We have a huge Facebook following.ĮZ: Do you have a lot of meetings at the office?ĪB: I’m a hater of meetings. We have 1.5 million people on our email list (updated number). We have the biggest policy megaphone in the state.
And then we do a ton of writing and a ton of engagement on social media. We do a lot of engagement with lawmakers personally in order to advance the policies that we think will better the state. We do a lot of storytelling work around public policy issues. After I graduated they had a job opening and I’ve been there since 2014.ĪB: Well, first I have to do background reading to find out what the political and policy narrative is at the state and local levels. That’s why I ended up there as an intern.
#Austin graven free#
I learned that if I chose the Illinois Policy Institute, I could live free at my parents’ house and still get to keep the housing stipend. or you can work at a state-based think tank. And one summer I applied for a program that offers students fellowships for think tanks. So then I went to college and studied that. Someone told me to listen to “Free to Choose” by Milton Friedman. It’s the best job ever.ĪB: When I was in high school I did yard work one summer and I’d just gotten a device that allowed me to listen to audiobooks. How fortunate for you.ĪB: Oh my gosh, yes. JW: And was this the sort of thing you aspired to do someday? Working for the Illinois Policy Institute? Analyzing social issues? Almost nobody gets paid to do that. JW: Which is what LT says about Oak Park/River Forest, by the way. JW: So in other words, Hinsdale is so much better than LT that when LT says “That’s our rival,” Hinsdale people say “No, not so much, you’re not there yet.” And Hinsdale Central has similar thoughts about LT. But if you ask someone from New Trier if they think that’s true they’ll dismiss you. JW: No kidding! Because, you know I’m a Lyons Township guy, which is Hinsdale’s rival.ĪB: Well, Hinsdale Central thinks New Trier is its rival. We also lived in Champaign before moving to the western suburbs. So as a kid I was throwing out candy in parades and stuff.ĪB: No. He ran for a congressional seat when we lived in Decatur. I moved around throughout the state as a kid, and then I went to college out east at Tufts University just outside BostonĮRIC ZORN (FELLOW PANELIST): Why did you move around the state so much as a kid?ĪB: No. My mom was a scientist at Northwestern University. JOHN WILLIAMS (HOST) : Tell us where you’re from.ĪUSTIN BERG: I was born in Evanston. Politics.” This interview, edited for length and clarity, was part of a Mincing Rascals episode in December, 2019 He is also the co-author of “The New Chicago Way: Lessons from Other Big Cities,” and he wrote the 2016 documentary film, “Madigan: Power. He is the Vice President of Marketing for the Illinois Policy Institute and a contributor to the Economist, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, ABC 7 Chicago and WTTW-Ch. Austin Berg, 29, is a regular panelist with me on the Mincing Rascals podcast at WGN-plus.
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