NPP launches State Smart and ends a dark time for federal spending data.

In fiscal year 2014, our nation spent $3.7 trillion on all federal programs and ran a budget deficit. The good news is that budget deficits are no cause for great alarm; they are pretty common. In fact, over the past half century, the U.S. has run a deficit in 45 out of 50 years.

Our last State Smart preview digs into federal jobs and compensation in the states and what they mean for a pathway to the middle class.

This week, we’re spotlighting our education-themed voter’s guides with facts about Education, Student Loans and Student Debt.

NPP is a 2014 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is being announced on Friday.

NPP presented its outside-the-Beltway perspective on federal spending data to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Last week I had the good fortune to join an amazing group of people doing exciting and transformative work in the growing field of participatory budgeting (“PB”), at the third annual PB Conference, held this year in Oakland (and nearby Vallejo), California. [I was invited to speak on two panels--one...

Today's State Smart preview spotlights federal grants that go directly to state governments and ultimately affect people in our communitites.

This week, we spotlight our Voter’s Guides on health care and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to give you the current state of federal health care policy and spending before the November 4 election.

From California’s agricultural Central Valley to cities like Detroit and Washington, DC, to coal mining towns in Appalachia, federal aid to individuals touches communities in many ways. NPP previews a new State Smart dataset showing you how.