Roosevelt Institute Launches Good Life Residents Program

New York, NY—Today, the Roosevelt Institute, an economic policy think tank dedicated to shared prosperity and power, announced the launch of the Good Life Residents Program, an initiative focused on developing new leaders and advancing people-centered ideas across several of the Institute’s economic policy priorities. The Institute is now soliciting applications for fellows to write on two initial areas: Social Security financing and the powers and independence of the Federal Reserve.

This year, the Roosevelt Institute is developing a bold vision for the good life: a policy agenda that builds economic security and cultivates the institutions and leaders needed to deliver it. Through research, residencies, and events, the Institute will propose ways to address the affordability crisis by lowering costs and increasing incomes as well as give people the time and agency needed to live full and meaningful lives.

“Through the Good Life Residents Program, we are investing in scholars and practitioners with the expertise and moral clarity to advance innovative ideas about how our economy should work,” said Allison Zelman, chief strategy officer at the Roosevelt Institute. “At a time when too many working people struggle to afford the things that make life good, our policy debates can’t afford to stand still. This program creates space for new thinkers and forward-looking ideas about what it will take to build a 21st-century economy that delivers real security, lowering costs, raising incomes, and creating agency.”

Residents will produce short, original policy research and writing, and engage in structured dialogue with peers and senior advisors on key issues shaping economic security—such as Social Security, the Federal Reserve, housing, or AI. Together, each residency will culminate in a public event that amplifies these new ideas and voices in a dialogue to discuss and debate various national- and state-level policy options that enable the good life.

The Good Life Residents Program is housed within the Roosevelt Society (TRS), the Institute’s intergenerational community of more than 2,000 scholars, policymakers, organizers, and practitioners working to advance a democratic and equitable economy.

Candidates interested in the Social Security program should apply via this application, and candidates interested in the Federal Reserve program should apply via this application—both by Wednesday, March 4. Applications for forthcoming policy areas will be found on the Institute’s website, and candidates may direct any questions to rooseveltsociety@rooseveltinstitute.org.

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About the Roosevelt Institute:

The Roosevelt Institute is a think tank and student network working to rebalance power in the economy and democracy. As the nonprofit partner to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, we carry forward the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by producing ideas that shape public debate and investing in the next generation of leaders. In 2026, through our good life agenda, the think tank will develop research and policy solutions on corporate and public power, labor and wages, and the economics of race and gender inequality. The Roosevelt Society (TRS) advances this work by bringing together the people behind these ideas—researchers, organizers, policymakers, and practitioners—to learn from one another and put them into action. TRS is an intergenerational community of more than 2,000 members, including Roosevelt Institute think tank fellows, working across sectors to drive change.