- December 10, 2024
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- December 10, 2024
The kick-off meeting of the fifth cohort of the “Laboratories of Democracy Initiative” took place on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The project brings together 30 state legislators from Germany, the United States, and Canada to facilitate a values-based discussion on current international policy challenges on a subnational level and to build new transatlantic networks. Each exchange is dedicated to a core topic that is relevant on both sides of the Atlantic. The theme of this year’s cohort is “The Bonds Which Make Our Societies: Social Cohesion and the Power of Belonging”, focusing on the subtopics of education, economic inequality, and migration. The Aspen Institute Germany welcomes the thirty participants who will travel to Dresden, Saxony, Germany from February 25 to March 1, 2025, and to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from May 13 to May 17, 2025.
Aspen Germany is pleased to announce this year’s cohort: Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D), Assistant Majority Leader for Policy and Research in the California State Assembly; Senator Lashrecse D. Aird (D), Member of the Senate of Virginia; MLA Benoît Bourque (New Brunswick Liberal Party), Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick; MPP Stephanie Bowman (Ontario Liberal Party), Critic for Finance in the Provincial Parliament of Ontario; MdL Tom Brüntrup (CDU), Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia; Senator Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R), Majority Caucus Vice-Chair of the Wisconsin Senate; Senator Stephanie Chang (D), Member of the Michigan Senate; MLA Tyler DesRoches, (Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party), Member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island; MdL Sabine Enseleit (CDU), Member of the State Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; MLA Wayne Ewasko (Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party), Interim Leader of the Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba; MLA Suzy Hansen (Nova Scotia New Democratic Party), Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly; MdL Thomas Huber (CSU), Chair of the Committee for Labor and Social Affairs, Youth, and Family in the Bavarian State Parliament; MLA Margaret Johnson (New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives), Critic for Social Development and Seniors Affairs; MLA Lisa Lachance (Nova Scotia New Democratic Party), Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly; Representative Mike Lynch (R), Member of the Colorado House of Representatives; Representative Zach Mako (R), Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; MdL Katja Meier (Alliance 90/The Greens), Member of the Saxon State Parliament; Representative Marci Mustello (R), Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; MdL Lena Nzume (Alliance 90/The Greens), Member of the State Parliament of Lower Saxony; Representative Sam Park (D), Whip of the Democratic Caucus in the Georgia House of Representatives; MLA Chelsea Petrovic (United Conservative Party), Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta; MdL Katrin Rehak-Nitsche (SPD), Member of the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate; MLA Nicole Sarauer (Saskatchewan New Democratic Party), Opposition House Leader of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan; MdL Jessica Steiner (CDU), Member of the Saxon State Parliament; Delegate Stephanie M. Smith (D), Chair of the Education and Economic Development Subcommittee of the Maryland House of Delegates; MdL Dr. Simone Strohmayr (SPD), Member of the Bavarian State Parliament; MdL Lena Teschlade (SPD), Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia; Representative Jake Teshka (R), Chairman of the Committee on Financial Institutions of the Indiana House of Representatives; MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos (Ontario Progressive Conservative Party), Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development of the Provincial Parliament of Ontario; MdA Björn Wohlert (CDU), Member of the Berlin House of Representatives.
The project is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
