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.
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, and other ways to get involved
[NEW] Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, Brookings [Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Junior Networks and Partnerships Officer, Accountability Lab [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]
[NEW] Non-Profit Finance and Accounting Support Services, Open Government Partnership [Terms of Reference: Call for Expressions of Interest]
[NEW] Director of Design, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]
[NEW] First Mate, GovNavigators LLC [Washington, D.C. metro preferred]
[NEW] Graphic Designer, FairVote [Silver Spring, MD]
President & CEO (and more), Roosevelt Institute [New York / priority deadline 2 Sept. / final deadline 15 Sept.]
Senior Director, CIRCLE, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]
Senior Manager, Grants & Contracts (and more), Results for America [Flexible U.S.]
Legal Counsel, Voting Rights, Campaign Legal Center [Washington, D.C.]
Associate Director, Elections Project (and more), Bipartisan Policy Center [Washington, D.C.]
Communications Consultant – Digital Governance and Civic Space, Open Government Partnership [Contract]
Evidence and Evaluation Analyst, Arnold Ventures [Washington, D.C. or New York City]
Research Fellow, Tax Justice Network [Remote / deadline 6 Sept.]
Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy [Hybrid / Charlottesville, VA / application review 1 Oct.]
Associate Director of Program Compliance, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]
Senior Director, Marketing (and more), iCivics [Remote U.S.]
Impact and Accountability Officer (and more), CIVICUS [Remote / deadline 1 Sept.]
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.]
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.]
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]
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
3 SEP: Improving Voter-Centered Representation in Local Government [Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University]
3 SEP: Introducing the Civic Tech Market Report 2025 - Launch Event [Participation Factory]
4 SEP: Taking Democracy for Granted: Philanthropy, Polarization, and the Need for Responsible Pluralism [SNF Agora Institute]
4 SEP: Webinar: “They don't understand…“ Youth Participation as an Important Part of Planning Processes [Participation Factory]
5 SEP: How Federal Communicators Can Spread “Engaged Trust” [Federal Communicators Series from the Partnership for Public Service]
5 SEP: What is Digital Government? [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]
5 SEP: Navigating direct democracy: Global State of Direct Democracy [Democracy International]
6 SEP: Back to school in an election year: How America’s schools and colleges can help to develop engaged and responsible citizens [Brookings]
6 SEP: The State of World Democracy: A Retrospective on Elections Around the World [Freedom House]
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]
17 SEP: The Global State of Democracy 2024 Global Launch Event [International IDEA]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
[HERE WE GO] It is transfer deadline day for the Premier League and I am not paid to be here, so I am phoning in this section today by just kicking a few hot links over in your direction. Here is some of the best recent stuff:
[LISTEN]
FrameLab Podcast: Kamala Harris, Joy and the Freedom Frame [29 Aug.] – George Lakoff and Gil Duran discuss freedom, as we did here previously (Week 13 and Week 11) on this blog. Lakoff has talked of Democrats reclaiming the freedom frame for a long time.
Reimagining Government: A Conversation with Adrian Brown [18 Aug.] – Eva Chipiuk of the Dialogue over Division podcast interviews the Executive Director of the Centre for Public Impact about “how addressing social issues requires acknowledging their complexity and striving for resolution rather than perfection.”
[READ]
Why I changed my mind about volunteering [26 Aug.] – Rachel Cohen, policy correspondent for Vox, with a reflective piece on what those of us focused on changing systems might be missing. Strumming my pain, etc.
How Statecraft Works: The anniversary edition! [29 Aug.] – Happy anniversary to Santi Ruiz over at the excellent Statecraft. Really thoughtful about what worked—and what could have worked better— in their first year. Inside the sausage making of the blog about sausage making.
Opinion: There’s No Freedom Without Government [27 Aug.] – It’s not often that I agree with something in the Wall Street Journal Opinion section, but this column by William Galston really resonated, especially this line: “a government too weak to secure our rights is not more but less compatible with freedom.”1
[WATCH]
Promising Practices Webinar: Citizens’ Assemblies 101 [28 Aug.] – The National Civic League hosted a great webinar this week on citizens’ assemblies, featuring speakers from FIDE, YOUnify, and Civic Genius. Recommended.2
[Bonus Read] Freedom—Harris’s message to America [23 Aug., Brookings]
[Bonus Read] Putting The Public Back In Public Policy – During the webinar, one of the speakers, Marjan Ehsassi, flagged their 2023 piece (co-authored with Dawn Nakagawa) on citizens’ assemblies in Noema.