Government Works Weekly #16

Jobs, Events, and Ideas About Government

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] Director of Civic Engagement, Project on Government Oversight [Remote U.S. / deadline 25 Sept.]

• [NEW] Senior Vice President, Programs, State Innovation Exchange [Remote U.S. / priority deadline 27 Sept.]

• [NEW] Senior Researcher, The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]

• [NEW] Senior Director, Inclusion and Belonging, League of Women Voters [Hybrid / Washington, D.C.]

• [NEW] GAO Analyst Undergraduate Intern (Student Trainee) and GAO Analyst Graduate Intern (Student Trainee), Government Accountability Office [Spring internship / deadline 20 Sept.]

• [NEW] Presidential Management Fellows (PMF), Office of Personnel Management [deadline 18 Sept.] 

• [NEW] Associate Director, Federal Evidence-Based Policy (and more), Results for America [Flexible U.S.]

• Chief Executive Officer, Open Government Partnership [Washington DC, London, Brussels, or Other / deadline 4 Oct.]

• Senior Director Knowledge & Research (and more), Power for Democracies [Hybrid / Berlin]

• Director, Strategic Communications and Partnerships (and more), Democracy International [Bethesda, MD]

• Executive Director, California (and more), Common Cause [California / Remote]

• Communications Manager (and more), Virginia Civic Engagement Table [Virginia or D.C.-based / Remote]

• Rising Stars Mentorship (online mentorship program launch and improve participatory programs), People Powered [deadline 27 Sept.]

• EGAP New Member Application 2024, Evidence in Governance and Politics [deadline 30 Sep.]

• Communications Officer – Narratives and Networks (and more), CIVICUS [Remote]

• Senior Director, CIRCLE, Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [Hybrid / Medford, MA]

• Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, Brookings [Washington, D.C. / via Isaacson, Miller]

• Junior Networks and Partnerships Officer, Accountability Lab [Hybrid / Washington, D.C. / deadline 20 Sept.]

• Non-Profit Finance and Accounting Support Services, Open Government Partnership [Terms of Reference: Call for Expressions of Interest]

• Director of Design, Code for America [San Francisco or Remote U.S.]

• First Mate, GovNavigators LLC [Washington, D.C. metro preferred]

• 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]

• Practitioner Fellow in Democracy, University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy [Hybrid / Charlottesville, VA / application review 1 Oct.]

• Senior Director, Marketing (and more), iCivics [Remote U.S.]

• 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.]

• 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.]

• Policy and Research Analyst (and more), New York City Office of Technology & Innovation [NYC]

• Youth Engagement and Civic Education Specialist (and more), International Foundation for Electoral Systems [Arlington, VA]

• Communications Manager (and more), 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

• 16 SEP: Responsible Tech Summit: Ensuring Our Tech Future Is Aligned With Democracy [All Tech Is Human]

• 17 SEP: The Global State of Democracy 2024 Global Launch Event [International IDEA]

• 17 SEP: Innovator’s Hour: Methods for Modernizing Government: Part 3 [Partnership for Public Service]

• 17-18 SEP: BenCon: Digital Benefits Conference [Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center]

• 17-19 SEP: Democracy Lab in Barcelona: Democratic Innovation in Digital Transformation [Nets4Dem]

• 18 SEP: Local Deep Dives: Gender and inclusion [Open Government Partnership]

• 18 SEP: Innovator’s Hour: Methods for Modernizing Government: Part 4 [Partnership for Public Service]

• 18 SEP: Strategies for people to protect themselves from disinformation [Brookings]

• 18 SEP: Enhancing Federal Climate Resilience: GAO’s Insights on Innovative Organizational Strategies [National Academy of Public Administration]

• 18 SEP: Delivering purpose-driven government in the UK [UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose]

• 18-22 SEP: Democracy R&D Conference [Mass LBP]

• 19 SEP: Educators Workshop [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]

• 19 SEP: Building the Future: Innovative Solutions to the U.S. Housing Crisis [Center for American Progress]

• 19-20 SEP: International Democracy Day Brussels: A Year of Elections [EED, EPD, IDEA, ENoP]

• 20 SEP: The 2024 congressional primaries and the future of American politics [Center for Effective Public Management @ Brookings]

EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff

[KILLER SERIALS] Betcha can’t read just one…

[READ] “The Sentinel” by Casey Cep, the second post in a “Who is Government?” series on public servants from The Washington Post Opinion section.

• [WATCH] The Untold Stories of Public Service. In conjunction with the series, WaPo hosted a live event this week (10 Sept.) with Michael Lewis, W. Kamau Bell, Geraldine Brooks, and opinion editor David Shipley to discuss the work. Discussing the motivation for the series, Lewis says (transcript):

What do I hope it achieves? I said it before. It is--it's exploding this dumb stereotype of government worker. It's so--it's such a lazy approach to thinking about how the government works and who the government is. I want to just, like, unsettle that picture in people's mind, so they stop a sec before they start talking about the swamp or the deep state or useless bureaucrats, because you're talking about some of the best among us…

But one of the reasons these pieces resonate is you're watching people who have learned how to lead meaningful lives. There's such meaning in these lives. 

[READ] The Republic of Distrust series from Bloomberg Opinion. “When trust collapses, what can hold a nation together? A shared history? A common language? The unavoidable interconnections that come from living in close proximity? Or nothing at all?” And read Stephen Mihm’s entry on trust in government (“Don’t Panic: Distrusting Government Is an American Tradition”). 

[READ] The Case for More Parties, a Boston Review forum on “a path beyond our broken two-party system.” Organized by Lee Drutman, the forum includes responses from Danielle Allen, Deepak Bhargava & Arianna Jiménez, Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld, Josh Lerner, Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Grant Tudor & Cerin Lindgrensavage, Joel Rogers, Ian Shapiro, Bob Master, and Maurice Mitchell & Doran Schrantz. 

[WATCH / EXPLORE] The TrueViews of Voters. 

Watch Improving Voter-Centered Representation in Local Government, an event held on 3 Sept. by Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic and the Local Politics Lab at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University to introduce TrueViews, a tool “to produce accurate estimates of public opinion in previously unavailable geographical snapshots, including by city or town, zip code, and even school district.” Then hop in and explore the data. 

[CONCEPTS & PLANS] Good Idea, Bad Idea 

[GOOD IDEA] Jamelle Bouie on the debate and the need for more questions about how the candidates will actually govern (“What Really Matters Is How Presidents Think About Power”):

The moderators — perhaps following the concerns of undecided voters who say they want more specificity — scrutinized the candidates on their plans and, when appropriate, asked for details.

But missing from this long menu of questions was anything about the day-to-day experience of the job — of managing the executive branch, of dealing with crises, of negotiating with Congress, of, in a word, governing. This despite the fact that these candidates have intimate experience with all of the above, one by virtue of serving as vice president and seeing the position up close, the other by virtue of having been president.

[BAD IDEA] Shutting Down the Government: One side once again acts in bad faith for the basic functioning of government 

• Ian Millhiser, “Republicans threaten a government shutdown unless Congress makes it harder to vote,” Vox, 10 Sept. 2024. 

• Sahil Kapur and Alexandra Marquez, “JD Vance says GOP should threaten a shutdown: 'Why have a government if it’s not a functioning government?'” NBC News, 12 Sept. 2024.