Chris Altchek and Jake Horowitz have set out to spark thoughtful political dialogue by connecting young people across the globe and engaging them in serious discussions of problems the world’s citizenry faces – hopefully, toward finding their solution. Their vehicle is PolicyMic, an online platform for news and debate that taps into the means of communication more native to their generation than most traditional media to “engage their generation and bring left and right together in real conversations about real issues.”
Altchek and Horowitz, friends since their days at the Horace Mann School, believe that the partisan tone of discussion in mainstream online, television, and print media has alienated young people and diverted their generation’s interest from politics. They’ve created PolicyMic to reclaim this generation’s attention, by linking young people across the world from both the left and the right in political conversations.
Both founders bring a personal perspective to their passion for PolicyMic. Their long friendship has survived their own debates on politics, foreign policy, economics and environmental issues, and their understanding of national and international affairs has been strengthened by their mutual respect for the knowledge and viewpoints each brings to the conversation – with Altchek having learned to listen to his friend’s perspective from the left, and Horowitz considering his friend’s conservative contributions.
PolicyMic is built upon its founders’ conviction “that news doesn’t need to be sterile and politics doesn’t need to be partisan.” In this light, one of the site’s main goals is to “change the tone of the current conversation” and show that “productive discussion on political issues is indeed possible in the media.” PolicyMic is all about the spirit of debate, say Altchek and Horowitz. “It is driven by the fundamental belief that listening and being exposed to multiple perspectives – even those we passionately disagree with – will help us make better-informed decisions in the political arena. At a time when the bitterly partisan tone of national policy discussions has alienated so many young people from politics,” the founders hope that “PolicyMic will transform the country’s political dialogue into a more productive discussion” and boost their generation’s “engagement and participation in politics by giving young people a respected forum to express their political views.”
Horowitz manages the writing and editing process and tries to spark thoughtful debate on important political issues. He graduated from Stanford University, where he studied Middle East history and politics. His political experiences include working on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict, researching democracy and governance issues in Morocco, working for the Carnegie Endowment in Lebanon, and doing community organizing in New York City.
Altchek has contributed a combination of his passion for politics with entrepreneurial spirit to build an innovative politics & news community that promotes civil discussion. Altchek co-founded PolicyMic while working at Goldman Sachs. He graduated from Harvard College, where he studied social studies. His political experiences include labor organizing for SEIU, political analysis at the White House, and campaigning for Mayor Bloomberg.
Twitter: @caltchek
