The People’s Policy Institute is an education
and action company.
At PPI, we practice a collaborative policy design strategy that engages diverse stakeholders in creating smart, sustainable systems-level approaches to enhancing well-being in our communities.
CASSANDRA RITAS Principal Policy Advisor
Cassandra has a life-long commitment to the creation of effective public policy through community participation. In 2009 she founded the People’s Policy Institute to facilitate the use of analytic tools by communities, and to promote collaborative policy design by diverse stakeholders. PPI brings together a passion for participation with a pragmatic use of analysis.
Prior to founding PPI, Cassandra spent several years developing and piloting policy analysis and advocacy workshops for communities and their partners around the US. Working for the New York State Senate in the office of a progressive legislator from 2003-2007, she pursued a stakeholder-based, policy-development process, soliciting input from advocates and scientists on a range of health and criminal justice policy issues. Cassandra served for three years (2000-2003) as the Chair of the Policy Work Group of the Harlem Urban Research Center’s Community Action Board, a collaborative of institutional and community partners that seeks to address the social determinants of health and health disparities in East and Central Harlem (now known as the Harlem Community Academic Partnership). Cassandra is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Cassandra has a special interest in health, criminal justice, environmental, and aging policy. In 2002 she produced the now popular, “Speaking Truth, Creating Power: A guide to policy work for CBPR practitioners,” as part of a fellowship from Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. Cassandra’s work is also represented in many of the recent edited volumes on CBPR.
Get in touch with Cassandra at cassandra@policypeople.org
PPI has a for-profit (don’t let the name fool you) business model that combines extremely low overhead costs with access to a talented pool of professionals and community leaders. Our fee-for-service model enhances our ability to stay focused on the interests of communities rather than the interests of funders.
We contract nationally with individuals and organizations that can provide local knowledge and specialized analytic or artistic skills to bear on a specific project. Our business model allows us to provide just-in-time education and analytic support to communities and partnerships at a relatively low cost.
At the People’s Policy Institute, we do everything we can to make democracy happen.