California First Lady Maria Shriver recently launched A Woman’s Nation, a project in partnership with the Center for American Progress, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, and TIME magazine. A Woman’s Nation will take a new, empirical look at American women who for the first time in our nation’s history make up fully half of all workers and are becoming the primary breadwinners in more families than ever before. CAP Senior Economist Heather Boushey is working closely on the project and has found that many Americans are “Unemployed—and Staying That Way.” She illustrates in this interactive infographic how the recession has hit traditionally male jobs the hardest, turning women into the primary breadwinners in many families.

CAP has also recently helped re-launch another project called Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. BLSP was originally formed in 1998 by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's because top American businesspeople believed that the federal government's spending priorities were undermining our national security. The mission of BLSP is to use business leaders’ credibility on fiscal issues to draw the attention of policy decision-makers, the media, and the public to how the federal budget is currently allocated and help to create a climate where new budget priorities can become a reality.

Please join us and Shirley Sagawa, CAP Visiting Fellow, on Thursday, May 28, at Chevalier’s Books in Los Angeles for an event featuring Shirley’s new book, The Charismatic Organization, about what makes a successful nonprofit. See the event page for more information.

Finally, Anna Deavere Smith has joined the Center for American Progress as Artist-in-Residence. Smith will be researching a new play she is writing called The Americans that chronicles change in Washington, D.C. Congratulations also go out to Rudy deLeon, Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy at the Center, for his nomination as chairman of a new board established by the Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management to review the National Security Personnel System.

Warmest,
Anna, Nina, and Shana

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