The nonpartisan civil service is the backbone of our democracy, ensuring that the federal government, our most important tool for collective action in a complex world, meets its mission to serve the public interest.
Yet today, the very purpose of government is in peril.
The Trump administration is obliterating the government’s apolitical workforce, arbitrarily firing thousands of federal employees who take a constitutional oath to serve the public good and seeking to replace them with political loyalists beholden to a partisan agenda. These actions violate the law, undermine the transparency and accountability of federal agencies, and challenge the notion that government exists to serve the public rather than enrich the leader of the day.
The Partnership for Public Service is stepping up to counter these extraordinary threats.
For nearly 25 years, we have worked to build a better government and a stronger democracy, helping federal agencies and leaders serve the public, no matter the political environment. We have trained, recognized and engaged with tens of thousands of civil servants to develop a more capable, responsive and accountable federal workforce. We have also advocated for constructive reforms aimed at creating a more effective federal government.
The harmful actions of the current administration have diminished the Partnership’s ability to work in the federal space. At the same time, the administration has singled us out for our steadfast and long-standing advocacy of civil servants. This volatile landscape has dramatically impacted programs we have long delivered at the federal level.
To meet this crisis, we are executing a new strategic vision that prioritizes supporting and safeguarding the civil service. We are preparing civil servants to navigate change and sustain their critical work in the face of uncertainty. Simultaneously, we are engaging the public about the importance of the federal government and the services it provides to everyday people.
In addition, we are expanding our work to state and local governments. People want more from government at all levels, and the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government is putting intense pressure on state and local entities to meet public needs.
We will apply our experience improving systems, leaders and agency performance in the federal government to help state and local organizations rise to this challenge. Our efforts will help demonstrate that government at all levels can deliver for people, improving overall trust in our public institutions. Among the initiatives we are bringing to this new state and local audience is our AI Center for Government™, which equips federal, state and local leaders to evaluate, develop and deploy AI for the public good.
In this report, we outline how we are pursuing this vision, and we recap our accomplishments from 2024.
Moving forward, we will continue to offer a better alternative to the ongoing campaign against our government, championing constructive solutions to help it work better, offering civil servants the support they need to thrive in a challenging environment and showing the public what is at stake during this moment of crisis.
We thank our donors and partners for making our work possible, and we look forward to engaging others as we seek to build on our impact.
We are supporting civil servants and educating and engaging the public during this challenging time, and we are bringing our programs and expertise to state and local government.
Supporting Civil Servants
We are serving as the go-to resource for civil servants during this time of crisis.
BY THE NUMBERS
11,000+ Live attendees at our virtual FedSupport webinars
130,000+ Subscribers to Partnership updates, resources and programming related to government and the civil service
Resources and Guidance
Our FedSupport hub is a centralized online resource that helps current and former federal employees navigate threats to the nonpartisan workforce.
Featuring materials from the Partnership and a wide range of other organizations, the site includes:
Fact sheets, FAQs and legal resources on employee rights, due process and protections, reductions in force and more
Webinars with key experts on leading during times of change, career transitions, executive actions against the civil service and various employment topics
A link to our FedSupport newsletter, a weekly bulletin featuring new resources for current and former federal employees
We are continually adding new resources and webinars to meet the evolving needs of federal workers.
We joined with 10 other advocacy, employee union and nonprofit democracy organizations to launch the Federal Workers Legal Defense Network, which connects current or former civil servants with lawyers who can provide free legal support on federal employment issues.
We are educating and engaging the public and champions of good government about the role of the civil service, demonstrating why undermining it is bad for everyone.
“The Partnership is such an asset to the federal government and the federal workforce, recognizing that we do vital, often unnoticed, work on behalf of the American public.”
Former Service to America Medals® winner
Changing the Narrative About Government
Our latest polls suggest that Americans hold declining views of the federal government.
To shift these perceptions, we are telling, collecting and disseminating stories about the role government plays in our lives and what is at stake by indiscriminately hollowing it out.
This includes storytelling around the role of federal scientists in keeping us safe and healthy and focusing on issues that will resonate with political moderates, such as veterans and national security. We will also track specific harms and impacts resulting from the administration’s actions.
We are identifying communications channels that will help us reach new and target audiences. This work involves connecting with social media influencers, collaborating with trusted messengers, pitching media outlets, and engaging pop culture content creators and the entertainment industry.
2025 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals®
Our 24th annual Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals® honored 23 individuals and teams selected from over 350 nominations across 65 federal agencies.
This year’s honorees navigated an unprecedented environment marked by severe and indiscriminate cuts to federal agencies, personnel and programs. Award recipients were recognized in three groupings, highlighting the full breadth of our government’s impact and why we all benefit from a nonpartisan civil service.
Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour, emceed the program for the third time, with additional remarks delivered by bestselling author Michael Lewis, former Cabinet secretaries and White House chiefs of staff, and others.
News coverage of the Sammies appeared in The Washington Post, CNN, The New York Times and The Atlantic, and the program will air on WETA Metro and WETA PBS in July.
This year’s program took place at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Since 2002, the Sammies has honored more than 800 public servants.
We expanded the reach and impact of Public Service Recognition Week, collaborating with celebrities, influencers, local organizations and other partners to promote the work of federal employees to wider audiences.
Award-winning actors and performers, including Adam Conover, Anna Chlumsky, Victor Garber, John Slattery, John Turturro, Lisa Ann Walter, Rufus Wainwright and others, thank civil servants for their work.
BY THE NUMBERS
Public Service Recognition Week
790,000+ Impressions of PSRW content on social media
390,000+ Views of PSRW videos
200%+ Increase in engagement from last year
‘Who is Government?’
We worked with a group of celebrated writers to spotlight unheralded federal employees who drive effective government and improve our daily lives. Contributors to this Washington Post series include Geraldine Brooks, W. Kamau Bell, Michael Lewis and others.
“Who Is Government?” is now a book edited by Lewis that highlights the Partnership’s work to honor federal employees and features stories that help us engage the public about the work civil servants do.
Cultivating Networks That Champion the Civil Service
We are cultivating a network of cross-sector organizations, including democracy and good government groups, to promote stories of effective government to a nationwide audience and collaborate on urgent policy issues facing federal employees.
To guide these efforts, we will continue to conduct public perception research to better understand how different demographic groups view the civil service. The results of this research will be distributed to our partners, enabling them to mobilize support for the nonpartisan workforce.
Congressional Outreach and Engagement
Our Vision for a Better Government reform agenda lays out the five most important priorities to improve how our government serves the people, offering a more effective and constructive alternative to current proposals.
We are also providing congressional members and their staff with tangible resources for and about their federal employee constituents, including:
Stories on how federal workforce and service cuts are affecting local communities
Analysis of how new civil service policies are affecting states with the most federal agencies and employees
Stories of service and explainers that highlight how civil servants serve local communities in various parts of the country
In 2024, the Partnership was mentioned in the media more than 8,900 times, with coverage featured in outlets with the potential to reach more than 5.4 billion people. This year, our media mentions have already outpaced all of our mentions in 2024, as we expand our efforts to become a leading advocate for the nonpartisan civil service.
Bringing our Programs and Expertise to State and Local Government
We have expanded our work to state and local governments because government at every level faces similar challenges and the Trump administration is shifting responsibility for many federal services to the states.
Our AI Government Leadership Program™ recently accepted its first cohorts of state and local leaders, with participants residing across more than 20 states. Programs like this, honed at the federal level, can help state and local civil servants develop the leadership competencies and workforce strategies to better serve communities and rebuild trust in our public institutions.
Program Priorities
Public Service Leadership
We train thousands of government leaders annually to help them excel in public service, guided by our proprietary Public Service Leadership Model.
Workplace Effectiveness and Employee Engagement
We help agencies foster strategic and collaborative work environments, and assess and strengthen employee engagement, to ensure our government effectively serves the American public.
Talent Acquisition
We strengthen the public service brand and promote career paths that help government engage and retain the next generation of public servants.
Recognition
We identify and recognize the extraordinary contributions of public servants and promote examples of government innovation and success.
We are developing new offerings, engaging philanthropy and conducting outreach to state and local partners to move this work forward.
‘Find Your Next Calling’ Career Fair
Nearly 1,500 former federal employees attended our first-ever career expo featuring opportunities in state and local government. Over 200 recruiters from 15 different states and more than 75 agencies attended the event.
“What you are doing is truly lifesaving. Thank you!”
Career fair attendee
2024: The Year in Review
Our long-standing programs continued to make an impact last year, laying the groundwork for our strategic pivot to focus on supporting civil servants and safeguarding the civil service in 2025.
Building Better Leaders
Our Public Service Leadership Institute® helped federal employees across government become better leaders who serve the public good and act as stewards of the public trust. We also convened more than a dozen networks of senior executives and political appointees, providing a space for them to collaborate, share insights and tackle common challenges. Attendees included deputy secretaries, general counsels, public affairs officers, customer experience leads, assistant secretaries for administration and management, and innovation and human resources leaders.
BY THE NUMBERS
Nearly 8,000 Federal leaders reached
100+ Agencies represented
94% Say they became a better leader
80% Implemented what they learned
“The Partnership is such an asset to the federal government and the federal workforce, recognizing that we do vital, often unnoticed, work on behalf of the American public.”
Former Excellence in Government Fellow, Food and Drug Administration
A New Center for AI
With generous multiyear support from our AI Center Founding Supporters, Google.org and Microsoft, we launched the AI Center for Government. The Center helps federal, state and local leaders better understand, use and deploy AI to deliver on their agency’s mission. The Center:
Features our AI Government Leadership Program, which empowers public sector leaders to evaluate, develop and deploy AI to better serve the public
79% Interns interested in pursuing federal employment
Nearly 6,000 Students reached through Public Service Roadshow campus visits, convening, webinars, career expos and other events since 2022
120+ College and university campuses visited
“This internship has inspired me to pursue future opportunities in the federal sector.”
Former Future Leaders intern at the National Science Foundation
Former interns at our D.C. Student Night.2024 Public Service Roadshow presentation.
Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings
Our 2024 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings reveal the Trump administration inherited one of the most motivated federal workforces in recent history, with two-thirds of employees engaged and satisfied with their work.
The rankings—the most comprehensive analysis of how federal civil servants view their jobs and workplaces—offer an important benchmark for the administration as it seeks to fundamentally change the purpose and management of the civil service.
In September, we hosted our 23rd annual Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals® at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Author and comedian W. Kamau Bell emceed the program, which featured numerous celebrity videos and guests that included agency leaders, members of Congress and the media, and others from the public, private and social sectors.
Our 2024 winners were chosen from more than 530 nominations and 25 individual and team finalists representing 20 federal agencies across 10 states. The gala was broadcast in December on the local PBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., and in about 30 markets nationwide on Cox Media’s streaming platform, Yurview.
“They should air this thing on prime-time television. It’s the closest thing to a democratic revival you’ll find.”
We also recognized actor Chris Evans, filmmaker Mark Kassen and technology entrepreneur Joe Kiani as our 2024 Spirit of Service Award winners. The threesome co-founded “A Starting Point,” a nonpartisan online platform that seeks to increase civic engagement, with a focus on high school and college students.
The State of Public Trust in Government
We assessed how different audiences view government and examined messages and strategies to improve those perceptions. In the spring of 2024, we conducted our third national survey on the state of public trust in government. According to the survey, the public overwhelmingly supports a merit-based, nonpartisan civil service, despite declining views of the federal government.
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the following corporations, foundations and individuals who sustain our work to build a better government and a stronger democracy.
The support of these individuals and companies that provided the Partnership with pro bono or volunteer services has helped make the Partnership’s work possible. We gratefully acknowledge their generous support.
TOM A. BERNSTEIN (Chair) President and Co-Founder, Chelsea Piers Management, Inc.
KARAN BHATIA Vice President, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Google
DOUGLAS R. CONANT Founder and CEO, ConantLeadership
NORA GARDNER Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
W. SCOTT GOULD CEO, Mountain Lake Associates, LLC
DAVID J. KAPPOS Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
GENERAL (RET.) LESTER L. LYLES Former Chairman of the Board, USAA Former Chairman of the Board, KBR Corp. Former Vice Chief of Staff, United States Air Force Former Commander, Air Force Materiel Command
TOM NIDES Vice Chairman, Strategy and Client Relations, Blackstone
SARAH O’HAGAN Nonprofit leader
SEAN O’KEEFE University Professor and Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University Former Administrator, NASA
RAJIV SHAH President, The Rockefeller Foundation
MAX STIER President and CEO, Partnership for Public Service
DAN TANGHERLINI Managing Director, Emerson Collective
JIM VANDEHEI Co-founder and CEO, Axios
GEORGE W. WELLDE, JR. Former Vice Chairman, Securities Division, Goldman Sachs & Company
