Moving ideas into action.
Sagamore Institute builds a better society through three distinct lanes of action – opportunity, defense and citizenship. The “opportunity” lane advances solutions contributing to individual and community flourishing through innovations in education, mental health, and the economy. The “defense” lane seeks to enhance America’s national security by bolstering the Midwest’s reindustrialization and high technology manufacturing capabilities. And the “citizenship” lane undergirds it all by healing the broken politics and social division through efforts to build better citizens and strengthen civil society.
The rise of the global economy has reduced the poverty rate from 46% in 1980 to 10% today. While this historic progress underscores the enduring value of free markets, work remains to ensure that the next phase of growth is both inclusive and sustainable. Our programs bring together people, ideas, reforms, and innovations to heighten outcomes in education, workforce development, and state and national policy.
America faces a more complex, more volatile, more dangerous threat environment than anything we have seen since the Cold War. State and nonstate actors are developing tech-enabled weaponry and assaulting the global commons from the seas to space to cyberspace. Sagamore is helping bolster the Midwest’s defense innovators with new technologies and advanced manufacturing capabilities to protect our nation and democratic ideals.
Our nation was founded on the idea that citizens would be at the center of the American Experiment. That means citizens need to be informed and engaged for our democracy to survive and thrive. It also means that all sectors in society must be healthy—a government that preserves order, a marketplace that foster growth and inclusive opportunity, and a civil society that is formed by caring neighbors and civic innovators. Sagamore’s Citizenship portfolio helps us understand our traditions and equips the next generation to do their part in making a more perfect union.