Every week, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute elects a Startup of the Week (SOTW). We then invite the founders of these startups to share a blog post with our community. These posts can be inspirational, educational, or entertaining. Founders can share founding stories, resources, lessons, or anything else they want. During the month of March, to celebrate Women's History Month, all our SOTWs have at least one female founder.
This blog post was written by Kyleigh Russ (Wagner '19), co-founder of Govern for America.
In this time of political division and record breaking levels of mistrust in government, regardless of which side of the aisle you find yourself, many of us don’t go a day without hearing opinions, “facts”, or theories about what is happening in Washington D.C. But while many of us are thinking about who to support at the national level, there is very little attention paid to what is happening at the state and local level. This is a problem.
The state and local level is where we tackle our nation’s toughest issues. From education to health care to criminal justice and more, this is where Americans see their government in action. The laws and policies that affect our lives are debated in state capitols and town halls well before they reach the floor of Congress. In times of federal gridlock and uncertainty, like right now, state and local influence is even more prominently felt. Across the country every day, 20 million public servants are responsible for providing the critical services that keep Americans moving forward. For these individuals, meeting resident expectations has become more challenging than ever as a result of a divisive political climate, technological disruption, and a public that wants both less government involvement in their lives and more responsive and effective government. Tackling the many societal challenges we face - having a rigorous response to public health threats, updating aging transit systems, ending mass incarceration, and updating an antiquated education system that was built for a time before 21st century technology - requires new skills that were not at a premium decades ago. Further, the long-feared “silver tsunami” is here - according to a recent NASCA report, 70 percent of Nebraska’s and 40 percent of Iowa’s state government workforce is eligible to retire. What will happen in 5 years if a health emergency like the one we are facing now hits our country, but those state government roles aren’t filled? This combination of a lack of 21st century skills and an impending retirement wave are cause for concern.
We need Millennials and Generation Z to make time investments in our future as a country through their career choices.
Today, Millennials and Generation Z are not going into government. While a majority of young people are motivated by a desire to have a positive social impact, working in public service is becoming less appealing for Millennials and Gen Z, who will soon dominate the workforce. With 30-45% of government employees eligible to retire within the next 3-5 years, this pain is becoming more acute. Instead, young people are seeking impact careers in think tanks, advocacy, nonprofits, other impact organizations, or are following the age-old adage of building skills in the private sector before moving to the public sector. The problem is, in systems’ change management, we know that there must be players both inside and outside of the system. So, Millennials and Generation Z, we need you in the system in order to move towards the changes you wish to see in your state and country.
As co-founder and COO of Govern for America, an organization founded to address the broken talent pipeline into state and local governments, we have heard from thousands of young people who tell us that they want to see change but don’t know how to push this change forward in a systematic way. Government can be the answer. At Govern for America, our theory of change is simple: entrepreneurial people inside government, empowered with the right skills and mindset, can transform our government to design policy around people and build inclusive systems. We’re working to reinvigorate and rebuild trust in our public institutions, fill critical skills gaps for government leaders, and build a pipeline of diverse talent into government. Our end game is the creation of a network of public sector entrepreneurs and leaders who have stayed in and succeeded in government or adjacent spaces, changed culture in and around government, and created a proof point for the next generation of leaders that government is a viable career path for change.
Our success so far - we have had 1,200 applications for just 45 spots in our first two cohorts, we are in the process of matching our second cohort of 30 fellows to roles across 6 states, and have a waitlist of state partners to come on board next year - is largely due to our involvement in the Leslie eLab at NYU. There have been a number of factors in our early success as an organization. One of the most important is the Leslie eLab and the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute. The Institute invested time and effort in us before we had a real product and truly guided us through the startup process, from defining the problem that our dual sided customer base was facing, to coaching us on how to invest in the right areas for an MVP product, to plugging us into some of our most important networks, which we still use today. Without the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute it would have taken us longer to make strategic choices and we likely would have been more hesitant to dive into this work full time - a commitment that has been pivotal in our success. Another reason for our early success is our small but mighty team and our amazing board of advisors. Our 4 woman team is a powerhouse. We love spending time together and we work really hard – but we also take time to laugh and we are respectful of each others’ needs. Sometimes one of us needs to go to a yoga class at 2 pm to clear our heads or needs to head home early to take the dogs out. The trust that we have for each other is complete and unquestioning – we know that we will get our work done and done well. We can lean on each other for help in stressful times and we are friends outside of work. I believe that these factors are key to our early success and will be critical to the growth that we hope to have over the coming years. We are thankful for all the help and guidance we have had and will continue to have from the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute and our many other supporters!
