Forgotten America

Monica Moses is a policy fellow for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy and a PhD candidate at West Virginia University. She joins Garrett today to discuss the role colleges and universities play in rural communities. She discusses how growing up in a small town near St. Bonaventure University influenced her interest in researching the role universities and colleges play in rural areas...

Ashley Stinnett is the Communications Coordinator for Coalfield Development, he's a co-founder of the Film Futures Foundation, a former republican candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates, an actor, and an author. He was born and grew up in Lavalette, West Virginia and currently resides in Wayne County.   Today he joins Garrett to talk about Halloween, the horror genre, and his book Haun...

Kim Dully has a Master's degree in School Counseling, she is a Grassroots Coordinator with Love Your School-WV, and a co-host of the We Have Hope podcast. She has years of experience working with families and kids, particularly with recruiting and teaching foster parents in the northern panhandle of West Virginia.   On today's episode of Forgotten America, Kim shares her experience with the foster...

Aaron Renn is a writer and consultant based in Indianapolis and is a co-founder and Senior Fellow at American Reformer . He had a first career in management and technology consulting advising major corporations as a Partner at Accenture and a second career in urban policy as a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Today his focus is on helping conservatives and the American...

  Jessi Troyan, Director of Policy & Research for the Cardinal Institute, takes over the Forgotten America podcast as guest host. She interviews Chris Denson, Director of Policy & Research at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, about health care in rural America, particularly focusing on his experiences with the healthcare system in Georgia.    Prior to his time at the Georgia Public Policy Foun...

Anthony Hennen covers Pennsylvania as a reporter for the Center Square and is the Managing Editor of Expatalachians. He also was recently named a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow with the Fund for American Studies. He joins Garrett today to discuss Presidential election season and how candidates are addressing rural American issues.   Find Anthony online at: Center Square: https://www.thecentersquar...

  Marina Herrera is a 17th generation New Mexican on the Spanish side of her family with roots as far back as time immemorial on the indigenous side of her family. She joins Garrett today to talk about her life growing up in New Mexico's Mora Valley. She takes us on a journey through the culture, language, food, and art of the region that inspires a sense of awe. Marina also shares the challenges...

When you hear the words "New York," what do you think of? Maybe you think of Times Square or Wall Street. Perhaps you think of the Empire State Building. Does your mind immediately go to pizza? Mine does. There's a number of cultural references to New York that may come to mind. But whatever you think of, I'm willing to bet the first thing that comes to mind is related to New York City . . . not N...

This may have been one of my favorite episodes to record in quite awhile, and I hope you all enjoy it too. In this week's episode, Garrett interviews West Virginia author, S.D. Smith, author of the beloved Green Ember series. Garrett & Sam discuss such wide-ranging topics as the beauty of Appalachia, Sam's childhood in South Africa, the philosophy and writing of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and...

  Mark Moses has provided finance-related management and consulting services to local government agencies since 2011 after spending two decades working directly for municipal agencies in senior-level finance and administrative management positions. He joins Garrett today on Forgotten America to discuss an area of political life that is often forgotten, overlooked, and dismissed: municipal finance....

Danny Murphy, the Director of Right on Crime for Virginia and West Virginia, joins Garrett Ballengee and Jessica Dobrinsky Harris, Cardinal's Policy Analyst, for a discussion of what it means to reform the criminal justice system in America and how we can approach this issue from a perspective rooted in the principles of liberty.    In this episode, we tackle issues like mandatory minimums, what i...

Kerry McDonald, a national expert on education entrepreneurship and alternative forms of education, joins Garrett to discuss nontraditional schooling and the growing trend of microschooling in America.    Garrett & Kerry explore the history of homeschooling and the reasons why many have chosen to return to a model of education that is reminiscent of the one room schoolhouse while debunking several...

Today's episode takes a bit of a detour outside of our typical topics about communities and challenges in rural America.    Scott Beyer joins us again on the Forgotten America Podcast - this time to discuss the Scott Beyer Market Urbanism World Tour, where he is exploring 40 cities across 3 regions for a year and a half, to see how the fast pace of development in the Global South can inform free-m...

Dr. Matt Ladner is an education policy researcher and is the Executive Editor of ReimaginED, a blog focused on education choice. Matt is also the Director of the Arizona Center for Student Opportunity at the Arizona Charter School Association.   Matt joins Garrett today to discuss his recent paper, co-authored with Jason Bedrick and published by the Heritage Foundation, Rustic Renaissance: Educati...

In this special Bonus episode of the Forgotten America podcast, Amanda Kieffer, Communications Director for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia hosts an episode focused on maternity care access in rural America and the role midwives play in caring for women.  Our guest this week is Beth Redden, a Certified Nurse Midwife from Southern West Virginia and fellow of the American College of Nurse M...

Stephanie Wissman is the Executive Director of API Pennsylvania, a division of the American Petroleum Institute. API's mission is to promote safety and to influence public policy in support of a strong, viable U.S. oil and natural gas industry. Stephanie joins Garrett to talk about domestic energy policy, wonder in awe at the marvel of modern fracking innovation, and dream of one day finally getti...

As the founder of Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, a public charter school, Jack Johnson Pannell aims to disrupt the status quo in education and design by building an effective model of teaching and learning for boys of color. As an impact social entrepreneur, he is expanding the Collegiate Model through a national network of schools.    Jack joins Garrett on the podcast to talk about what ma...

Charlotte and Kenny Webb have dedicated their work to finding innovative solutions to help formerly incarcerated and recovering individuals gain access to resources and employment opportunities. Through their company, Charleston Property Restoration, they hire "fair-chance" employees and offer practical assistance through their nonprofit organization, Way Makers.    In this episode , Charlotte and...

What do Sojourner Truth, Davy Crockett, Ichabod Crane, and a Cherokee river dragon have in common? They are all characters in John Hood's second historical-fantasy novel, Forest Folk.    John Hood is president of the John William Pope Foundation, a Raleigh-based grantmaker that supports public policy organizations, educational institutions, arts and cultural programs, and humanitarian relief in No...

Welcome back to the Forgotten America Podcast! We are returning from a strategic pause in releasing new episodes in order to build up a robust catalog of episodes and add new content formats to the show. We have a lineup of fantastic guests and we're excited to share those conversations with you. In this episode, Garrett goes solo as he reflects on the importance of exploring our roots as a way to...

Note: As you probably noticed, this episode is being released a week later than our usual schedule. Extensive traveling has made it difficult to schedule a guest interview while Garrett is on the road. So we brought in Cardinal Institute's Jessi Troyan to do a deep dive with Garrett on the current state of the US economy.    Jessi Troyan is the Director of Policy and Research for the Cardinal Inst...

Garrett is joined by Brian Fencl, Professor of Art, and Director of the Nutting Gallery at West Liberty University. This week, Garrett and Brian dive into some of the reasons visual arts are so important for fly-over country. Are rural Americans portrayed fairly in art? Should the government continue to support the arts? Is it even possible to define what art is?  All coming up in this episode of...

Garrett is joined by Don Soifer, President of Nevada Action for School Options, a nonpartisan "action tank" he founded in 2017 to support the growth of diverse choices of rich, high-quality, and personalized educational opportunities for all students. This week, Garrett and Don discuss his approach to alternative education, including microschools, learning pods, and hybrid learning, along with som...

Garrett is joined by Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation, an organization dedicated to increasing liberty and prosperity for New Mexico citizens by promoting individual freedom, limited government, and economic opportunity. This week, Garrett and Paul discuss the many economic and social issues currently facing New Mexico and how leaders at the state and local levels are picking u...

Garrett is joined by Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Professor at Nebraska College of Law and the Director of Law & Economic Programs at the International Center for Law & Economics. Gus's work builds on his background in law, technology, and economics to consider the interface between law and technology and the role of regulation in high-tech industries. In this week's episode, Garrett and Gus discuss the...