Government Works Weekly #13
Jobs, Events, and Messaging at the DNC
Welcome to your weekly roundup of opportunities, events, and information about how government works—and how government can work better—to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
Programming note: Excited to be back this week after a couple weeks off, where I had the pleasure of seeing a subscriber of this newsletter (shout out to Anne!) at a mutual friend’s wedding.1
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, and other ways to get involved
[NEW] President & CEO (and more), Roosevelt Institute [New York / priority deadline 2 Sept. / final deadline 15 Sept.]
[NEW] Senior Director, CIRCLE, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]
[NEW] Head of Communications (and more), Transparency International [Berlin / deadline 31 Aug.]
[NEW] Senior Manager, Grants & Contracts (and more), Results for America [Flexible U.S.]
[NEW] Legal Counsel, Voting Rights, Campaign Legal Center [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Associate Director, Elections Project (and more), Bipartisan Policy Center [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Communications Consultant – Digital Governance and Civic Space, Open Government Partnership [Contract]
[NEW] Evidence and Evaluation Analyst, Arnold Ventures [Washington, D.C. or New York City]
[NEW] Research Fellow, Tax Justice Network [Remote / deadline 6 Sept.]
[NEW] Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy [Hybrid / Charlottesville, VA]
[NEW] Executive Director, Georgia (and more), Common Cause [Hybrid / Atlanta, GA]
[NEW] Associate Director of Program Compliance, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]
[NEW] Senior Director, Marketing (and more), iCivics [Remote U.S.]
[NEW] Impact and Accountability Officer (and more), CIVICUS [Remote / deadline 1 Sept.]
Engagement Lead (Training), Involve [UK / Remote / deadline 27 Aug.]
Senior Manager, Office of the President, JPB Foundation [New York]
Director of Program Management (and more), JPB Foundation [New York]
President / CEO, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement [Remote / U.S. / deadline 27 Sept.]
Chief Development Officer (and more), Center for Popular Democracy [Remote]
Director of Research & Evaluation, ideas42 [Remote / Washington, D.C. or New York / NY preferred]
Senior Advisor for Governance and Anti-Corruption, Center for Global Impact, IRI [Washington, D.C.]
Policy Analyst (results-based management and evaluation), OECD [Paris / deadline 1 Sept.]
Executive Director, Virginia Civic Engagement Table [Virginia or D.C.-based / Remote]
Communications Program Officer, Open Government Partnership [preferably Brussels or Washington D.C.]
Manager/Facilitator, Public Service Leadership Institute (and more), Partnership for Public Service [Washington, D.C.]
Director, State and Local Government Affairs, Center for American Progress [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]
Research and Operations Assistant, Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress [Washington, D.C.]
Director of “Free Them All: The Fred Hiatt Program To Free Political Prisoners” (and more), Freedom House [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]
Policy and Research Analyst (and more), New York City Office of Technology & Innovation [NYC]
Deputy Director, Strategy & Design (and more), Democracy International [Bethesda, MD]
Youth Engagement and Civic Education Specialist (and more), International Foundation for Electoral Systems [Arlington, VA]
Counsel, Democracy Program (and more), Brennan Center for Justice [Washington, D.C.]
EGAP New Member Application 2024, Evidence in Governance and Politics [deadline 30 Sep.]
Communications Manager (and a bunch of Civic Designer roles), Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation [Hybrid]
Vice President for State Network Strategy (and more), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]
UPCOMING EVENTS – webinars, conferences, and other human things
26-29 AUG: Local Democracy Academy 2024 [Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy]
27 AUG: Innovator’s Hour: Methods for Modernizing Government: Part 1 [Partnership for Public Service]
28 AUG: Innovator’s Hour: Methods for Modernizing Government: Part 2 [Partnership for Public Service]
28 AUG: Citizens’ Assemblies 101 [National Civic League]
29 AUG: Fueling Front-line Engagement at Your Agency [Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group]
4 SEP: Webinar: “They don't understand…“ Youth Participation as an Important Part of Planning Processes [Participation Factory]
5 SEP: Navigating direct democracy: Global State of Direct Democracy [Democracy International]
10 SEP: Honoring Public Service: The Untold Stories [Washington Post featuring Michael Lewis and W. Kamau Bell]
10 SEP: Is the American Dream Alive? [The Free Press]
12 SEP: Administrative Burdens: A Framework for Improving Government [Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann Distinguished Guest Lecture]
12 SEP: Government & AI [Nextgov/FCW]
12-13 SEP: The Ninth Public Investors Conference [World Bank]
13 SEP: Book Launch: Relearning Democracy: Innovations to activate citizens from classroom to community [People Powered]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
Since I am just getting back from vacation, I will just share a few quick links here stemming from this week’s DNC. Hoping for something more substantial next week.
[ON FREEDOM AND PUBLIC SERVICE]
As we discussed last month, “Freedom” has become a buzzword for the Harris-Walz campaign, and I was glad to see the theme continue at this week’s DNC. Here are a few links about that message:
American Family | A Film About Freedom, Democratic National Committee
A Film About Freedom directed by renowned portrait photographer Platon and award-winning filmmaker and journalist Scott Dadich and produced by Godfrey Dadich Partners (GDP.) The film premiered August 21, 2024 at the Democratic National Convention, where the theme of the night was freedom.
Paul Waldman, “Opinion: Tim Walz’s communal patriotism is a striking contrast to Trump's individualism,” MSNBC, 22 Aug. 2024.
The Harris campaign has put the word “freedom” at the heart of its campaign, and Walz even sometimes describes the campaign ethos as “mind your own damn business.” But he also talks frequently about the nation as a web of commitments and obligations of care. “The family down the road — they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors. And you look out for them, just like they do for you,” he said in his speech. “Everybody belongs, and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.”
Anand Giridharadas, “The five words Democrats are reclaiming,” The Ink, 22 Aug. 2024.2
On the contrary, so much of what the right actually stood for undermined these concepts it claimed so ardently and successfully.
It thwarted the freedom to vote and get an abortion and breathe clean air.
Aaron Blake, “5 takeaways from the Democratic convention and Tim Walz on Day 3,” Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2024.
The overriding theme of the Minnesota governor’s speech was the title of that song. He mentioned “free” or “freedom” a dozen times. He pitched Democrats as the protectors of it and Republicans as meddling in it.
“When Republicans use the word — freedom — they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office, corporations free to pollute your air and water, and banks free to take advantage of customers,” Walz said. “But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love, freedom to make your own health-care decisions and, yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.”
Harris and Walz are both long-time public servants, so it is clever to play up the freedom rhetoric with a message about how the government can work to make lives better (which is the theme of this blog, by the way).
Government to support your life decisions, not make them for you.
See President Obama here on the announcement of Walz as running mate:
Source: Barack Obama, Twitter post, 6 Aug. 2024.
Or, as Ezra Klein writes:
Democrats are united in their belief that the government can, and should, act on behalf of the public. To be on the party’s far left is to believe the government should do much more. To be among its moderates is to believe it should do somewhat more. But all of the people elected as Democrats, from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Senator Joe Manchin, are there for the same reason: to use the power of the government to pursue their vision of the good. The divides are real and often bitter. But there is always room for negotiation because there is a fundamental commonality of purpose.
The modern Republican Party, by contrast, is built upon a loathing of the government.
Source: Ezra Klein, “Opinion: Trump Turned the Democratic Party Into a Pitiless Machine,” New York Times, 18 Aug. 2024.
(NB: Republicans, of course, are happy to take credit when government succeeds, even if they didn’t vote for or support the policies.)3
Walz, the first non-lawyer on a Democratic ticket since Carter, has come by his public service through a different route. Public school graduate. National guardsman. Public school teacher.
Schools are probably the public institution that people are most familiar with. And there are a lot of teachers in America: about 3.8 million in total. By contrast, there are just about 1.3 million lawyers, the most dominant profession in politics. Indeed, Walz is the first VP pick on the Democratic side since 1964 who is not a lawyer. Lawyers are assumed to be better at governing because they understand the law. Maybe so, but politics and governing are about more than drafting legislative text. Teachers are a lot more popular with the general public, among the most respected professions, while lawyers, perhaps because of their association with politics, score much lower.
Teachers also provide resources and knowledge that people use to understand politics. Schools are the first public institutions that kids engage with, and in this process are taught lessons about their role as citizens.
[...]
Walz also served for decades in the National Guard, and in 2006, was the highest ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress
[...]
There is also the benefit that Walz simply seems like a likable and engaging guy that reminds you of your favorite teacher. The ability to talk about schools in both earnest and self-effacing ways — Walz explained his baldness by saying that supervising lunch room for 20 years means that “You don’t leave that job with a full head of hair” — is sort of a superpower. Walz represents the face of the public service that people actually interact with, what is sometimes called a street-level bureaucrat. Most people know, like, and have benefited from someone like Walz.
Source: Don Moynihan, “A Teacher in the White House?” Can We Still Govern?, 7 Aug. 2024.
No wonder he believes in the power of the government to improve lives.
You can expect this kind of tailored attention while our subscriber base remains so knowable. Countable—on my fingers and toes—even. Elite. Reading Government Works before it was cool. Dependable. Reliable. The chosen few. The tip of the spear. To the Vanguard—cheers!
And be sure to read Anand’s other buzzy and hopeful piece this week, “The rise of the "Brat Pack" — and a new Democratic political style.”
See: Catherine Rampell, “Opinion: The GOP’s greatest skill: Taking credit for things Democrats did,” Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2024.