Policy
Unless policymakers listen deeply to the people policies are meant to serve, and to those who must implement those policies, their work often fails in delivery.
We are advancing a new kind of policy making— one that gets results by centering family voices and on-the-ground delivery considerations from the start. Our team works alongside families, as well as implementation and research experts, to co-design new solutions and increase the effectiveness of new and existing policies. We use what we learn to publish widely, advise policymakers directly, and scale policy approaches that have already been proven in delivery.
Why This Matters For Families
Families across the United States — especially those with young children — are struggling. Childcare costs are skyrocketing, rising at a faster rate than inflation. Concurrently, the cost of living remains high, forcing many families to live paycheck-to-paycheck. Though designed to support families, existing policy and programs in this country often fail to address root causes, and poor delivery leaves families disconnected from critical supports — keeping too many families from achieving economic stability.
Traditional policy design is often linear, and once a program is created momentum and focus moves elsewhere. Policy is also usually designed behind closed doors, lacking input from neither the people it is meant to serve nor the people meant to implement it. The result is too often a mismatch between what gets agreed to on paper and what Americans need, with too much red tape that gets in the way when people try to navigate the critical services they need.
This model lacks the adaptive approach of modern, agile practices — because traditional policy design processes are not instrumented to start small, test, and learn. States often act as the laboratories for federal policies, testing them one by one — though the process can be contentious and constrained by political timelines and budget realities.
Our Approach
We believe that policymaking should center on delivery and family-centered outcomes from the start. To aid in the transition to a delivery focused design model, we partner with legislators at the state and federal levels to address multiple layers of policy making:
Laws. We provide technical assistance to improve legislation being drafted to improve its likelihood of reaching families in implementation.
Rulemaking. After a policy passes, we contribute to the rulemaking process to ensure effective implementation.
Administrative Fixes. We assist lawmakers or agency leaders to focus on high impact policy or delivery areas.
Policy Issue Spotting. We develop products that respond to gaps in policy delivery, elevating the need for and/or impact of a particular policy or delivery fix.
The Lab harnesses a diverse range of policy and research expertise from its staff and consultants. Our team includes specialists in economics, library sciences, quantitative analysis, social science research, legislative and policy budget analysis, and program evaluation. We operate across all aspects of policymaking, from tracking developments of policies in our core areas — tax, childcare, paid leave, and early education — to disseminating learnings through policy products. We also educate and advise policymakers on effective policy language, with the twin goal of elevating family voices and clarifying any challenges in delivery. Further, our policy team members work alongside implementation and research experts in our respective engagements to enable us to co-design solutions to help increase the effectiveness of existing policies and shape future efforts from a delivery mindset.