New America Foundation

The New America Foundation -- the think tank that signs my paychecks -- is hosting an event next Tuesday with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, focusing on tech policy, the economy and open government.

Schmidt, who chairs New America's board of directors and is also serving on President-Elect Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board, will be speaking at 1pm at the Ronald Reagan Building. From the official announcement:

Schmidt will explore the ways in which technology can help the new administration and Congress address two of the biggest challenges ahead: generating the kind of short- and long-term economic and job growth that can help pull the nation out of financial distress, and restoring public trust in government. He will offer specifics on such topics as the need to build a 21st Century Infrastructure, support for research and innovation, repairs for our education system, and ways to make the government more open and responsive.

The event will be webcast live, or you can RSVP to attend in the flesh at http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/eric_schmidt. Should be a good discussion...

... if you're a top-notch communications pro, that is.

The New America Foundation -- the innovative, media-savvy and now post-post-partisan think tank that, incidentally, keeps me occupied during business hours -- is expanding its media and communications operations.

That has lots of good implications, but the most obvious ones are these two newly created positions:

• Manager, Events and Outreach
• Manager, Media Relations

Read the full listings for all the details, but if you've got 4-8 years of communications experience in the Beltway/public policy world, a feel for the ways the media landscape is changing, and like what New America is all about, we'd like to talk.

The caveat: You'd be working for me. But other than that, it's really a pretty good gig.

So tell your friends. Alert the media. Just be sure to follow the application instructions -- resumes sent directly to my inbox won't help your cause, I can assure you...

In my day job, I run all things online for the New America Foundation, and we're in the process of ramping up our new media efforts. Doing that, of course, requires good people, so we're in the market for a Managing Editor for NewAmerica.net.

If you're interested, or know of a good candidate, please let me know!

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who's long been on the New America board of directors, will succeed Jim Fallows as chairman later this year.

The full release is here, but for me the key passages are these:

Clearly, I haven't been posting here lately. Lots of reasons for that, but one that's worth mentioning publicly is all the work that's gone into revamping and expanding NewAmerica.net.

The new site went live today -- much cleaner, IMO, thanks to Mike Jones' design, and a much-needed shift in emphasis to topics and timeliness.

New America's Climate Policy Program just rolled out an online version of its "Building Blocks" for state and regional governments that have tired of waiting for national-level action and want to start curbing greenhouse gases themselves. It's interesting stuff, and the bottom-up approach is more practical and market-friendly than it sounds.