The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

In November, our "Pizza and Politics" event featured SIU Alumnus Tom Desch, founder of House Painter Media. Desch shared a clip of his upcoming documentary featuring the conflict around building a third aiport in Chicago, Illinois.

SIU School of Medicine Department of Population Science and Policy, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, UIC School of Public Health, SIU School of Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development and the Illinois Department of Public Health recently hosted an influential group of rural health experts and stakeholders at the 2018 Illinois Rural Health Summit in Springfield, Illinois. Read Report

Plan ahead for 2020 Springfield Internships!

Want a paid internship with real world experience? Check out our 3 different internships: Alexander Lane Internship, Gene Callahan Internship, and the Latino Legislative Internship. Watch

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute...fostering non-partisan policy and building paths to public service.

We believe in bringing together public service leaders, our community members and students to honor and support Paul's vision of making a difference in the world we live in.

The Institute remains firmly rooted in Southern Illinois, is keenly focused on the challenges and opportunities that confront Illinois, and is delighted to be part of the national debate on leadership and citizenship. We continue to bring high-quality speakers to Carbondale for public policy discussions. Fellowships, internships and work opportunities for SIU students remain central to our mission. Your support and generosity are vital to our programming.

Learn more about our three pillars of our “Better Politics, Smarter Government” agenda here.

Institute in the News:

Video Clip: Who was Senator Paul Simon?

Watch a short video about the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon and founder of the Institute.

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Check out The Simon Review:

Our occasional paper series has over 50+ published works and worldwide readership!

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Town Hall Meetings Project:

Our work is becoming the basis of a national program that we are developing with the Lugar Center in Washington, D.C.

Best Practices (PDF)