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Hello!

Cupid's Heart reading POLICY with arrow going through it.

I'm Caitie, a Civic Strategist, Practitioner-in-Residence at MIT, former Congressional staffer. And I’m glad you’re here.

  • If you’re tired of feeling powerless to meet the moment we’re in
  • If you want to turn your worry about what’s happening into useful action to change what’s happening
  • If you want to tell your kids, grandkids, future generations you did everything you could to make a world worthy of their inheritance...

Then I write Policy is for Lovers just for you! It’s a friendly playbook for good change.

One of the most overlooked numbers in our democracy is 364.

Because democracy doesn’t just happen on Election Day; there are 364 days between elections when the bills that become the laws we live under are written. If we don’t have a say in shaping them, the powerful sure do.

And laws that benefit the powerful rarely benefit we, the people.

This newsletter is designed to help level the playing field: the more of us who vote and take simple, smart action between elections, the more policy we get that benefits we, the people, not the powerful.

Every Tuesday and Friday morning, I share smart tools, good stories, favorite quotes to fill you up with some honest hope and high-impact strategy.

Because here’s the truth: we have more power than we think. Policy is for Lovers is here to ensure we aren’t leaving that power on the table.

This newsletter is free of ads (you have enough of those in your life) and free of charge; I don’t want anyone to be denied access to full participation in our democracy.

Two wonderful things you can do to keep this one-woman labor of love going:

  • Share Policy is for Lovers with folks who could use a democracy pick-me-up. I’m not on social media, so this newsletter spreads the old-fashioned way: word of mouth.
  • If you are able to contribute just a few dollars a month, that makes it possible for me to spend more time sharing more tools with you.

Democracy is understaffed. And you’d be perfect. So together, let’s work to build the world we want to live in.

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A Bit About Me

Caitie Whelan (WHALE-in) is a Practitioner-in-Residence at MIT and a Civic Strategist. She gives individuals and organizations the power to shape the laws they live under.

Caitie was a staffer in Congress for six years, starting in the Senate and ending as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor for a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. She served as Communications Director for the Maine Democratic Party and did communications and operations for one of President Biden's global climate initiatives.

Caitie went to Brown University, co-founded a small school in India wth a communtiy of lower caste musicians, and raised pigs in Tuscany. She is a Truman Scholar for Public Service and Founding Chair of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Maine Chapter's Public Policy Team. Caitie lives in Maine with her shaggy little mutt. More about her work here.