About RISE POLICY
Founded by Jason Wiens, Rise Policy guides nonprofits and mission-minded businesses to greater impact and influence by shaping public policy.
Grounded in Midwestern values of integrity and doing a job right, Rise Policy works collaboratively to earn clients a seat at the table, build goodwill, and spur action. Its efforts have positioned clients as trusted sources of expertise, increased policymaker awareness of and support for client policy priorities and secured legislative wins.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Jason Wiens is a mission-driven policy expert and government relations leader with a 19-year record of driving social impact and achieving policy change. Before starting Rise Policy, Jason was Policy Director at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he led the design and execution of programmatic and grantmaking initiatives to support nonprofit advocacy for inclusive entrepreneurship and equitable economic development.
During a decade on Capitol Hill, Jason led bipartisan efforts on small business, immigration, economic mobility and humanitarian aid in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
His views and insights have been published in leading media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Roll Call, The Hill and Washington Monthly.
Jason earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Legislative & Advocacy Strategy
Policy research, development and analysis
Issue advocacy
Coalition management
Regulatory advocacy
government relations services
Strategic Communication
Message development
Thought leadership
Reports, policy agendas and op-eds
Program
Design
Advocacy curriculum and training
Capitol visits and advocate fly-ins
Evaluation
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Context: The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs invest billions of dollars annually in the development of new technologies by small businesses. Rise Policy’s client had studied the effectiveness of these programs and identified improvements that Congress could make when reauthorizing them.
Challenge: SBIR and STTR were set to expire at the end of fiscal year 2022. Conflicting views among key congressional leaders about what to do with small businesses that won multiple awards threatened reauthorization, and with it the chance to strengthen the programs.
Solution: Rise Policy synthesized its client’s findings on SBIR and STTR and other data into persuasive content making the case for reauthorization and programmatic improvements. Through conversation with key congressional committees, Rise Policy helped its client make sense of the political dynamics surrounding reauthorization and put forward proposals to bridge the policy divides.
Impact: Congress incorporated several improvements identified by Rise Policy’s client in legislation it passed to reauthorize the SBIR and STTR programs for three years.
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Context: Students in an Executive MBA program offered by Rise Policy’s client participate in a days-long “residency” in Washington, DC. This immersive experience is designed to hone their understanding of the public policy process and its effects on private sector organizations so the businesses they lead can better navigate policy change.
Challenge: Rise Policy’s client needed to increase the relevance of its DC Residency for students working for local businesses based in the Heartland.
Solution: Rise Policy designed the 2022 residency to emphasize the ways in which the work of Washington is closely tied to the businesses its client’s students work for by securing meetings with speakers having local ties and Members of Congress who represent the client’s region.
Impact: The residency created connections between students’ local experience and federal policymaking, resulting in a program with deeper relevance for the students and enhanced value for the client.