NewDEAL Forum Announces Ideas Challenge Finalists, Recognizing Innovative Policies
2025 Policy Contest Highlights State and Local Elected Officials Building Thriving Communities
Rep. Joanna E. McClinton October 7, 2025
Washington, D.C. - The NewDEAL Forum announced twenty finalists in the 2025 Ideas Challenge, a nationwide competition among the forward-thinking state and local policymakers from NewDEAL, with submissions focused on policies to build strong, healthy communities. Finalists were chosen by nationally-recognized policy experts (listed below) who reviewed more than 50 policy proposals submitted by elected officials from cities, counties, and states across the country. The ideas, listed below, lay out a roadmap for how elected officials can deliver results that expand opportunity and improve lives.
With a focus on the importance of building community, the 2025 Ideas Challenge centered on six key policy areas: Housing, Health, Education, Youth Investment, Public Safety, and Democracy.
“The job of good policy is to create an environment where families and communities can thrive,” said Jonathon Dworkin, NewDEAL Forum Executive Director. The finalists in the 2025 Ideas Challenge put forward policy ideas that keep the focus on hardworking Americans – policies that directly address their everyday concerns, like the cost of housing, the availability of health care and child care, public safety, and education. These ideas showcase how the NewDEAL Leaders who submitted their work are focused on impact. After all, the end goal of good policy is building safe, healthy, and free communities where everyone has the chance to follow – and achieve – their dreams.”
The finalists, in alphabetical order by category, are:
Housing: Expanding Development and Affordability
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Laura Capps, Santa Barbara County Supervisor, for her Leveraging Public Land for Workforce Housing policy, which identified two high-potential sites in downtown areas owned by the county to build affordable workforce housing.
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Nicole Clowney, Arkansas Representative, for her Expanding Affordable Housing Through ADUs legislation, which grants landowners on a single-family lot the right to build one ADU; limits excessive impact fees or use permits; and reduces bureaucratic obstacles.
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Mike Frerichs, Illinois Treasurer, for his Infrastructure and Housing Impact Fund, which provides developers with increased capital to build new housing and infrastructure in underserved areas, particularly in minority and disadvantaged communities.
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Jon Mitchell, Mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for his Vacant Property Initiative, which will reactivate unused properties and prevent neighborhood decline through addressing technical and legal hurdles and supporting families navigating complex ownership or inheritance issues.
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Dylan Roberts, Colorado Senator, for his Innovative State Financing for Homeownership legislation, which would invest state dollars in bonds that are issued by quasi-governmental agencies at below-market returns to finance the construction of affordable for-sale housing.
Health: Delivering Affordable, Accessible Care
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Cassie Franklin, Mayor of Everett, Washington, for her Emergency Mobile Opioid Team, which delivers essential medical services—such as medication-assisted treatment, counseling, and peer support—directly to residents who cannot or choose not to engage with traditional office-based care.
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Lee Harris, Mayor of Shelby County, Tennessee, for his Community Health Hubs initiative, which brings free, neighborhood-based health services directly to low-income and medically-underserved communities.
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Antonio Hayes, Maryland Senator, for his Health Equity Resource Communities initiative, which is targeting state resources into local coalitions that deliver health and social services where residents need them most, with a focus on equity and cultural competence.
Education: Preparing Students for the Future
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Christopher Cabaldon, California Senator, for his Expanding College Access Through Direct Admission legislation, which would break down barriers to college entry by establishing direct admission to the California State University (CSU) system for qualified high school seniors.
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Mike Frerichs, Illinois Treasurer, for his Student Empowerment Fund, which tackles overbearing student loans by offering diverse, low-interest loan products – capped at 7% for most borrowers and 9.99% for those facing financial barriers – to Illinois students.
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James Maroney, Connecticut Senator, for his Connecticut Online AI Academy, which is a statewide, free learning initiative designed to equip residents with the skills needed to thrive in an artificial intelligence–driven economy.
Youth Investment: Growing in the Next Generation
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Kate Farrar, Connecticut Representative, for her Early Childhood Education Endowment initiative, which will soon provide free childcare for families earning under $100,000; fund 16,000 additional state-funded spaces to reach universal pre-K by 2032; pay early childhood educators on par with K-12; and develop a centralized digital portal to streamline family access and enrollment
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Ryan Fecteau, Maine Speaker of the House, for his Child Care Through Zoning Reform legislation which now allows child care in all residential zones in Maine and allows nearby parks and recreational areas to satisfy state outdoor space requirements.
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Cavalier Johnson, Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for his Camp RISE initiative, which blends paid career exploration with community enrichment, mental health supports, and workforce readiness in a structured, culturally relevant, camp-style setting for youth ages 10-13.
Public Safety & Justice: Protecting Communities and Strengthening Trust
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Zach Klein, City Attorney for Columbus, Ohio, for his Law Enforcement Community Immersion Program, a first-of-its-kind program that combines classroom and field experiences for probationary officers (those who just graduated the academy) to be immersed in the communities they will be patrolling.
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Tram Nguyen, Massachusetts Representative, for her Expanding Protections Against Coercive Control legislation, which would expand the definition of domestic abuse to include coercive control for the purpose of obtaining a restraining order.
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Brett Smiley, Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, for his Community EMS Bike Response Program, which deployed trained first responders on bicycles to deliver rapid, on-the-ground emergency care, overdose prevention, and public education, both reducing response time and requiring ambulance transport, thus freeing resources for more critical emergencies.
Democracy: Safeguarding Rights and Participation
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Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State, for his Election Administration Fellowship, which provides Arizona college students with hands-on, paid experience in election administration through placements in county election offices while offering short-term staffing support to local election offices facing resource shortages.
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Joanna McClinton, Pennsylvania Speaker of the House, for her Voting Rights Protection Act, which would improve the voting process and boost confidence in the electoral system, with results being reported more quickly and uniform, easily understood standards for every county to follow in administering our elections.
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Tanya Miller, Georgia Representative, for her Restoring Voting Rights initiative, a statewide initiative designed to end mass disenfranchisement in Georgia and restore full citizenship (including voting rights) to justice-impacted individuals.
The winners of the 2025 Ideas Challenge will be announced later this month and featured in GOVERNING.
All Ideas Challenge entries can be found here.
The NewDEAL Forum would like to thank the following panel of judges for reviewing the Ideas Challenge submissions:
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10) – Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Steve Benjamin – former Mayor of Columbia, SC
Kristina Costa – former Deputy Assistant to President Biden
Martha Coven – Founder, Coven Consulting; former OMB Associate Director
Jonathan Smith – Senior Chief Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity
About NewDEAL Forum
The NewDEAL Forum is a Washington-DC based non-profit organization which identifies and elevates innovative, future-oriented state and local policies that can improve the lives of all Americans. By facilitating the identification and spread of policy ideas, the NewDEAL Forum seeks to foster economic growth, reduce barriers to opportunity and promote good government in communities, cities and states throughout the country.