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The Fellows Program

We pioneer bold progressive ideas, reinforce them with original research and analysis, and equip grassroots partner organizations to move them into practical reality.

The Fellows Program offers an intellectual home and communications platform to people whose work on national issues influences the public debate. We currently have two fellows.

Caleb J. Gayle, a scholar and journalist, is our Emerging Voices Fellow. Caleb will deliver fresh evidence and perspectives on the disenfranchisement of voters, and raise awareness of the tactics that marginalize the votes of African Americans, Latinos and other people of color. His work has appeared in The New York TimesNew RepublicThe GuardianBoston Globe, Boston MagazineThe HillThe Daily Beast, and others. This fellowship is supported by the Park Foundation.

Heather C. McGhee, who served as Demos’ president from 2014 through June, 2018, is our Distinguished Senior Fellow. A recognized thought leader on the national stage, she is advancing the vision of an inclusive democracy through her writing, public speaking and media appearances. Heather is writing a book to be published in 2019 about the personal, economic and societal costs of racism to everyone in America, including white people. She is a contributor to NBC News and frequently appears on shows such as “Meet the Press.” Her writing has been published in The New York TimesThe Nation, The Hill, and more. This fellowship is supported by Open Society Foundations and Park Foundation.

Over the years, Demos’ Fellows Program has engaged influential journalists and scholars including:
Bob Herbert, long-time op-ed columnist for The New York Times, who portrayed the issues facing our country in his book Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America.

Ian Haney López, whose book Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class laid bare how conservatives exploit racism to convince voters to support policies that favor the very rich and hurt everyone else.