In mid-February, The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and Bridge Alliance announced that it had selected six proposals that will make up the “Fellows for Democracy and Public Service Initiative.”

This is a key part of NAPA’s approach for Celebrating the American Public Servant. 

Congratulations to the newly selected fellows, who will focus on six core sectors in order to “produce repeatable action plans and translate research and dialogue into tangible reforms,” according to NAPA’s President and CEO James-Christian Blockwood. 

According to a release, they include the following:

● “Public Service Leadership and Civil Service Reform. Vince Micone will create “Forging the Next 250: Building America’s Next Public Service Pipeline.” This project will explore how the federal government can build a modern, diverse, and resilient talent pipeline that prepares the next generation of public servants to lead the nation into its next 250 years.”

● “Voting and Elections. Shaniqua Williams will create “The Hidden Infrastructure of Democracy: Professionalizing and Diversifying Election Staff.” This project will focus on strengthening impartiality, transparency, and trust in U.S. election administration by developing an evidence-based framework for training and professionalizing mid-level election staff and expanding pathways that diversify the election workforce.”

● “Bridging & Dialogue.  Kristina Becvar will create “From Dialogue to Direction: Rebuilding Shared Civic Purpose in a Fragmented Democracy.” This project seeks to address an increasingly consequential challenge in the bridging community: the lack of shared purpose, coordination, and narrative coherence among those working to strengthen American democracy itself.”

● “Electoral Systems Reform. Beth Hladick will create “The 2026 Primary Problem: Diagnosing the Divide.” The project will use the 2026 midterms to shift the national narrative from "horse race" coverage to structural analysis and rigorously document how partisan primaries disenfranchise voters and fuel polarization.”

● “Trustworthy Information Leads to Trust in Government. Joel Gurin will create “Regaining Public Trust in Federal Data and Information.” The project will explore current obstacles to public trust in data, with a focus on public federal data, and recommend remedies.

● Pluralism. Kimberly Walton and Tamara L. Miller will create “Pluralism as a Civic Operating System: Building a Democracy of Dignity.” The project seeks to reframe pluralism as a practical system for navigating demographic, cultural, and increasingly economic and geographic divides.

As the work of these six initiatives moves forward, ideas will emerge on an ongoing basis that focus on federal, state and local government reforms. As Blockwood said, “This program aims to drive results that the American people can feel and see in action.” 

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