People in the federal workforce serve the public with essential expertise and knowledge; three nonprofit leaders share how and why they support federal workers.
Government is powered by people who provide the knowledge, oversight, and resources that Americans rely on every day.
More than two million civilian employees are currently serving in the United States federal workforce. These roles range from data analysts and researchers to public health workers and food inspectors to administrators and lawyers and more, all providing important services. They live and work in every U.S. state and territory.
This workforce saw a seismic shift last year in a rapidly changing federal landscape, testing an essential dimension of a resilient society: the ability to draw on the people and teams who make our government work for everyone.
As part of our commitment to protect democracy, MacArthur has supported organizations working to preserve the expertise and institutional knowledge of federal workers, and to assist them in career transitions. These groups are helping ensure that critical skills and experience are not lost, but instead carried forward to strengthen civic institutions, inform policy, and support communities. We invited three nonprofit leaders to share their work and reflect on the importance of bolstering a vital, committed, and talented public sector.
Karen F. Lee
Executive Director & Founder, FedsForward
The people who make this nation work are on the move.
One of the professionals in our network spent decades as a federal nurse. Today, she is the Chief Operating Officer of a women's health organization, building the operational infrastructure of a mission-driven institution revolutionizing how women receive care. The expertise she built in government didn't disappear when she left. It was carried forward.
Federal professionals carry knowledge that no private institution independently produces.
What I see every day is this: federal professionals carry knowledge that no private institution independently produces. They understand what it means to make decisions that are not only efficient, but just—decisions whose consequences ripple across communities and decades. When no such infrastructure exists, that civic capacity disperses by chance rather than by systematic design.
FedsForward, a nonprofit project of Forward Global, is building that infrastructure. We place federal professionals where their expertise continues to work in the public interest. And there is a longer horizon: professionals moving through our network carry a democratic mindset into every institution they enter, and when they return to government, they bring that commitment back stronger than before.
Democratic values do not belong exclusively to government; they belong to every institution that touches people's lives. Individuals called to public service are uniquely positioned to carry those values into every institution that will have them.
Max Stier
President and CEO, Partnership for Public Service
Federal workers are facing unprecedented adversity, their vital work has been upended by dramatic changes to the civil service. Amid this turmoil, the Partnership is stepping up to support and defend public servants.
Our FedSupport Hub provides federal employees with guidance to navigate volatility and to continue serving the American people. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have explored the site, which hosts more than 160 resources, including information on civil service protections, layoffs and job separations, career transitions, and pro bono legal support.
We also raise public awareness about the importance of an apolitical, professional civil service and its work. Our Federal Harms Tracker uses data and stories to illustrate with compelling clarity what we lose when federal workers and the services they deliver are disrupted. To inspire renewed faith in government, we lead Public Service Recognition Week, the nation’s largest celebration of federal, state, local, and tribal government employees.
Federal employees serve the public interest and are essential to our democracy.
We deliver programs that build leadership capacity and have trained more than 850 high-level federal executives in the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence.
And finally, this moment of significant disruption presents an opportunity for real reform. Through our Government for a New Era Initiative, we are working with a range of stakeholders and tapping into civil servants’ experience to bring forth bold yet practical ideas for solving government’s most pressing management challenges.
Federal employees serve the public interest and are essential to our democracy. Our health, safety, and prosperity depend on their ability to show up for us—and that is why we at the Partnership will always show up for them.
Isabella Ulloa
President, Foundation for Public Service, a fiscally sponsored project of Global Impact
America is facing a quiet threat to democracy.
As violent threats against public servants at all levels have skyrocketed nationwide over the past decade, the lack of support has driven hard-working people out of government service—deterring runs for office, accelerating departures from public sector careers, and leaving communities without experienced leaders.
Across the federal workforce, tens of thousands of career public servants are facing not only this escalating threat environment, but also a historically uncertain employment landscape with insufficient access to the support, information, and affordable resources they deserve.
The Foundation for Public Service, a 501(c)(3) fiscally sponsored project of Global Impact, was built to help solve this crisis on a nonpartisan basis—through programs and partners working on the front lines. We produce free public education on the issues facing America’s public servants, including the federal workforce—from legal rights to physical and digital security best practices. We develop message-tested communications toolkits to build broad support for protecting public servants. We convene leaders across the political spectrum to advance policy solutions that make public service safer over the long term. And we support partners scaling practical tools—digital privacy and identity-protection services, home and physical security resources, and confidential threat-monitoring support—so no American is forced to choose between serving their community and protecting their family.
The federal workforce is navigating reductions at a scale and speed without modern precedent.
The need has never been more urgent. Serious threats to federal judges have doubled since 2021. Nearly 90 percent of state legislators reported harassment or threats between 2020 and 2024, according to a Brennan Center for Justice report. And the federal workforce is navigating reductions at a scale and speed without modern precedent.
Too many public servants still lack access to the information, experts, and services they need to better protect themselves and their families. We are here to change that—with the evidence, the partners, and the will to act.
