Public Reconstruction

Public Reconstruction is a project of the Alliance for a Just Society and Professor Daniel HoSang of Yale University.

What is Public Reconstruction?

First: We must reconstruct our country by turning the things we need to thrive into public goods, with an eye toward racial justice. This was true before COVID. It is even more apparent now.

Second: To win these public goods, we must work together across race, geography, and interests. There are many fights now happening for public goods. Indigenous-led struggles over water rights. Labor bargaining for the common good. Fights for public transit and child care. But a broad public constituency for these public goods does not yet exist. By uniting our fights under a shared framework, we can construct this public as we campaign for change.

Third: Our reconstructed institutions and programs must be accountable to this new public. People long excluded based on race, money, language, etc. must be in the driver’s seat. This is how we will make our new programs and institutions democratic and well-functioning for the benefit of all of us.

Our approach

To win a robust agenda of democratically controlled public goods, we must create a broad constituency that will fight for that agenda. Effective, strategic organizing is essential for pushing the best policy ideas to victory.

We work with community organizations, labor unions, racial justice organizations, and other groups to:

  • Sharpen campaign strategy
  • Identify constituencies that have a shared stake in a particular public good
  • Develop messaging, framing, and narrative that supports campaigns and projects a long-term vision