It’s time to turn on the lights and cut the music. The Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) and #GovPossible party has come to a close. Thank you to all the agencies, organizations, leaders, and individuals who celebrated public servants with us all month long! We were inspired to see the resilience and dedication of public servants across federal, state, and local governments and how they make the everyday - and extraordinary - #GovPossible.
Curious how we celebrated public servants? Originally shared on Twitter and LinkedIn, we’ve highlighted a few ways that the Performance.gov team and many others shared their appreciation for the public servants in their lives!
Short, personalized videos shared by leadership. Our team combined six videos from federal agency leaders to create a compilation video, and posted three additional teasers of individuals. We also shared individual messages of thanks from local government leaders.
Federal agency leaders expressed their thanks, including U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (see below). Secretary Buttigieg extended his appreciation to the dedicated public servants who help “keep Americans safe and… the country moving” by maintaining different modes of transportation so that people can drive their cars, ride buses, and travel on airplanes.
Additionally, local government leaders expressed their thanks, like Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Deputy Secretary/COO Sam Rikkers (see below), who took the time to thank all of the WEDC employees that have gone the extra mile and rolled up their sleeves to help rebuild Wisconsin businesses and communities hit by hardship this year.
Proclamation from the White House to commemorate PSRW. President Biden shared a proclamation honoring Public Service Recognition Week and the “…ordinary Americans who answer the call to do extraordinary things.”
Highlights of public servants on social media. The #GovPossible campaign saw broad participation across federal, state, and local governments.
Federal agency accounts across the federal government participated, including the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (see below), highlighting the work of Dr. Acosta-Martinez. She’s leading the charge towards sustainable agricultural practices across the nation via soil microorganisms.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service shared their thanks to Dr. Acosta-Martinez, Soil Biology Group Lead, for her work with soil microorganisms and its impact on climate and agricultural best practices!
State and City/County governments showed their thanks such as the city of Richmond, VA. The city celebrated their first responders who risk their lives to keep the city and its people safe.
The City of Richmond, Virginia, gave a huge thank you to all of the first responders.
Individuals like Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III shared thanks for specific public servants, including 2021 Service to America Medal recipient Gregory Ruiz for his work to reduce accidental importation of invasive species.
Lastly, the Performance.gov team created our own content to thank public servants! We featured 25+ amazing and diverse public servants, including Lara Murray from the U.S. Forest Service (see below). Lara worked to bring awareness to today’s natural resource challenges through digestible webinars and newsletters reaching 13,000 subscribers.
The U.S. Forest Service showed their thanks for Lara Murray of the Research and Development team for her work to communicate today’s natural resource challenges to a wide array of customers.
Performance.gov blog posts to spotlight the individuals behind good work in government. We also told the stories of several public servants and their critical work. For example, we spoke to Tarrant County, Texas’ own Michelle Rundles and Kamisha Bailey about how their work on homelessness prevention is more than a job but a calling. For more blog posts like this one, check out our blog page featuring other public servants making a difference.
Fun closing video that answered the call for creative work. Performance.gov’s own Catie Miller, Strategic Communications Manager, made a creative and fun video to close out PSRW and the #GovPossible campaign, showing that no matter the challenge, we face it together to make the impossible #GovPossible.
Thanks again to all our partners and public servants doing great work! Stay tuned to see what’s next for the Performance.gov team!
