Sage Schaftel

Sage Schaftel

Senior Policy Advisor

Background

Strong relationships with key Democratic committee staff in the House and Senate. Health care and education policy authority. Adept at synchronizing member interests for large coalitions.

Sage Schaftel helps clients develop policy priorities and spearheads advocacy efforts on health care, education, labor and tax issues. Sage builds relationships between companies, policymakers and congressional committee staff. She puts pen to paper to draft collateral materials that communicate clients’ perspectives, including talking points, one pagers, public comments and advocacy letters. In a rapidly evolving policy landscape, Sage has an innate ability to “issue spot,” identifying seemingly minute developments at the federal and state level and advising on the potential risk or opportunity they pose to clients. She then devises strategies to capitalize on the moment and impact policy outcomes.

At Brownstein, Sage serves as assistant executive director of the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC), a non-profit alliance of the leading multi-state providers, state child care associations and premier educational services providers representing over 7,000 programs across the country. She is a key contributor in the development of the organization’s strategic plan and leads efforts to foster relationships between child care providers and political stakeholders at the state and federal level. Her work has directly led to multiple policy wins for education and child care clients in several states.

Prior to joining Brownstein, Sage spent two years working with former Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Legal Counsel, Office of Boards and Commissions and Office of Community Partnerships and served as a policy intern at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

PRACTICES:

INDUSTRIES:

    Representative Matters

    Recent Experience

    • On behalf of a state children's hospital, Brownstein helped secure $2 million in federal community project funding for facilities and equipment costs associated with its pediatric behavioral health intensive outpatient program.

    • Coordinates annual Washington, D.C. fly-in for national advocacy coalition. Schedules two days of meetings on Capitol Hill; provides talking points and backgrounders tailored to each congressional office; and provides firsthand introductions to key stakeholders.

    • Successfully advocated for expansions to child care tax credits during the COVID-19 pandemic to help millions of working families afford the cost of care. Worked with the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee and aligned advocacy groups in a multi-year effort, which culminated into a success when expansions were made to numerous credits in the American Rescue Plan.

    • Represents a genetic testing company before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and other Capitol Hill stakeholders. Raises awareness of the company’s work on Capitol Hill, strengthens its brand reputation, and helps the company shape legislation prior to its introduction and as it moves through the legislative process.

    • Helped secure over $50 billion in federal funding for the child care industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facilitated meetings between child care organizations and congressional committee staff and members of the House and Senate, and worked with local grassroots and grasstops organizations to apply added pressure at the federal level.

    Insights & Publications

    Credentials

    Education

    • M.P.P., 2018, Georgetown University
    • B.A., 2014, Pitzer College