Government Works Weekly #26
Jobs, Events, and Happier Holidays
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.
Bumper edition. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! Wasn’t planning on publishing again before the new year but saw a bunch of cool jobs this week. Hopping on a long flight for a long vacation in a few hours though, so this should hopefully be the last of it. Follow along on the new LinkedIn page for some one-off content in the winter-im. Happy holidays, and see you next year!
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, funding, and other ways to get involved
Almost all of these orgs have multiple openings right now, so if you don’t see the perfect opportunity below check out their other listings. You just might find the right fit.
Junior Analyst, Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) (and more), Results for America [Flexible U.S.]
Dean, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University [Washington, D.C.]
Researcher (and more), California Policy Lab [Hybrid Berkeley, CA]
Senior Research Analyst, Data (and more), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [Hybrid D.C.]
Research Intern (and more), CIVICUS [deadline 16 Jan.]
Vice President, States (and more), Common Cause [remote]
Director of Civic Engagement (and more), Project on Government Oversight [D.C. / remote / deadline 1 Jan.]
Deputy Commissioner of Administration, New York City [deadline 10 Jan.]
InnovationTeam (i-team) Directors, civic designers, and data analytics managers, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University [various locations]
Senior Policy Analyst (and more), Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, Vanderbilt University [Nashville]
Database Manager, Department of Political Science + Quality of Government (QoG) Institute (and more), The University of Gothenburg [deadline 6 Jan.]
Counsel (Administrative Law) (and more), Protect Democracy [Rolling review / deadline 15 Jan.]
Associate Director, Finance & Compliance (and many more), Run for Something [Remote U.S.]
Associate Director, Digital Communications (and more), Groundwork Collaborative [Hybrid / D.C.]
Director of People & Culture (and more), Democracy Fund [Hybrid D.C.]
Government Analytics Fellowship Program, World Bank [deadline 10 Jan.]
Oversight Fellowship Program, Levin Center [deadline 31 Jan.]
Moynihan Public Scholars Fellowship, Moynihan Center at The City College of New York [deadline 10 Feb. 2025]
UPCOMING EVENTS – webinars, conferences, and other human things
Preview of January events….
8 JAN: Open Government Federal Advisory Committee [U.S. Open Government Secretariat]
9 JAN: The 119th Congress: What lies ahead [Brookings]
13 JAN: Evidence-Based Solutions for Improving Federal Government Performance [National Academy of Public Administration]
14 JAN: The Power of Story to Grow Democracy [Democracy 2076 + Harmony Labs]
15 JAN: Resisting Democratic Erosion: Trends to Watch in 2025 [Democratic Erosion Consortium]
15 JAN: Report Launch: Information Ecosystems and Troubled Democracy: A Global Synthesis of the State of Knowledge on News Media, AI, and Data Governance [International Observatory on Information and Democracy]
15-16 JAN: Symposium on Strategic Subnational Diplomacy [Meridian International Center]
16 JAN: Pro-Democracy Political Coalitions for 2076 Briefing [Democracy 2076 and Horizon 2045]
17 JAN: 2025 Roosevelt Network Winter Policy Expo [Roosevelt Institute]
21 JAN: Sustainable Energy for Some? Value Creation and Distribution in the Energy Transition [UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose]
23 JAN: AI and the Future of Lawmaking: Innovation at the Library of Congress with Natalie Buda Smith [Reboot Democracy]
25 JAN: Political Tech Summit [Europe]
28-29 JAN: Annual State-Facilitated Retirement Savings Program Network Conference [Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives]
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, videos, and other good stuff
[QUICK ROUNDUP] Cool stuff I saw this week.
Global Trends in Government Innovation 2024: Fostering Human-Centred Public Services, OECD Public Governance Reviews, 19 December 2024.
Session Summary Reports, Athens Democracy Forum.
Influence Brief, a new Substack by Anna Massoglia.
Policy Experiment Stations to Accelerate State and Local Government Innovation, Federation of American Scientists.
Has Switzerland Built the Best Public Transportation System in the World? The joy of when governments works, Can We Still Govern? by Don Moynihan, 18 Dec. 2024.
[DEEP THOUGHTS] by PAUL WALDMAN
Given the remit of this blog, I will spend some time thinking about this quote, which pairs nicely with the Moynihan post above:
“People want to see government work” is sort of true in the abstract, but not actually true in practice, at least when it comes to national politics. Here in the real world, most of the time voters have no idea whether government is working, and they certainly never think about whether some bill that passed was or wasn’t bipartisan. Ask Joe Biden, who signed a lot of really important legislation in his first two years and made the government work better in a hundred ways, and got precisely zero credit for it.
Source: https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/too-many-democrats-dont-understand