Center for Public Policy Priorities

The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) is an Austin-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit policy institute committed to improving public policies to better the economic and social conditions of low- and moderate-income Texans.

Origin

The Congregation of Benedictine Sisters in Boerne, Texas founded CPPP in 1985 to improve health care access for the poor. The center became an independent nonprofit corporation 1999. The Nation called CPPP an example of “sophisticated independent policy experts” and a state level “force to be reckoned with.”^[1] And according to The Dallas Morning News, the center “has emerged as the primary source for detailed analysis on almost any legislative issue affecting low- to moderate-income Texans.”^[2]

Current research

The center provides research and policy analysis on issues such as:

• economic opportunity, including workforce and economic development;
• the state’s social services safety net, including health care, nutrition, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; and
• fiscal analysis of state taxes and budgets; the center provides tax and budget analysis from the perspective of low-income Texans.^[3]

The center is also home to the Texas KIDS COUNT Project, which tracks the well-being of children county by county.

Board and staff

Flora Brewer of Ft. Worth is the Chair of the Board of Directors, which includes Bill Hobby, the longest serving Lieutenant Governor of Texas. F. Scott McCown retired as a state district judge in 2002 to become the Executive Director.^[4] Texas Monthly named McCown as one of the 25 most powerful people in Texas politics.^[5] The center has a staff of thirteen. Senior staff includes Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director, named 2007 Consumer Health Care Advocate of the Year by Families USA, and Dick Lavine, Senior Fiscal Analyst, named Best Lobbyist for the Little Guy by Texas Monthly in 1999.<ref name=lavine">Hart, Patricia Kilday. "The Capitol Gang," Texas Monthly, p. 66. February 1999.</ref>

National affiliations

CPPP is a member of several national networks:

• State Fiscal Analysis Initiative
• Economic Analysis Research Network
• KIDS COUNT Network
• Tax Fairness Organizing Collaborative of United for a Fair Economy

External links

• Center for Public Policy Priorities website

References

1. ↑ Callahan, David. "State Think Tanks on the Move," The Nation, p. 15, 17. October 12, 1998.
2. ↑ Minutaglio, Bill. "Voice for the voiceless," The Dallas Morning News, page 29A. March 28, 1997.
3. ↑ Hamilton, Billy. "The Fight for Fair Taxes in Texas," State Tax Notes, p. 587. May 19, 2008.
4. ↑ Hughes, Polly Ross. "Judge leaves the bench to help out Texas' poor," Houston Chronicle, p. 24A. September 23, 2002.
5. ↑ Burka, Paul and Hart, Patricia Kilday. "Power," Texas Monthly, p. 113. February 2005.