Partnership for Public Service

Posts by Partnership for Public Service

Feds@Work: FCC Leaders Take On Groundbreaking Tech Initiative

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In March 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)unveiled a National Broadband Plan setting the country’s telecommunications and technology priorities for the next decade, and establishing high-speed Internet as America’s leading communications network.

The FCC’s ambitious blueprint proposed “connecting all corners of the nation” with a robust and affordable broadband communications system that will transform the economy and American society, changing the way we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government and compete in the global marketplace. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 5, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Feds@Work: Public Servant Performs Heart-Wrenching Task

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On Jan. 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged 18,000 feet into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people on board. This was also Sharon Bryson’s first day as head of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) program that assists survivors and family members of those killed in transportation disasters.

Bryson quickly grabbed her “go-bag” and headed to the West Coast to support the distraught families of the victims, a crucial but heart-wrenching task that she has undertaken more than 140 times. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 4, 2012 at 11:00 AM

Feds @ Work: Innovation Unearths New Information In Old Documents

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While an original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence is filled with strike-outs and corrections made by Thomas Jefferson, one word that he tried to expunge sparked the interest of Fenella France, a preservation scientist at the Library of Congress.

Using a sophisticated and safe imaging technique that she helped develop, France confirmed that Jefferson originally described the American public in the Declaration of Independence as “subjects” before replacing it with the word “citizens.” Keep reading →

 /  Published December 1, 2011 at 3:31 PM

Feds@Work: VA Analyst’s Efforts Help Health Data Access Effort

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Veterans, Medicare recipients and military health care beneficiaries today can download digital files of their available personal health data on a computer, smartphone or flash drive, providing them with instant access to critical information and promoting personal management of their own health care.

This groundbreaking development is possible because of additions to three government websites, all now containing a “Blue Button” icon that allows individual users to login, view, print and save copies of their available personal health information, some of which is extracted from organizational health records. More than 250,000 people had downloaded their health information through the fledgling Blue Button initiative by the spring of 2011, but there is a potential for millions of people to use the system. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 3, 2011 at 10:03 AM

Feds@Work: IRS Employee Eases Student Aid Process

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When applying to college, students and their parents traditionally have worried about grades, aptitude test scores and application essays. And then there’s the complex financial aid process that requires the submission of detailed tax information.

Supplying the tax data, in fact, has long proven to be a huge headache for many families, and in some cases it’s a major barrier. But thanks to Julie Rushin of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), millions of students and their families are now benefiting from a new user-friendly system that takes away that worry about the tax information. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 1, 2011 at 3:35 PM

Feds@Work: Public Servant Devotes Career To Americans’ Health

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During almost 30 years of public service, Dr. Lawrence Deyton has worked for three major government organizations, and at each stop along the way has made a huge difference in improving public health and the lives of Americans.

A first-rate researcher, clinician and administrative leader, Deyton has played an influential role at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fighting AIDS, at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tackling life-threatening infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, and at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking to reduce smoking and limit its damaging health effects. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Feds@Work: Giving A Voice To The Mentally Ill

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When Neal Brown began his federal career as an intern with the National Institute of Mental Health nearly 40 years ago, life was very different for Americans with mental illness. Beyond carrying a significant social stigma, they often were removed from their communities and placed in institutions, with no say in their treatment and sometimes living under abusive conditions.

In those intervening years, Brown has become a leading federal advocate for shifting care and government resources from the large psychiatric institutions toward a less expensive community-based rehabilitative model. In the process, he has helped bring mental health consumers into policy development, program design and services implementation at the federal, state and local government levels. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 26, 2011 at 9:00 AM

Feds@Work: Doctor Devotes Career To PTSD Sufferers

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When Dr. Matthew Friedman began his career working with veterans nearly 40 years ago, not a single person had been diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In fact, the term had yet to be invented.

Today, as the executive director for the National Center for PTSD at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Friedman is widely known as a pioneer in the field of traumatic studies. His career has been devoted to identifying the causes of and treatments for PTSD and advocating for those whose psychological well-being has been harmed by stresses of war and other jarring experiences. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 24, 2011 at 7:00 AM

Feds@Work: Demographer Contributes To Peaceful Voting Process

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Oliver Fischer, a young Census Bureau demographer, landed two unusual assignments that contributed to U.S. policy aimed at bringing about a fair and peaceful vote for Southern Sudan to declare its independence from the northern part of the country.

Starting in 2006 and continuing through the early part of 2011, Fischer had two roles-that of a census expert helping to set the stage for an accurate vote count, and later as a member of the State Department’s Civilian Response Corps working in extremely dangerous parts of Southern Sudan to provide American diplomats with information in the run up to the referendum. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 21, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Feds@Work: Providing Jobs, Preserving Treasures

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At the height of our nation’s economic crisis, 34-year-old Interior Department employee Mary Pletcher became the lead career executive for awarding and tracking $2.9 billion in economic stimulus funds used to preserve and restore iconic national treasures, provide vital infrastructure in impoverished Indian communities and create jobs.

Leading the largest single investment in public lands since the Civilian Conservation Corps of the New Deal, Pletcher managed funds for some 4,000 projects ranging from major improvements to Ellis Island to the nation’s largest dam removal and natural habitat restoration project on the Elwha River in Washington State. Under her leadership, Interior met all of the requirements under the stimulus law on time, and with no significant instances of waste or fraud. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 17, 2011 at 1:30 PM
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