Humans of Public Service inspires a new generation of government employees
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About 850,000 state and local jobs went unfilled last year, as public agencies struggle to find workers. This nonprofit is using social media to entice them.
Mary Priddy-Bain wanted to be a veterinarian since birth, but once in vet school, decided it wasn't for her. So she became a teacher, then a stand-up comic and eventually found her calling as an executive assistant to Austin's city manager.
"I'd leave everyday thinking, 'I did something good today.’ Even if I just kept her on track, it felt like the city moved a little better," she told Humans of Public Service, a nonprofit organization that shares stories about public servants across federal, state and local governments. It’s modeled after the viral Humans of New York project.
Today Priddy-Bain is the education and outreach coordinator at the city’s Office of Sustainability and one of the public employees featured by Humans of Public Service. The organization shares stories of what a government career looks like, or, as founder Brian Whittaker explained, puts “the heart and soul of public servants on full display.”
Since Whitaker launched the project in May 2022, he has shared more than 200 public servants’ stories on the Humans of Public Service Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. Their narratives underscore what inspired them to embark on a career in government and, Whittaker hopes, help the general public better understand and appreciate the impact of public service.
Whittaker also hopes to foster trust between government and the public and grow young people’s interest in public service.
Highlighting the people making federal, state and local government work is one way Whittaker hopes the public sector can better attract potential employees, particularly as research shows that Gen Z individuals want jobs that impact their communities and believe government should play a larger role in addressing societal issues.
Throughout the project, “I learned that young adults from diverse communities across the country don’t believe that people from their community work in government and nor does government want them to work there,” Whittaker said.
He pointed to a 2022 survey that asked 3,279 individuals nationwide ages 18 to 36 about their perception of government. Nearly 70% of respondents were non-white. Two-thirds thought their local government leaders came from communities like theirs. Less than a quarter said they thought local governments wanted to hire people like them.
Humans of Public Service highlights people of color, women, descendants of immigrants and individuals from other marginalized populations. Take Maricela Rodriguez, who serves as senior advisor for civic engagement and strategic partnership for California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Rodriguez, the daughter of immigrant farmworkers, started her journey in public service at a public policy fellowship through the California State University. She was assigned to work at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, which helped her learn more about legislative and budgeting processes, Rodriguez told Route Fifty.
The experience helped Rodriguez as she transitioned to work for Maria Shriver, ex-wife of then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to help develop the WE Connect initiative, which connects low-income families with benefits such as income tax credits.
“It was exciting to go into communities from Fresno, to the Bay Area, to Los Angeles … bringing people together and giving people access to different services they were eligible for,” she said. “We knew we made a difference because we saw families first hand come in and access all of these programs.”
Stories like that can encourage people from historically marginalized communities to consider working in government, said Sara Mogulescu, president of the Volcker Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the public sector workforce.
“Seeing yourself in leadership matters,” she said.
In the coming months, Humans of Public Service will begin featuring college students who are participating in the Volcker Alliance’s Next Generation Service Corps, which prepares students at 21 participating universities for careers in public service.
The features will help students get in front of potential hiring managers and support collaboration among governments and colleges to create a pipeline of public servants, Mogulescu said. The professionals who have been featured could also serve as mentors to share job opportunities and general career guidance to students and early-career public servants, she said.
Government work is often viewed as technical and bureaucratic by the public, Mogulescu said. Humans of Public Service can help humanize it.
“We’re thinking about ways to really energize and reframe the public service narrative,” Mogulescu said, “to inspire rising leaders to think about these pathways forward.”
Individuals can submit Humans of Public Service nominations here.
Editor's Note: This story was updated Sept. 9 to correct the spelling of Sara Mogulescu's name.
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