[2] Born in Berkeley California on August 5, 1965, Alan was raised in St Louis Missouri other than the years he spent in Cambridge England (1969–70) and Rome Italy (1978–79) when his father was on sabbatical from Washington University.
He was hired as Senior Producer at KPFK Pacifica Radio Los Angeles in 2003, a position he held until becoming the station's interim Program Director in early 2009.
In 2011, he wrote a long internal memo, entitled Building a Powerful Pacifica, that proposed many changes for the troubled radio network.
In early 2019, Minsky launched an affiliated non-profit, Progressives for Democracy in America (also known as PDA), which had no limits on its advocacy or lobbying at the federal, state, or local level.
[8] However, Minsky's signature contribution to PDA has been the foregrounding of economic policies designed to re-establish a prosperous and secure middle class as the dominant feature of American society.
Minsky has co-authored four articles with history Professor Harvey J. Kaye, advocating for an updated version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights to be the defining policy of the progressive wing of the Party since it speaks directly to the primary concerns of the majority of Americans.
PDA's Progressive Central conference, held at Chicago Teachers Union Headquarters on August 18–19, 2024, was also Minsky's brainchild.
Twelve other progressive members of Congress participated, as did four Union Presidents, an array of state and local elected officials, candidates, authors, academics, organizers, and grassroots activists.