How do you improve the lives of one hundred people? One thousand? One hundred thousand? Amy Hanauer’s answer is public policy. Hanauer’s talk at TEDxSHHS is centered around the difference that public policy makes in a community, and how the smallest change in policy can make a large difference. Hanauer highlights how individual action can affect larger issues in a community, and urges you to discover what you can do to influence policy decisions in your neighborhood.

Amy Hanauer is the founding executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, which creates a more vibrant equitable, sustainable and inclusive Ohio through research, media work, coalition building and policy advocacy. By issuing more than 60 reports each year and getting more than 600 news stories about them, Policy Matters improves lives and communities. Its work has helped raise the minimum wage, defend worker rights, establish clean energy standards, and expand Medicaid. Amy has a master’s of Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. from Cornell University. Before starting Policy Matters in 2000, she did research and policy work in Wisconsin, Colorado and Washington D.C. Amy is also on the board of directors and the executive committee of the national think tank Dēmos and the steering committee for Emerald Cities Cleveland. Amy now lives in Shaker Heights with her husband, political scientist Mark Cassell, and her children, Max and Katrina.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx