MOONSHOT PRESS
Democracy. Opportunity. Citizenship.
A stronger public life begins with more capable citizens.
Moonshot Press is a civic journalism and public-innovation platform for people who want to understand the forces shaping their lives, work through difficult public choices, and act together when something important is at stake.
We believe democracy depends on more than elections and opinions. It depends on citizens who can find trustworthy information, think seriously with one another, and help shape the future they will share.
[Read Moonshot Press] [Watch: A Welcome to Moonshot Press]
What Moonshot Press is
Journalism rebuilt as civic infrastructure
Moonshot Press began with a question: what would it mean to approach the health of a democracy as seriously as we approach the health of a person?
The answer is not another stream of commentary. It is journalism that clarifies, deliberation that brings citizens and evidence into the same room, and tools that make participation possible.
Why I'm doing this — a personal introduction from the founder.
Video caption: A brief introduction from Shimon Waldfogel, MD, Founder and Publisher.
The civic pathway
Understand. Deliberate. Act.
A healthy democracy requires more than attention. Citizens need a way to see a problem clearly, work through competing choices with others, and carry what they learn into action.
First
Understand
Reporting, Citizen Briefs, and case presentations that show how systems and incentives actually interact — and where the evidence runs out.
Then
Act
Checklists, maps, trackers, and assessments built for citizens rather than specialists — so understanding becomes something you can do.
Then
Deliberate
People's Commissions where citizens, lived experience, evidence, and the strongest competing arguments meet in one structured inquiry.
Why this matters
Democracy should be comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful
People don't break under hardship the way the textbooks predict. They break when their world stops making sense, when they lack the resources to meet it, and when the thread connecting their effort to something larger goes slack. We design journalism, deliberation, and tools around three tests.
Comprehensible
Does this help people understand the forces shaping their lives?
Manageable
Does it give them a realistic way to respond?
Meaningful
Does it connect participation to something worth caring about?
Now publishing
The Civic Curriculum for the AI Age
Publishing weekly
Twelve chapters on what artificial intelligence is doing to work, knowledge, and self-government
Ten chapters and an epilogue, published Mondays through late October. Plain language, competing arguments, and questions built for group deliberation — not a technical course, and not a prediction.
The Head Start Citizen Deliberation
A public question with real consequences.
Head Start is a central American commitment to children and families. Moonshot Press is helping citizens understand the choices before the program, examine evidence and tradeoffs, and participate more intelligently in the public process.
[Explore the Head Start Deliberation]
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SUSTAINED PUBLIC INQUIRIES
Some questions cannot be answered in a news cycle
Through Project 2026 and the People's Commissions, Moonshot Press follows long-term questions about democracy, technology, childhood, work, and dignity.
The Technology Commission
What would it mean to build an AI future in which technological progress increases human flourishing and strengthens democratic self-government?
Explore the Technology Commission
Project 2026
What do we owe each other — and the next generation — as the United States enters its third century? The umbrella inquiry all of this work sits inside.
The Children's Commission
What should every child and family be able to count on from conception through the second birthday — and who is responsible for providing it?
Explore the Children's Commission
The First 1,000 Days of Life
What Do We Owe the Next Generation?
What should every child and family be able to count on from conception through age two? This initiative connects public learning, family experience, evidence, and local action—beginning in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
LOCAL DEMONSTRATION
National perspective.
Local voice.
An argument that stays on the page is just an argument. Moonshot Montco is where this model is tested with real communities — local reporting, citizen learning, practical tools, and a commission focused on the conditions every child needs to flourish.Montgomery County was not chosen as a showcase. It was chosen because it is America in miniature: affluent suburbs and struggling towns, world-class hospitals and neighborhoods where a prenatal appointment means two buses and a day off work no one can afford.
OUR COMMITMENTS
Trust requires visible rules
Moonshot Press is nonpartisan, but not neutral about constitutional democracy, equal human dignity, evidence, transparency, or the flourishing of generations not yet born. Our rules are public so readers can test them.
JOIN THE WORK
Democracy works when citizens do
There is a place in this for you — as a reader, a deliberator, a community builder, or someone who simply wants a clearer picture of what is happening and what can be done next.