Tobin 2025: Meeting the Moment

A year of opportunity and progress

2025 brought major shifts to the policy landscape. Seismic changes in federal policy, alongside growing skepticism of nonpartisan research and evidence-based policymaking, created a complex and often challenging environment for institutions like the Tobin Center.

Yet within that disruption, there was also opportunity—an opportunity to test our agility, to strengthen our role as a trusted partner, and to reaffirm the importance of rigorous, independent analysis in shaping policies that improve lives.

The year brought major progress across several areas of work:

• Our landmark early care research helped shape legislation in Connecticut to expand access to childcare and support working families. The study’s influence has extended nationally. It was featured in Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s State of the State address, cited in legislation introduced in Pennsylvania that would expand access to public pre-k, and referenced by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear in his “Pre-K for All” initiative.
• Our Health Care Affordability Lab raised substantial new funding and hired several senior policy strategists to strengthen its work.
• We launched the next phase of our national initiative on state capacity at a bipartisan event featuring Governors Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Ned Lamont (D-CT). Our aim in the months ahead is to build a national research agenda to uncover workable solutions at the state and federal levels for addressing affordability crises in housing, infrastructure, health care, and more.

In all our work, we were determined to meet the moment. By doubling down on our mission, we continued to support Yale, policymakers at all levels of government, and the American people—focusing not on scale, but on deepening partnerships, delivering actionable insights, and driving real-world policy impact.

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