Charles Mitchell is a visiting senior fellow for leadership development with SPN. He mentors other state think tank leaders on building Durable Freedom Infrastructure as he has done in his home state of Pennsylvania. Charles served in executive roles at the Commonwealth Foundation for 15 years, most recently as CEO, as well as being founding president of a public interest law firm representing mistreated workers, founding chairman of a First Amendment watchdog group, co-founder of a community schoolhouse, elder in his family’s church, and volunteer in numerous inner-city education initiatives.

During those years, Pennsylvania’s Durable Freedom Infrastructure protected workers from $33 billion in tax increases, turned the first school choice scholarship program into one of the largest in America, and changed the state constitution to ensure a situation like the Covid shutdowns could never happen again. Charles is the only person to receive both the Overton Award and the Roe Award from SPN.