A New Deal gem, the Wilbur J. Cohen Building in Washington DC is threatened with sale and possibly demolition. It is among federal properties targeted for “accelerated disposal” by the Trump Administration and can be sold quickly with limited public input. Built between 1938 and 1940 to house the newly enacted Social Security Administration, the Cohen Building is an important cultural site for its many artworks, including fresco murals by renowned New Deal artists. In an interview with Timothy Noah for The New Republic, Living New Deal founder and architectural historian Gray Brechin called the building “the Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.” Mary Okin, who heads the Living New Deal’s Advocacy for New Deal Art (ANDA) program, has been leading the charge to save the historic building. A petition calling for transparency and public participation in the fate of the Cohen Building and its artworks has garnered over 7,000 signatures.
Step Into The Spotlight
The Living New Deal serves as fiscal sponsor for filmmakers Alexis Harte and Josh Peterson for Your Rose Garden, a music video about a beloved New Deal park in Berkeley, California. The award-winning film sparked New Deal Spotlights, an online media campaign celebrating the New Deal through crowdsourced videos. Millions of Americans still use New Deal civic buildings, parks, schools, housing, infrastructure and public art, yet few know how these places came to be. New Deal Spotlights is inviting amateur and budding videographers to submit short selfie videos from New Deal sites to be part of a pilot movie promoting the project. The ultimate goal: raise awareness, reach younger generations and show that government can work for the people. Join the fun.
Making the New Deal Visible in Los Angeles
The Living New Deal has published elegant maps of the New Deal’s footprint on American cities, including San Francisco, New York and Washington DC. For the last three years we’ve been focused on mapping greater Los Angeles, possibly the nation’s biggest recipient of New Deal public works and a mammoth challenge to research and map. The project, led by Natalie McDonald and Lauren Davies, has been enhanced by interns from the History Departments at UCLA and CSU Northridge and funds from our Digital Data project. The team has added hundreds of New Deal sites around greater LA to the Living New Deal online map. By diving into city archives, local newspapers and historical society collections, they’ve tackled vital subjects such as relief jobs for minority workers, public housing and flood control projects. Natalie and Lauren have given lectures about New Deal around the LA area.
Expanding Our Footprint
The Living New Deal now has three chapters and a growing team of National Associates that expand our research capabilities and carry the New Deal message through local events, lectures, media and restoration projects. Our New York City chapter, led by Kevin Baker, noted historian, author and journalist, has participated in many events around the city celebrating the 90th anniversary of the New Deal.
A New Mexico chapter officially came aboard in 2025, with Brad Wieneke as coordinator and Alana McGrattan as chair. The group has years of experience as part of the National New Deal Preservation Association, which wrapped up last year. For 2026, we are very excited to welcome a new Oregon chapter led by longtime National Associate Judith Kenney.
Volunteer Elliot Medrich coordinates our team of National Associates, numbering 57 in 40 states. Associates are volunteers who work with local New Deal enthusiasts, scholars and libraries in their states, always on the lookout for New Deal sites and preservation challenges.
Sadly, at the end of 2025, we lost longtime National Associate for Texas. Milton S. Jordan, Jr., a retired pastor and renowned poet. His poetry collections were inspired by Texas landscapes, history, social justice and environment.
We are delighted to welcome a new baby to the Living New Deal family. Lilly, is the daughter of Caroline and Evan Kalish, who contributes mightily to the Living New Deal as a writer and
Researcher-at-Large.
We also welcomed three new members to our Board of Directors.
Fern Nesson is an attorney and law professor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as a remarkable photographer and writer who has contributed more than one hundred "On the Road" essays to the our website. David Levine is an attorney in Oakland, California and New Deal enthusiast. Michelle Acari Rose is an attorney in Washington DC who has worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and directs a nonprofit for a historic black church in Virginia.
Join the Living New Deal and KALW public radio for a community conversation exploring the imprint the New Deal made on the San Francisco Bay Area. Panelists include Sheryl Kaskowitz, author and creator of The Public Works, a KALW series that explores the legacy of the New Deal in the Bay Area; documentarian John Rogers, whose films tell the history of the WPA Aquatic Park Bathhouse and its storied artworks, now part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and Alexis Harte, an awards-winning singer-songwriter, composer, film producer and co-founder of New Deal Spotlights. Alexis’s musical film “Your Rose Garden,” celebrates the Berkeley Rose Garden, built by New Deal workers. FREE. (Suggested donation: $10–$20. No one will be turned away for lack of funds). RSVP
Writer and producer of the podcast The People’s Recorder, David Taylor leads walking tours in Washington DC for the Smithsonian Associates. This webinar is a virtual tour of the New Deal in the nation’s capital, including the Library of Congress Annex; the Social Security murals at the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, now on a list of federal buildings for sale; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; and the magnificent Jefferson Memorial, dedicated by FDR in 1943. Along the way we will learn about artists and designers of these public treasures and how the New Deal shaped America’s capital as we know it. FREE. REGISTER BUY OUR MAP & GUIDE OF NEW DEAL WASHINGTON
A New Deal gem, the Wilbur J. Cohen Building in Washington DC is threatened with sale and possibly demolition. It is among federal properties targeted for “accelerated disposal” by the Trump Administration and can be sold quickly with limited public input. Built between 1938 and 1940 to house the newly enacted Social Security Administration, the Cohen Building is an important cultural site for its many artworks, including fresco murals by renowned New Deal artists. In an interview with Timothy Noah for 
The Living New Deal serves as fiscal sponsor for filmmakers Alexis Harte and Josh Peterson for 
The Living New Deal has published elegant maps of the New Deal’s footprint on American cities, including San Francisco, New York and Washington DC. For the last three years we’ve been focused on mapping greater Los Angeles, possibly the nation’s biggest recipient of New Deal public works and a mammoth challenge to research and map. The project, led by Natalie McDonald and Lauren Davies, has been enhanced by interns from the History Departments at UCLA and CSU Northridge and funds from our Digital Data project. The team has added hundreds of New Deal sites around greater LA to the 
The Living New Deal now has three chapters and a growing team of National Associates that expand our research capabilities and carry the New Deal message through local events, lectures, media and restoration projects. Our New York City chapter, led by Kevin Baker, noted historian, 
Webinar
