State think tanks from all across the Network are engaging in powerful messaging and communications to connect with citizens, lawmakers, and donors during the coronavirus pandemic. SPN continues to bring state think tanks examples of this great work and how they can do the same for their organization.

The Ethan Allen Institute recently produced an op-ed for VermontBiz that demonstrates how to call upon difficult lessons from the past to guide us forward through the economic turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic.

Author John McClaughry, CEO of the Ethan Allen Institute, begins by sharing the story of the horrific 1927 flood in Vermont that swept away “nearly two hundred years of settlement and improvement.” Eighty-four people were killed. McClaughry recounts this sorrowing tale to remind Vermonters they have faced devastating natural disasters in the not-too-distant past.

He goes on to share how government, society, and the manner in which we respond to disaster have evolved over the last 90 years. McClaughry describes the changing demographics of the state and how Vermont is much more tied to the rest of the world now than during the flood.

He then brings readers forward to the future and what impact the coronavirus economic shutdown could have on Vermont’s people and economy. He provides clear numbers and facts to describe the “dark fiscal cloud” looming over the state. He explains how jobs, taxes, and education funding are a tight nexus which will have lasting effects on how Vermont provided public education.

McClaughry then plants a powerful seed in the minds of policymakers by calling them to think like a wise leader: “We must reexamine what Vermonters are getting for their billion and a half dollars of education spending. This will require knowledge, imagination, and especially courage.” He specifically cites the special interests that have built this billion-dollar system and encourages lawmakers to do what’s right in spite of these pressures.

McClaughry then closes the article by calling upon all citizens to participate in a strengthened civil society that improves education, cares for the elderly, and nurtures “every other aspect of mutual aid and flourishing community life.”

This op-ed provides us a wonderful illustration of tying history to the current situation, offering one clear policy reform, citing a specific action leaders can take, and then empathetically encouraging all citizens to unite and rebuild.