Year-End Reflection from the President

On the heels of a consequential presidential election and as the year winds down, I am grounded by the steady mission of the Volcker Alliance and grateful for the team that makes it go.

The week after the election, I spoke on a plenary panel at the National Academy for Public Administration (NAPA) Annual Meeting entitled, The 2024 Presidential Election as a Stress Test for American Democracy: How’d we Do and Should we Respond? If you have time, I encourage you to listen to the panel in full here. To begin, the moderator posed the question, “Given where we are today as a Nation, what keeps you up at night?” In response, I focused on two concepts: insularity and trust.

In this hyperpolarized time, bedrock, unifying values—and they do exist—are deeply buried under insulated social and political armor. Our society is not as much fractured as it is “bubbled.” We recede to the comfort of our social media bubbles, geographic bubbles, educational bubbles, cable news bubbles, and so forth. It has become too easy to circumvent the discomfort of difference and the generative conflict and learning that comes from engaging with others who hold different world views.

This course of least resistance, however, has adverse consequences for our democracy. Insularity breeds distrust and, lately, our government has been at the receiving end of formidable public cynicism. Absent public trust, government institutions are enfeebled. Public servants are often maligned. Mr. Volcker believed in the inextricable relationship between trust and effective government. He knew the Volcker Alliance must play a critical role in reinforcing it.

What the moderator did not ask, but is perhaps more salient: “What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?” My answer: our work at the Volcker Alliance. While elections serve as inflection points for the national conversation about government and democracy, bolstering trust in government and democratic institutions is an all-season sport. Our work is not about two- or four-year cycles. It is about the “long game.” Through our initiatives, we are building a bench of talented, diverse, capable leaders well-positioned to bridge divides and implement informed, game-changing public policy. Our current portfolio addresses insularity and government distrust intentionally and with the powerful support and camaraderie of our partners.

Today, over one thousand students studying myriad disciplines are enrolled in Next Generation Service Corps programs (NextGen Service) where they are building practical, collaborative, leadership skills. Through activities we are implementing through the NextGen Service National Student Network, we are taking students out of their campus bubbles, introducing them to new perspectives and ideas, and channeling their enthusiasm for change into careers in government.

This October, the Alliance launched Service to Service with our partner We the Veterans. The initiative’s inaugural cohort of 12 Service to Service schools will recruit veterans and military family members into public service master’s degree programs, provide them with a meaningful cross-campus fellowship experience that encourages network building and professional development, and facilitate placement in state and local government jobs upon graduation. The veteran community holds incredibly high levels of public trust—approximately 70% of Americans have confidence in veterans to “do what’s right” for America. By connecting veterans and military family members to opportunities to “serve again” through public service, we can leverage the widespread trust of the veteran community to shore up confidence in government and democratic institutions.

Through our partnership with Opportunity@Work, we are helping five state governments advance skills-based hiring. Skills-based hiring is a promising strategy that can enable state governments to improve outdated hiring practices and address urgent staffing needs. It is also a powerful way to change the composition of government, widening its roster to include a range of new perspectives and experiences that can serve as potent “bubble breakers.”

Throughout our work, we are continually reminded of the unmet need to advance a compelling public-facing narrative about the value of public service. We recently launched a partnership with Humans of Public Service (HOPS) to broadcast stories of diverse public servants, their inspiring career motivations, and the impact they create through government work. We are also launching a new working group within the Deans Summit to collaboratively strengthen the public service narrative with the aim of inspiring rising leaders to embark on public service careers.

Our longstanding work in public finance serves as an unparalleled nonpartisan resource that sets the national standard of excellence in state and local budgeting. Our activities in public finance, including our popular Special Briefing series and COVID Era issue papers, remain rooted in Mr. Volcker’s steadfast belief that government must be a responsible steward of financial resources, diligent in avoiding waste, and proactive in helping citizens understand the long-term sustainability of its operations. When government fulfills these responsibilities, public trust follows suit.

As this year comes to a close, we want to thank you for your continued support of the Volcker Alliance. We will never stop keeping at it.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Sara