Covert DEI: While President Trump took immediate action to dismantle DEI programs across federal institutions, many schools are now sneaking in covert DEI policies, as Heritage’s Acting Director of the Center for Education Policy Jonathan Butcher and Senior Fellow Mike Gonzalez explain.

• Not only does the covert DEI continuation undermine President Trump’s executive authority, but the programs directly violate federal civil rights laws.
• Butcher and Gonzalez have a suggestion for handling institutions still trying to sneak in DEI practices: “Federal officials should be prepared to withhold federal taxpayer spending from educational institutions at all levels when schools violate crucial civil rights protections.”

Read more here.

Smart: Heritage’s newly updated Education Freedom Report Card reflects another banner year for education freedom. It ranks states based on their choice programs, regulations, academic transparency, and more.

• “Our report card does not reward state lawmakers who ask taxpayers to spend more on assigned schools or who put limits on student options,” says Jonathan Butcher, acting director of the Center for Education Policy.

Find out which states earned an “A” here.

America’s Founding Fathers are endlessly fascinating figures, and we all have a duty to learn about them.

• That’s why we published American Founders: Leaders at the Creation of the Republic.
• In this free eBook, you’ll learn how the Founders created the greatest nation in the world, and delve deep into the lives of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others.

Click here to get your free copy today!

Stay in the game: Senior Research Fellow Rachel Greszler recently testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging about older Americans in the workforce.

• She pointed to policies that dissuade seniors from working.
• “Policymakers can and should remove barriers that make it harder for older Americans to stay engaged in ways that are meaningful to them and beneficial to society,” Greszler stated.

Listen to her testimony here.

Join the Heritage Academy—an eight-week online fellowship focused on America’s founding principles and the most pressing policy issues of our time.

• Heritage Academy Fellows gain access to compelling policy lectures, conversations with Heritage experts, and discussions with conservatives from across America. Watch a video about the Academy here.

Apply for the program by Sept. 21 here!

Missile gap: Can the U.S. deter a limited nuclear war without it escalating? That’s not an academic question.

• Both Russia and China have the capacity to fight a limited nuclear war, but the U.S. does not, according to a research paper by Robert Peters, senior research fellow in Heritage’s Allison Center for National Security, and Eli Glickman, a research fellow at the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab.

Read their paper to learn more.

What: A free, full-day, intensive training program for conservatives aspiring to work on Capitol Hill called Ready, Set, HILL!

Why: Conservative House and Senate offices are hiring Capitol Hill staff. Ready, Set, HILL! prepares young conservatives to serve and succeed in these positions.

Where: The training can be completed virtually or in person in D.C. 

When: Applications are due on Sept. 19. The training will be held on Sept. 26. Learn more here.

Tragic: The recent school shooting in Minneapolis has everyone looking for a scapegoat. But the truth is complex—and uncomfortable.

• “The horrific nature of school shootings predisposes us to want to do something—anything—to stop them, regardless of how uncommon they are or how unlikely our kids are to be victimized by them on any given day,” writes Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Amy Swearer.

Read Swearer’s full piece here.

I do: The Washington Post recently published commentary on a leaked draft of an upcoming Heritage policy paper that calls for higher marriage rates, increased fertility rates, and economic policy to encourage both.

• “Where others say nothing can be done to restore the American family, we’re determined to find the way,” Roger Severino, vice president of Domestic Policy, is quoted in the piece.

Read Severino’s post on X here.

Just say no: Heritage Senior Research Fellow Simon Hankinson’s new book lays out the woke commandments the Left uses to cudgel Americans into conformity.

• Each chapter provides arguments to rebut and refute the woke dictates (from accepting more than two genders, to trusting the legacy media, to hating American culture) that rule the public square.

Check out the book on Amazon here.

You can have peace of mind and secure a brighter future for your children in as little as 20 minutes.

• Remember The Heritage Foundation in your estate plans, and help save America’s children from the radical Left’s wicked ideology and reform the education system for future generations. 
• Through our partners at FreeWill, you can make a free and valid Will or Trust online in as little as 20 minutes. 

Start your FreeWill HERE. 

Ben Shapiro on the True Story of America (and Her Critics)

Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts and Ben Shapiro discuss Shapiro’s new book, “Lions and Scavengers: The True Story of America (and Her Critics),” which exposes the Left’s false narrative that inequality comes only from oppression and shows why greatness is built through talent, work, and sacrifice.

 

Sept. 16, 4 p.m. Register here.

• The Family: The Foundation of America’s Next 250 Years—Kevin Roberts, Ph.D.
• I Feared What Hurricane Helene Had Done to Our Community. One Year Later, We Have Hope—Jake Matthews
• Report: A Legitimate Role for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences—Jay Greene, Ph.D., and Jonathan Butcher
• The Clumsy Crusade Against School Choice—Matthew Ladner and Jason Bedrick
• From Uncle Herschel to Mickey Mouse: Cracker Barrel’s Disney Dilemma—Richard Stern
• I Live in D.C. I’m Glad Trump Sent in the National Guard to Fight Crime—John Malcolm
• Rescheduling Cannabis Downwards Would Be a Huge Mistake—Paul Larkin
• Report: PEPFAR: From AIDS Relief to Leftwing Funding Apparatus—Max Primorac
• Britain Is No Longer the Country We Americans Thought It Was—Simon Hankinson

Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts was a featured speaker at NatCon5 last week, in which he talked about the importance of family to America’s founding—and to its next 250 years. Watch his speech on X.