The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The Institute's inaugural "Renewing Illinois" summit participants at SIU. The summit featured Illinois university students from eight public universities in Illinois. These students collaborated and developed a report that addresses action items for Illinois.

Former U.S. Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas spoke to SIU students and community members on the importance of civility in government as one of our first speakers for our Statesmanship Initiative.

Plan ahead for 2020 Springfield Internships!

Plan ahead for Spring 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

Illinois Rep. LaToya Greenwood met with SIU students and community members during one of the Institute's spring "Pizza and Politics" events.

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)