other forms of spreading misinformation impact support for programs that help people climb out of poverty, the development of poverty policies, and general progress towards the goal of reducing inequality and poverty? And what can we all collectively do to call our elected officials to tone down the rhetoric and focus on the issues?

This panel will discuss these questions, the efforts to redirect the public debate, and the future influence of other factors such as the rapid racial diversification of a nation that will not have an ethnic majority by 2050.

Europe has long been the United States' closest ally, and the United States and Europe traditionally played a decisive role in solving world problems. Yet as Europe struggles to reassure others about the fate of its currency and the future of the European project, some fear the continent's influence on the international scene may diminish, or worse still, that Europe could become the problem.

In the 21st century, however, the trans-Atlantic economic and security partnership will remain as crucial as ever. As Denmark holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and with a view to the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt will share her vision of how a renewed European project and a revitalized trans-Atlantic partnership can help shape a new era of shared prosperity and common security.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected Prime Minister of Denmark in September 2011.

Our nation is facing some of the greatest challenges in a generation, and leading social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other social sector leaders have stepped-up to fill gaps, to increase their impact, and to serve more people in need. Yet we also know that in many instances these individual, successful nonprofits are not “moving the needle” on communitywide metrics. They are serving more people more efficiently and effectively, but the economic and social challenges facing our nation’s communities are simply too large and require too many players for these individual nonprofit organizations to make dramatic progress on their own.

To get the kind of measurable, communitywide gains our nation needs, all sectors—nonprofits, business, philanthropy, and government—must pull together in the same direction. This kind of “collective impact” is happening in a number of communities around the country such as the Strive Partnership in Cincinnati. The White House Council for Community Solutions recently released an analysis that identifies examples of “collective impact” in communities and the keys to success.

The Center for American Progress invites you to join our panel of experts for a lively and informative conversation. The panel at this event will explore the potential of collective impact to drive significant communitywide progress on serious challenges and the important role social entrepreneurs play in developing and testing new solutions to community challenges.

Copies of Hearts on Fire will be available for purchase at the event.

In connection with International Women’s Day, please join the Just Jobs Network and the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry for a conversation on women in the work force.

The event will focus on how closing the gender gap in labor market participation and in political and corporate leadership will improve work-life balance and support diverse and productive economies around the world. The discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities women face in entering, thriving and moving up in the world of work.

More than 30 years ago Rev. Jerry Falwell created The Moral Majority to organize religious conservatives into a powerful political constituency. From promoting school prayer to attempting bans on stem-cell research, abortion and same-sex marriage, Falwell’s Religious Right claimed a monopoly on morality and God—and in so doing, influenced public attitudes towards religion and politics for years to come.

The influence of Falwell’s Religious Right remains potent today. The 2012 election was supposed to focus on the economy and jobs, but presidential candidates are making headlines with talk about the immortality of contraception, the sin of homosexuality, and more.

What is the legacy of the Moral Majority? How did Jerry Falwell build his empire and how does it shape politics today? What is the connection of the Tea Party to the Religious Right? What can we expect in the coming months as candidates try to appeal to conservative religious voters, as well as the growing numbers of voters who are not religious?

Please join the Center for American Progress and People for the American Way for a lively and insightful conversation with author Michael Sean Winters and columnist E.J. Dionne on religion and politics in America.

Copies of God’s Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right will be available for purchase at the event.

In March, the nation will once again commemorate the anniversaries of "Bloody Sunday" and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches as the civil rights movement reached its zenith in 1965. This iconic mass protest movement for racial equality represented a monumental shift in both the legal policies and social consciousness of America and resulted in the passage of landmark legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yet almost half a century later, deep layers of oppression have yet to be uprooted—a reality that is starkly evident in our criminal justice system today. People of color are still disproportionately profiled, incarcerated, and sentenced to death at alarming rates, leaving Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of full racial equality and freedom yet unfulfilled.

These disparities have led many to believe that criminal justice reform should be the civil rights movement of the 21st century. If Dr. King were alive, would he prioritize criminal justice reform? Is mass incarceration the new Jim Crow of our time? And will this generation of civil rights and criminal justice advocates eradicate racial disparities in the criminal justice system in their lifetime? Please join us to consider these and other important questions with an outstanding panel of criminal justice and civil rights experts.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been postponed. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The United States has the opportunity to create an energy future that fosters economic growth, protects public health, and expands consumer choice. This event will focus on the potential to achieve these goals in the automotive sector. Panelists will discuss the latest in fuel-efficient, hybrid, electric car and other advanced technologies, in addition to their potential for job creation and oil savings. This will be the first event in the new Center for American Progress series on implementing a clean energy agenda, highlighting how innovative companies and smart policies are paving the way to a new, cleaner, more efficient economy.

Last November the Obama Administration announced new fuel efficiency standards, requiring cars and light trucks for built in model year 2025 to achieve 54.5 miles per gallon. They will go twice as far on a gallon of gas compared to 2010 vehicles.

Please join the Center for American Progress to discuss the coming generation of cars and the auto industry’s role in saving Americans money at the pump, creating jobs and reducing oil dependence.

Automakers will be showcasing their vehicles at the event.

For the first time in nine years, the United States does not have troops fighting in Iraq. President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to end the war in Iraq as part of an overall strategy to rebalance America’s national security priorities. Please join the Center for American Progress for a special presentation on the end of the Iraq war and America's ongoing engagement in Iraq with Antony Blinken, deputy assistant to President Obama and national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. Rudy deLeon, Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, will moderate a discussion following Mr. Blinken’s presentation.

Please join the Center for American Progress in a discussion with economist and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal, Daron Acemoglu, as he presents findings from his new book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. Acemoglu and co-author James Robinson conclude that manmade political and economic institutions that foster a strong middle class create powerful forces for economic growth and national success. They encourage investment because of well-enforced property rights. They harness the power of markets through better allocation of resources. They promote the entry of more efficient firms, and they make it easier for new businesses to get financing. These factors in turn generate broad-based civic participation in economic and social life.

Copies of Why Nations Fail will be available for purchase at the event.

With $4.35 billion at stake the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competitive grant program may be its most significant education initiative. Race to the Top promised to help states and districts close achievement gaps and get more students to be college and career ready by supporting several key reform strategies. Eleven states and the District of Columbia won grants in 2010, and since then, there has been much debate about the impact of the initiative.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a conversation with Race to the Top experts who grapple with the challenges of implementation and its implications on a daily basis. We will launch the conversation with a new report by CAP Senior Fellow Ulrich Boser that examines the progress in states and provides a sense of early successes and failures. We will expand on the discussion with a panel of distinguished policy and state leaders.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is not the romantic endeavor of film and fiction but a real and serious threat to international security and the global economy. Over the past half-decade, Somali piracy has evolved into a sophisticated criminal enterprise impacting the entire Indian Ocean region. In response, an unprecedented international effort was initiated to address this growing transnational threat. These efforts are now having an impact, as the number of successful of pirate attacks were cut in half in 2011.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a keynote address by Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro, the State Department’s point person for counterpiracy. He will deliver remarks outlining both the tangible progress the Obama administration has made in concert with our allies and the private sector, as well as the challenges that remain in tackling the scourge of modern piracy.

On April 25, the Supreme Court will hear arguably the most important immigration case in a generation. In Arizona v. U.S. the Court will decide the constitutionality of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 and state-level anti-immigrant bills like it. S.B. 1070 makes it a crime to be without status, and authorizes the police to ask for “papers please” from anyone they have a reasonable suspicion of being in the country without legal status. At stake is not simply whether states can put into place their own punitive immigration laws, but whether all people are treated equally under one law, and whether states have the right to legalize discrimination and profiling.

Arizona’s “show me your papers” law undermines the basic notion of equality enshrined in the constitution. It encourages racial and ethnic profiling based on how people look or how they speak, and essentially legalizes harassment and discrimination. If the Court strikes down S.B. 1070, it sends a clear message that it is the federal government that is best suited to protect our civil rights. But if the Court upholds the law, it gives the green light to other states to pass their own harsh anti-immigrant laws, and could lead to a newly segregated United States, where some states are welcoming to immigrants and people of color, and others are not.

Please join the Center for American Progress’s Immigration and Legal Progress Teams for “Why Courts Matter: Racial Profiling and the Arizona Immigration Law.” We will highlight the role that the federal courts play in immigration policy, contextualize the Supreme Court’s hearing, and discuss the ramifications of the Court’s decision. This program is part of a series run by Legal Progress to highlight the important role that the judiciary plays in the lives of hardworking Americans, as well as in the success of the progressive legislative agenda. Legal Progress seeks to make the third branch of government better reflect the values of liberty, equality, and opportunity enshrined in the Constitution that have resulted in America’s progress since its founding.

U.S.-Turkish relations are arguably as strong as ever, and Ankara is a strategic partner on many geopolitical issues. Bilateral commercial relations, however, have not kept pace with these close political and military ties. The Obama administration has placed considerable emphasis on deepening the U.S.-Turkey economic and trade relationship and has prioritized its engagement with Turkey as part of the National Export Initiative. This past year was a record year for bilateral trade, which reached approximately $20 billion, and the future potential for trade and commerce is enormous.

Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, the co-chair of the U.S.-Turkey Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation, will discuss the way forward and his vision for how to deepen even further the U.S.-Turkish commercial relationship.

America has a problem – one in five of our children struggles with hunger. It’s not something we like to talk about, but childhood hunger is a crisis, right here at home.

The new documentary, "Hunger Hits Home," takes a first-hand look at the crisis of childhood hunger in America through the eyes of the parents, children, anti-hunger activists, educators and politicians on the frontlines of the battle. The film is part of an ongoing partnership between Food Network and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

Please join the Center for American Progress, in partnership with Food Network, Share Our Strength, and the Half in Ten campaign, for a special screening of “Hunger Hits Home”, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session featuring Center for American Progress Senior Fellow and author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? Joel Berg, Share our Strength’s Chief Strategy Officer Josh Wachs, and Melissa Boteach, Director of the Half in Ten campaign.

The intersection of climate change, human migration, and conflict presents a unique challenge for U.S. foreign policy in the 21st Century. These three factors are already beginning to combine in ways that undermine traditional understandings of national security and demand a rethink of traditional divisions between diplomacy, defense, and economic, social and environmental development policy abroad. Addressing this nexus—of climate change, migration, and conflict—will be a core challenge of this century. As the number of migrants, driven in part by environmental degradation, continues to grow, the adaptive capacity of states worldwide will be strained, and new security gaps will appear in which non-state actors have the potential to flourish. Addressing this challenge will require understanding, preparation, and new models of regional cooperation.

These rising challenges are starkly illustrated across Northwest Africa. As the Center for American Progress outlines, an “arc of tension” links Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, and Morocco, combining the stresses of climate change with existing migratory routes, conflict, and instability.

Join the Center for American Progress to release the new report, Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict in Northwest Africa: Rising Dangers and Policy Options Across the Arc of Tension, and welcome a panel of experts to discuss these closely related issues and the path forward to a new, 21st Century policy approach to these pressing problems.

Too much income concentrated in a small number of hands can lead to policies that are harmful to the economy, while a strong middle class can provide supportive conditions for good governance, creating a counterweight against those who would use their wealth to influence government for their own benefit instead of the nation as a whole. And good governance—with strong and inclusive institutions and public investments in education and infrastructure—is good for growth. This is widely held to be true for less-developed countries, but how much does it apply to the United States today? Please join us for a wide-ranging discussion of how inequality affects governing and economic growth in the United States and the world.

This event is part of a yearlong series of events and publications on the importance of the middle class to our economy.

In the New York Times bestseller Rebuild the Dream, green economy pioneer Van Jones reflects on his journey from grassroots outsider to White House insider. For the first time, he shares intimate details of his time in government—and reveals why he chose to resign his post as a special advisor to the Obama White House. Jones puts his hard-won lessons to good use, proposing a powerful game plan to restore hope, fix our democracy, and renew the American Dream.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion with Van Jones about his new book.

Copies of Rebuild the Dream will be available for purchase at the event.

In his new book The Cause, best-selling author, journalist, and historian Eric Alterman, together with historian Kevin Mattson, traces the history of liberal ideals through the lives and struggles of fascinating personalities. The book tells the remarkable story of politicians, intellectuals, visionaries, activists, and public personalities battling for the heart and soul of the nation.

Join Alterman, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, as he discusses his new book with Michael Kazin, professor of history at Georgetown University, and John Halpin, also a CAP Senior Fellow.

Forty years after President Richard Nixon first declared that drug abuse was "public enemy number one," the Obama administration has announced an end to the so-called "war on drugs" approach to drug policy. Recognizing that America will never be able to arrest its way out of the drug problem, the administration's newly announced drug policy strategy shifts away from a law enforcement only approach to a drug policy recognizing that America's drug problem is a public health issue—not just a criminal one. It outlines significant reforms aimed at treating drug addiction as a chronic disease instead of a “moral” failure.

Even though overall drug use is down, and the U.S. prison population declined for the first time in 40 years, more than 7 million people remain under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Of these, more than 2 million are behind bars. Making matters worse, drug-induced deaths now claim more lives than gun violence, and prescription drug abuse has been declared an epidemic. Will these reforms really break the vicious cycle of drug use, crime, incarceration, and rearrest in America?

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion with Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, as he lays out the Obama administration's new national drug control strategy.

As the recent financial crisis revealed, financial products—particularly risky and predatory products—have the potential to wreak havoc on consumers and the wider economy. Communities of color have been among the hardest hit by the financial crisis.

During this administration's tenure, the U.S. Department of Justice created the Fair Lending Unit in the Civil Rights Division to address discrimination in lending. Congress also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the financial crisis, and it specifically created the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity to focus on ensuring fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for both individuals and communities. The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are both working to curb credit discrimination, to ensure fair access to credit for everybody, and to crack down on practices that hurt economic fairness.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion with Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, and Patrice Ficklin, assistant director for the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on credit discrimination and its impact on communities across America today and ways to create a fairer economic system for all Americans. Center for American Progress Action Fund President Tom Periello will moderate the discussion.

Military personnel costs have nearly doubled since fiscal year 2001 and now consume one-third of the Pentagon’s base budget—about $180 billion per year. If military personnel benefits are not reformed, the increasing costs will eat up a growing share of the defense budget, likely diverting funds from other critical national security initiatives like training and modernization.

In its fiscal year 2013 budget request, the Department of Defense has proposed a series of adjustments to military pay, health care, and retirement benefits which aim to place the programs on a more sustainable footing. These changes—analyzed in a new Center for American Progress report by Lawrence Korb, Alex Rothman, and Max Hoffman—would include reducing the rate of increase for military base pay, introducing new fees and co-pays for Tricare services, and the creation of a Military Retirement Modernization Commission to oversee the overhaul of the current system.

Please join our panel of experts for a discussion of the Pentagon’s proposed changes and the new CAP report, and a debate of the proper cost-sharing balance between military service members, retirees, veterans, and taxpayers.

The first book of its kind, Mind Wars covers the ethical dilemmas and bizarre history of cutting-edge technology and neuroscience developed for military applications. As the author, Jonathan Moreno, discusses the innovative Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the role of the intelligence community and countless university science departments in preparing the military and intelligence services for the 21st century, he also charts the future of national security.

Fully updated and revised, this edition features new material on deep-brain stimulation, neuro hormones, and enhanced interrogation. With in-depth discussions of "psyops" mind control experiments, drugs that erase both fear and the need to sleep, microchip brain implants and advanced prosthetics, and supersoldiers and robot armies, Mind Wars may read like science fiction or the latest conspiracy thriller, but its subjects are very real and are changing the course of modern warfare.

Copies of Mind Wars will be available for purchase at the event.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will participate in a special conversation at the Center for American Progress with CAP President Neera Tanden as part of our Women’s Leadership Series. She will reflect on her career in law enforcement and public service, and what she sees as the challenges and opportunities facing our next generation of leadership in homeland security.

Her long career in law enforcement—as a U.S. attorney, state attorney general, governor, and now as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security—is reflected in the department’s wide-ranging responsibilities. Importantly, it is mirrored in current efforts to combat human trafficking. Every year men, women, and children are exploited in our country for commercial sex or forced labor. Homeland Security works with other federal agencies and law enforcement partners across the country and around the world to combat this crime and bring traffickers to justice.

Now, more than ever, parents need help in navigating their kids’ online, media-saturated lives. Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media and the father of four children, knows that many parents and teachers—unlike their technology-savvy kids—may be tourists in the online world.

In this essential book, Steyer offers an engaging blend of straightforward advice and anecdotes that address the major pitfalls relating to kids’ use of media and technology: relationship issues, attention/addiction problems, and the lack of privacy.

Not just about Facebook, this comprehensive, no-nonsense guide to the online world, media, and mobile devices belongs in the hands of all parents and educators raising kids in today’s digital age.

Copies of Talking Back to Facebook will be available for purchase at the event.

The 2012 Progressive Party is the signature annual fundraiser for American Progress. An evening cocktail reception featuring food, beverages, and great entertainment, this event invites our supporters and allies to discuss pressing challenges facing our country with today's most respected and well-known policymakers and thought leaders. We will celebrate our shared accomplishments and re-dedicate ourselves to a promising, progressive agenda on behalf of all Americans. Please join us!

The Affordable Care Act was the most far-reaching effort to date to contain health care costs. The new law includes an array of reforms to the way health care is paid for and delivered. In fact, many insurers and health care providers have already started to change the way they pay for and practice care. The ACA also created an innovation center to develop and expand innovative payment models to improve the quality of care and reduce costs.

Which payment models show promise? How are private payers and health care providers changing? Is the recent slowdown in health care spending solely the result of the recession, or have payment and delivery system reforms also played a role? Are we on the cusp of a new era for our health care system? How can payment and delivery system reforms be accelerated and expanded?

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion of these questions and more.

Rural Alaska presents unique challenges and opportunities when it comes to energy. On the one hand, fuel is expensive and scarce, but on the other, Alaskan innovators are on the front lines of developing a truly sustainable energy strategy that has the potential to be exported across the world.

The need for immediate attention to the rural energy crisis in Alaska could not be clearer. High gas and oil prices, along with the effects of rapid climate change, are severely impacting rural native villages. The cost of living relative to income in village Alaska is growing. Dollars that would otherwise be used for growth in personal, business, and community-related spending are now being consumed largely by the growing costs of all forms of energy. The rural energy crisis is crippling for both individuals and communities. Something has to change.

The country has an economic, as well as a moral, stake in how well our schools are doing and how well our students are succeeding. Chief among stakeholders is the private sector that depends on highly skilled, productive young people for its future workforce and which can be an effective resource for our schools.

Please join the Center for American Progress to discuss corporate citizenship and the role of the public and private sectors in keeping our young people actively engaged in school and in supporting education innovation and reform. Our panelists will discuss the current challenges that the United States faces in public education; how to increase the number of students graduating college and being career-ready; and what can be done to ultimately build a strong workforce.

Access to high-quality early childhood education is linked to significant improvements in children’s long-term educational and economic outcomes. That’s why it’s good news that enrollment in early learning programs is growing, and to some extent so too is federal investment in these programs. The potential gains from federal early childhood investments can more readily be realized by improving how the federal government manages and supports its investment in these programs.

A new Center for American Progress report details the changes we need and provides suggestions for how to successfully implement them. These reforms include coordinating state standards for early learning programs, investing in learning assessment systems matched to those standards, improving opportunities for professional development among early learning instructors, and promoting strategies to boost early learning outcomes of children whose first language is not English, all with an eye to increasing the overall quality of our nation’s investments in early childhood. These and other changes proposed hold the potential to significantly increase the efficiency and efficacy of federal early childhood education programs and can help ensure that more American children receive the high-quality early interventions they need.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a intimate conversation between Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on how policymakers and politicians should understand, confront, and remedy growing U.S. inequality—and strengthen the middle class.

The discussion will center on important findings from Professor Stiglitz’s new book, The Price of Inequality, in which he shows how rising inequality in the United States threatens economic growth, undermines the rule of law, and weakens democracy. The book includes a blueprint for monetary and budget policy reforms that can create an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

The conversation will be moderated by New Yorker Staff Writer John Cassidy, author of the 2009 book How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities. This event is part of a yearlong series of events and publications on the importance of the middle class to our economy.

Copies of The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future will be available for purchase at the event.