day one project

Democratizing
the policymaking
process.

In 2019, we came together with an idea to arm the next presidential administration in January 2020 with 100 implementation-ready policy proposals crowdsourced from the science, technology and innovation community. Not only was our call for ideas met with an overwhelming response, but along the way we honed a vision for policy entrepreneurship: how anyone can convert a merely promising idea into real movement.

Since then, we have helped a growing community of contributors develop promising policy ideas — an amazing number of which have already become policy. Together we have inspired over $2.6 billion in federal investment across key science and technology priorities, eight new cross-cutting federal initiatives, four executive actions, and more.

200+ ideas
300+ contributors

Have an innovative new idea but don’t know where to start? Here’s what we need from you in order to work with you to make your idea an action-ready policy memo:

Got all that? Share your idea with us here.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Day One memo?

Day One memos are short (2-3 pages and under 1000 words), targeted documents that explain the challenge and opportunity associated with a particular societal issue, and provide a clear plan of action for the federal government to respond. You can read the latest ones here.

What does the open call process look like?

You will submit an idea for our open call via a short application. Submissions will include a description of your idea in 350 words or less, and a few sentences on the challenge, opportunity, and plan of action. Authors with the most compelling ideas will get to work with our team of experts to develop their idea into a policy memo, and be connected to relevant idea customers who can help drive implementation.

How many ideas are you accepting?

There is no limit to how many ideas you can submit and work with FAS to develop.

Can more than one person author a Day One memo?

Yes! A memo can have multiple authors. We ask that one member of your team submit on behalf of the group and, if your idea is accepted, we will begin coordinating on memo development with the entire team.

What is the timeline for reviewing and submitting an idea?

Program teams will be internally reviewing all ideas that come in on a bi-weekly cadence and will accept ideas on a rolling basis. FAS accepts ideas through its Day One call year-round, so there is no deadline for submissions.

What will the time commitment for developing an idea be?

We will ask that you engage in written exchanges with our team of experts to further refine the ideas into policy memos; we expect this might add up to ~10-15 hours over a couple of months.

Latest Policy Memos
See all
Emerging Technology
day one project
Policy Memo
Ready for the Next Threat: Creating a Commercial Public Health Emergency Payment System

In anticipation of future known and unknown health security threats, including new pandemics, biothreats, and climate-related health emergencies, our answers need to be much faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to other operations.

12.23.24 | 5 min read
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Emerging Technology
day one project
Policy Memo
From Strategy to Impact: Establishing an AI Corps to Accelerate HHS Transformation

To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence within the Department of Health and Human Services, an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s 10 agencies.

12.23.24 | 10 min read
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Government Capacity
day one project
Policy Memo
Transforming the Carceral Experience: Leveraging Technology for Rehabilitation

Investing in interventions behind the walls is not just a matter of improving conditions for incarcerated individuals—it is a public safety and economic imperative. By reducing recidivism through education and family contact, we can improve reentry outcomes and save billions in taxpayer dollars.

12.20.24 | 7 min read
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Emerging Technology
day one project
Policy Memo
Creating a National Exposome Project

The U.S. government should establish a public-private National Exposome Project (NEP) to generate benchmark human exposure levels for the ~80,000 chemicals to which Americans are regularly exposed.

12.20.24 | 7 min read
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Testimonials

“I feel I have a much clearer vision of how the government operates and how we can make things happen in the nation. The guidance helps not only to push forward new policy but also how I apply for grants at NSF and how I integrate policy discussions in my research papers (which can help me to ensure i have much better impact)”

“The Day One accelerator took me from 0 to 100 in 9 weeks: Literally from zero knowledge about policy-making to feeling very confident about what I need to do to affect it. The knowledge alone is just one part, and the hard work lies ahead, but Day One was superb at conveying the knowledge, and also in showing how within reach policy influence could be.”

“As a graduate student studying public policy, I found that the Day One Project did a brilliant job of concisely distilling and substantiating in 9 weeks some of the most important lessons I’d learned over the course of a year. More importantly, they took these lessons three steps further by adding practical insights on the reality of policy entrepreneurship, by having us test and refine our ideas with our cohort and seasoned policymakers, and by pushing us to publish and implement our proposals.”

“This was a fantastic experience. I teach graduate students about US information and telecommunications policy and the opportunity to share what I’ve been working on with them and to bring in some of the lessons I’ve learned about writing about policy in a concise and persuasive way was awesome. I appreciate the resources that your team has developed and the time you spent to think with me about developing a coherent proposal. I learned a great deal from the guests, too.”