Government Works Weekly #50
Jobs, Events, and Numbers That Thankfully Go Up
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.
Almost on cue for this newsletter’s 50th edition—and an undisclosed edition of my birthday, which was yesterday and lovely, thank you—earlier in the week Government Works signed up its 1,500th subscriber, while its sister LinkedIn page reached 7,500 followers. The greatest gift of all for someone who likes multiples and round numbers. To more milestones ahead.
Please reach out if you want to share your research, job listings, or upcoming events with a growing number of folks. And if you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing with a friend or colleague that would also benefit.
Scroll down all the way for 67 new job listings, 28 events coming up next week, and 23 interesting recent links and readings.
EYES & EARS – reading, podcasts, and other good stuff
Recent Research, Reports, and Resources
Electoral responses to economic crises, Margalit and Solodoch, American Journal of Political Science, 27 August 2025.
Ready, willing, and able? Bureaucratic capacity, slack resources, and political control, Elston and Zhang, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 12 July 2025.
Motivation, Meaning, and Burnout: Understanding Frontline Public Service Workers’ Work Experiences During Turbulent Times, Wright, Hassan, and Baluran, Public Administration Review, 20 September 2025.
The Myth of Democratic Resilience, Bianchi, Cheeseman, and Cyr, Journal of Democracy, July 2025.
Interventions to bolster benefits take-up: Assessing intensity, framing, and targeting of government outreach, Linos, Lasky-Fink, Dorie, and Rothstein, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 9 September 2025.
Nonvoters are less trusting of the federal government than voters, Partnership for Public Service, 15 September 2025.
Government Administration: An Annotated Bibliography, Kevin Hawickhorst, State Capacitance, 22 September 2025.
The Family Policy Gap: What Parents Say They Need—and How Policymakers Can Deliver, Bipartisan Policy Center, 25 September 2025.
The Global State of Democracy 2025: Democracy on the Move, International IDEA, 11 September 2025.
Workforce Insights from Central Governments, OECD, 11 September 2025.
Governing with Artificial Intelligence: The State of Play and Way Forward in Core Government Functions, OECD, 18 September 2025.
Artificial Intelligence and Open Government: Local Perspectives, Open Government Partnership, 23rd September 2025.
Shutdown Stuff
Everything you need to know about a government shutdown, Partnership for Public Service.
White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown, Sophia Cai, Politico, 24 September 2025.
Voters say they’ll blame Republicans more for a government shutdown, G. Elliott Morris, Strength in Numbers, 26 September 2025.
Americans in the Battleground Want Congress to Protect Health Care — Even If It Means Shutting Down the Government, Navigator Research, 26 September 2025.
Good Gov Quotes
Trump’s war on America’s schools, Rana Foroohar, FT:
“Of all the attacks on valuable things that Donald Trump is mounting — on free speech, financial reporting standards, climate regulation, relations with allies — one of the most dangerous is his assault on K-12 public education in the US.”
Notes on the ‘Balance of Forces’, John Ganz, Unpopular Front:
“…civil society is not some estate that organically provides a check on government power, but is itself a site of constant power struggles… Civil society is not necessarily “good” or “bad,” it’s a terrain of political conflict.”
The Rise of the Strongman Presidency, William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe, Can We Still Govern?:
“But conservatives hit upon a novel solution that, for professed believers in limited government and individual liberty, has to be regarded as the ultimate irony: they would endorse and pursue a presidency of extraordinary power, capable of dominating, retrenching, and sabotaging the administrative state unilaterally through top-down presidential control of the executive.”
Trump’s Dream of Infinite Presidential Power, Jamelle Bouie, NYT:
“It is simply a conceptual error to think of democratic legitimacy as a grant embedded in a single person. It’s better to see it as a relationship between our political institutions and the publics they serve, each responsive to the other as they work together to do the business of government.”
Trump Is Building the Blue Scare, Corey Robin speaking on The Ezra Klein Show:
“What shook me out of this was the assault on government workers and the firings. That was the first thing. For me, employment sanctions are always the canary in the coal mine. There’s a long history of it. It’s really the way a lot of American political repression has happened.”
10 (More) Questions With Zohran Mamdani, NYT:
“I’ve spoken about my frustration with how the language of efficiency and waste and fraud has become coded in some way as if they are of the right, when they should be at the core of any progressive politics. One of the key things in ensuring people have faith in local government is that they have faith in the ways in which that budget is being spent.”
Winning a People-Powered Future, Elizabeth Wilkins, Democracy:
“We should listen to how they wish their lives worked and craft solutions that can deliver for them. And we should put a premium on simplicity and visibility in our policy design to help people engage with how government is working for them.”
EVENT HORIZON – webinars, conferences, and other human things
WEEK OF 29 SEPTEMBER–3 OCTOBER
29 SEP: The True Cost of the Republican Health Care Agenda [CAP]
29 SEP: Beyond productivity: The pursuit of purpose in the age of AI [Brookings]
30 SEP: Formfest 2025: Better government, one form at a time [Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation and Code for America]
30 SEP: Roosevelt Institute Book Club Existential Politics of Climate Change [Roosevelt Institute]
30 SEP: Congress.gov Public Forum [Library of Congress]
30 SEP: September Political Tech and Consultant Expo [Arena]
30 SEP: The Narrow Corridor of State Capacity: Taxation, Participation, and Local Self-Government [SNF Agora]
30 SEP: Career Transitions for Federal Communicators Breakfast Panel and Networking [Partnership for Public Service]
30 SEP: Continuing to Serve: A Path to State and Local Government [Civic Match]
30 SEP: When Checks & Balances Break Down: How to Hold Power Accountable [Election Reformers Network]
30 SEP: 20 Years of the Roberts Court: The Chief Justice’s Legacy and the Coming Term [CAP]
30 SEP: Thinking Outside the Ballot Box [Network Science Institute]
30 SEP: How states can improve UI eligibility verification [Niskanen]
30 SEP: Career Progression for Neurodiverse Public Servants [Apolitical]
30 SEP: Cross-sector Collaboration in Cities: Learning Journey or Blame Game? [Bloomberg Center for Cities]
30 SEP: Reimagine Accountability in Corrections [Social Purpose Corrections]
30 SEP: Rebooting Democracy: Reform & Representation in California [ProRep Coalition]
30 SEP-3 OCT: Athens Democracy Forum
1 OCT: Reimagining Global Order [Stimson]
1 OCT: Addressing system-level risks of inequality: information needs and stewardship [Building Bridges]
1 OCT: Climate Clarity: Combatting New Denialism in the United States [Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
1 OCT: Tech Policy in Practice: Lessons from Advising Political Leaders [Centre for Digital Governance]
1-3 OCT: Camp Govlife: ELGL 2025 Conference [Engaging Local Government Leaders]
2 OCT: Is the U.S. in a Constitutional Crisis? [FP]
2 OCT: 2025 Levin Center Award for Excellence in Oversight Research [Levin Center]
2 OCT: PayIt – City of Toronto’s Innovative Digital Transformation or an Accountability Failure? [Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age]
3 OCT: The State of the Administrative State [Gray Center]
3 OCT: From Insight to Action: Scaling the Public Sector Capabilities Index [UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose]
APPLY YOURSELF – jobs, internships, and other ways to get involved
POLICY + PROGRAM
Director of Strategy & Impact, Partners for Public Good [Remote / deadline 19 Oct.]
Vice President, Civic Innovation, Rockefeller Foundation [NY]
Vice President, Policy & Law (and more), Human Rights Campaign [D.C.]
Vice President, Advocacy (and more), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights [D.C.]
Program Director, Rule of Law (and more), States United [D.C. / Remote]
Leadership Program Manager, New American Leaders [Remote]
Research Associate, Institute for Women’s Policy Research [D.C.]
(Senior) Program Associate, Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness, Open Philanthropy [deadline 20 Oct.]
Senior Policy Analyst, Affordability, Health Program (and more), Bipartisan Policy Center [D.C.]
Senior Manager Strategy, Learning & Impact, Humanity United [Remote / Hybrid]
Senior Legal Advisor, Democracy Forward [D.C.]
Legislative Director, Courts, Justice, & Administrative Law, Earthjustice [D.C.]
Director of Mission-Aligned Investments, Housing, Arnold Ventures [NYC]
President, Social Science Research Council [via search firm]
Public Innovators Network Lead, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation [Johns Hopkins University]
STATE + LOCAL
Policy Specialist, Center for Legislative Strengthening, National Conference of State Legislatures [Denver, CO]
Michigan State Director, Youth Civic Accelerator [Remote / MI]
Pennsylvania State Director, America Votes [Philadelphia]
Policy and Campaign Manager, Ohio Organizing Collaborative [Rolling deadline]
State Senior Strategist, The Sunrise Project [Remote / deadline 24 Oct.]
Program Director, Western States, Union of Concerned Scientists [Remote / Berkeley, CA]
Political Director, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey [Hybrid]
Director of Community Initiatives, Children’s Trust [Massachusetts]
Massachusetts State Director and Rhode Island State Director, Working Families Party [Hybrid]
Civic Engagement Manager (and more), TIRRC Votes [Tennessee]
Communications Director, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement [Des Moines]
Public Interest Communications Strategist, Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation [Michigan]
Communications & Engagement Associate, Commonwealth Institute [Virginia]
COMMS + OPS
Senior Communications Specialist, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees [D.C.]
Director of Strategic Communications (and more), The Hub Project [D.C.]
Social and Digital Media Associate, International Team, Center for Economic and Policy Research [Part-time]
Director of Strategic Communications, Upstream [Remote]
Senior Regional Communications Manager, Working Families Party [Georgia / South Carolina / Hybrid]
Chief Brand Officer, Working Families Party [Remote]
Digital Communications Pod Director, DigiDems [deadline 10 Oct.]
Associate Producer, News & Politics, Crooked Media [Los Angeles]
Finance Manager, Democracy Forward [D.C.]
Operations Manager, Faithful America [Remote]
Project Officer, Executive Support, Open Government Partnership [D.C.]
Executive Assistant, End Citizens United [D.C.]
ACADEMIA
Associate/Full Professor, School of Government and Policy [Johns Hopkins University]
American Politics, Senior Rank Faculty Position in Political Science, Stanford University [review begins 1 Oct.]
Executive Director, RegLab, Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab [Stanford Law School]
Director of Communications and Engagement, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society [Harvard University]
Program Director, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs [Cal State LA]
Director of Research, Global Research Institute [William & Mary]
Assistant Professor Public Policy and Governance, University of Amsterdam [deadline 23 Oct.]
TECH + DATA + DESIGN
Program Associate, Just Tech, Social Science Research Council [Brooklyn, NY]
Product Strategist, NYS Digital Service [New York]
Chief Digital Services Officer, City of Philadelphia [PA]
Chief Director Customer Experience, Fairfax County [VA / deadline 3 Oct.]
Data & Machine Learning Specialist, Accountability Counsel [SF / Hybrid]
Statistician, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council [District of Columbia]
Data Manager, Research Alliance for New York City Schools [Hybrid / New York University]
Principal Developer/Analyst, Metropolitan Transportation Commission [Hybrid / SF / deadline 28 Sept.]
INTERNATIONAL
Business Integrity Lead, Transparency International [Hybrid / Berlin]
Deputy Director, Policy and Advocacy, Gates Foundation [Beijing, China]
Project Manager, Armenia, International IDEA [deadline 30 Sept.]
Programme Assistant, Turkey and Programme Assistants (Eastern Partnership/ Eurasia regions) and Deputy Programme Manager (Eurasia), European Endowment for Democracy [Brussels]
EU Policy and Research Officer (Security, Surveillance, & Human Rights Programme), Centre for Democracy & Technology, Europe [Brussels]
Media Officer, Avaaz [Brussels]
Communication Officer, Italy, ALDA – The European Association for Local Democracy [Vicenza, Italy]
Call for Proposals/Partners: Countering mis- and disinformation in elections in Bangladesh, CIVICUS [deadline 9 Oct.]
Terms of Reference: Consultancy to support the Government of the Dominican Republic in the development of a Code of Ethics for AI, Open Government Partnership [deadline 1 Oct.]
And lots more opportunities in the last newsletter: Government Works Weekly #49.