The Clinton Foundation announced Monday the creation of a new initiative designed to help state and local governments craft and carry out nonpartisan policy solutions, with a focus on improving health outcomes for women and children, strengthening economic security, and supporting democratic institutions.
Known as the Clinton Policy Institute, or CPI, the effort marks the foundation’s first new program in more than ten years. The institute has already begun bringing together elected officials from across the political spectrum, academic researchers, and everyday Americans affected by the issues under study to develop fresh approaches to long-standing problems.
“Rising costs, economic uncertainty, rapid technological change, and growing pressures on our public institutions are making it harder for families to get ahead,” former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. “We created CPI because we believe there are still practical, evidence-based solutions that can improve people’s lives.”
CPI grew out of earlier work the Clinton Foundation did alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to establish distraction-free schools by banning cellphones during the past school year. Although the institute had not yet been formally created at that time, the foundation saw enough promise in that collaboration to expand the model before making CPI’s existence public. That approach mirrors the strategy used when the foundation launched the Clinton Health Access Initiative back in 2004. The foundation is also led by former President Bill Clinton and public health expert Chelsea Clinton.
Zayn Siddique, who previously served as principal deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council, will lead CPI as its chief executive officer. Jennifer Klein, former director of the White House Gender Policy Council under former President Joe Biden, will serve as the institute’s chair.
In New York, CPI helped establish a Teen Tech Council, giving students a voice in shaping the cellphone ban program. According to Gov. Hochul’s office, educators reported noticeable improvements in both classroom behavior and student engagement as a result.
“CPI is bringing together policymakers, researchers, business leaders, and community organizations to identify what works, build stronger policy networks, and help turn those ideas into policy,” Hillary Clinton said. “We’re taking a particular focus on states and local communities, where so much innovation is happening.”
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly called a recent CPI conference focused on improving children’s lives “the best roundtable I’ve been involved with since becoming governor.” Kelly, a Democrat serving in a heavily Republican state, is set to leave office in January due to term limits after two consecutive terms. She said CPI’s nonpartisan approach resonated with her own governing philosophy.
“I am a Democrat governor in what is considered a very red state,” Kelly told the Associated Press. “It became very clear to me that if I wanted to accomplish anything in my political life, I was going to need to do it in a bipartisan way.”
Kelly expressed confidence that CPI can succeed in bridging political divides, particularly on issues involving children and healthcare, and in giving state leaders the research and support needed to act on those solutions.
“Every once in a while, you get people from both sides of the aisle who come together and crafted, maybe not sexy legislation, but something that really needed to be done,” Kelly said. “And they get it through.”
Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as U.S. Surgeon General during President Donald Trump’s first administration, also believes nonpartisan solutions are achievable — but only when that goal is pursued deliberately.
“Health is inherently political,” Adams said. “When you talk about access to healthcare coverage, when you talk women’s health issues, particularly around the issue of abortion and contraception, when you talk about drug policy and whether you’re in favor of harm reduction, when you talk of firearm safety — all of these are inherently political issues.”
Adams added that the challenge is compounded by the nature of American political discourse. “We live in a country that is very binary, so every issue, no matter how nuanced, is, for purposes of elections, turned into black/white, yes/no, all or none,” he said.
Despite that, Adams said CPI has already achieved bipartisan support for some of its work addressing adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs — a category that includes abuse, neglect, and difficult home environments. California launched its ACEs Aware initiative in 2020 to screen for and treat these experiences early, reducing both their impact and long-term costs to the state.
Through CPI, Adams was asked in June to become co-chair of the National Leadership Council for the ACE Resource Network, with the goal of bringing California’s model to other states. He said Republican-led states like Utah and Georgia have already begun looking at elements of that Democrat-led program.
“I’m very interested in work that has proven and practical solutions,” Adams said. “We bring in states and say, ‘Hey, let’s look at the best evidence in terms of what works around adverse childhood experiences and state level policy and then try to implement it in your state’.”
Adams sees this cross-party interest as proof that CPI’s model can be replicated across other policy areas — a hope the Clinton Foundation shares.
“Too many people have lost faith that progress is possible,” Hillary Clinton said. “But across the country, leaders are developing innovative policies that are strengthening families and communities. Those ideas deserve to be shared and scaled.”
