Season's Greetings from the Volcker Alliance
As the holidays and a new year approach, it is good to reflect on the past year and look toward 2015. Over the past year, one thing has become increasingly clear. The need for the Volcker Alliance has never been more palpable, and our mission -- to rekindle intellectual, practical, and academic interest in government’s implementation of policy and to catalyze sustained government improvement -- is spot on.
Headlines about government delivery shortcomings, some of a substantial nature, appear almost monthly, undermining public confidence. Scheduling scandals at Veterans’ hospitals, along with the lapse in protection provided by the Secret Service, are just the latest stories that disturb us. But there is reason to be optimistic. High school graduation rates are rising, while teen pregnancy rates and air traffic fatalities are declining. On the research front, we are heartened to learn that several Nobel Prize winners are applying their magnificent minds to a very mundane, but incredibly important, implementation matter: fair assignment of students to public schools.
Since we launched last year, The Volcker Alliance is hard at work building knowledge and energizing action to make government work better. We have initiated projects to address structural problems in the financial regulatory system, advocate for truth in state budgeting, and reduce impediments to federal internships and recent graduate hiring. In the new year, we will begin exploring more deeply how best to educate and motivate the young and most talented to enter public service and to excel in policy delivery. We will also increase our efforts to help people in government master the tools they have readily at hand to improve outcomes, taxpayer return on investment, and people’s experience with government.
We have embarked, together I hope, on the incredibly important goal set forth by our Board Chairman Paul Volcker, “to restore trust and pride in the way our public institutions implement policies – from the White House and Congress to statehouses, cities, and towns across our country and in democracies around the world.” I want to wish you all a very healthy and happy holiday and new year. Thank you for supporting our mission, and I hope we can count on your continued support.
