Christopher Rufo Joins the Manhattan Institute as Senior Fellow

NEW YORK, NY– The Manhattan Institute is pleased to announce that Christopher F. Rufo has joined the Institute as a Senior Fellow and Director of its new Initiative on Critical Race Theory. 

Rufo, who joined the Institute’s City Journal in 2019 as a contributing editor, has built a following for his investigative writing and documentary filmmaking on addiction, critical race theory (CRT), homelessness, and public disorder. His wide-ranging portfolio includes the recent multi-part City Journal series on the spread of CRT in American schools, the coauthored No Way Home: The Crisis of Homelessness and How to Fix It with Intelligence and Humanity (Encounter Books), and four PBS documentaries, most notably America Lost, which explores the challenges of life in three forgotten American cities.

In addition to continuing his investigative reporting for City Journal, Rufo will launch and helm the Manhattan Institute's new Initiative on Critical Race Theory. The Initiative will produce research and convene events on the growing influence of CRT on American life and offer thoughtful and effective guidance to concerned citizens seeking alternatives to CRT-inspired ideology in schools, workplaces, and other institutions.

“Drawing on his rich and varied experience as a filmmaker, community activist, and investigative journalist, Chris’s writing for City Journal has deepened our understanding of some of the most urgent policy challenges facing America and its great cities,” said Institute president Reihan Salam. “We are honored and delighted that he has joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow, and we look forward to working with him to advance policies that will help heal our cultural divides.” 

“I'm thrilled to join the scholars at the Manhattan Institute, who are charting the way forward on a range of cultural, political, and social issues. America is in the midst of profound ideological changes and the Manhattan Institute is perfectly positioned to make sense of this new world—and provide real solutions to the nation's challenges. Let’s get to work," Rufo remarked.

Rufo started in his expanded role on April 15 and has a feature essay on critical race theory in the Portland public school system in the upcoming spring issue of City Journal.