This month, Politico published its 2016 “Politico 50” list – the publication’s assessment of the most influential individuals shaping public policy and national discourse in 2016.

CPD is extremely proud to see two shining lights from our staff and network featured prominently in this year’s list - Ady Barkan, Co-Director of Local Progress and Campaign Director of Fed Up, and Jonathan Westin, Executive Director of partner organization, New York Communities for Change.  They are ranked alongside the likes of Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren as national thought leaders.

Ady Barkan is acknowledged for his leadership of CPD’s Fed Up  campaign, a partnership of community organizations and progressive labor unions campaigning to elevate the voices of working people in the previously-exclusive debates on monetary policy and the role of the Federal Reserve (Fed). The Fed Up campaign is advocating for a wholesale rethink of how the Fed is structured and how it sets monetary policy, aiming to dismantle the concentration of power and lack of transparency in the world’s most powerful central bank. The campaign calls for reform of the Fed’s governance and a widening of the range of tools the Fed can use to support the economy so that all communities are able to benefit from full employment and rising wages.

Jonathan Westin is recognized for his leadership in the Fast Food Forward campaign and for helping to build the case for a $15 minimum wage. In 2015, CPD partners Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change, along with other allies campaigned for, and won, a $15 minimum for fast food workers across the state. In July, the NY Wage Board recommended a $15 minimum wage for the state’s fast food workers – giving a nearly 70 percent raise to roughly 180,000 New Yorkers. On November 10 the same day fast-food workers and other low-wage workers around the country staged strikes and actions for $15/hour and a union, Governor Cuomo announced that all state workers would receive a minimum of $15 an hour through executive action.

Congratulations to Ady and Jonathan! You can read the full list of “Politico’s 50” change makers here.