Alison Jacknowitz: So we wanted to do something for the federal government employees during a shutdown a while back. And we thought about what we have to offer and realize we have education and all of these faculty who are willing to chip in. And so we developed an agenda, and a lot of faculty volunteered to teach, and we came up with a wide range of classes and put together a day of classes for federal employees, but also included some time for networking, and some time for relaxation and fun as well.
Eric White: Yeah, we’ll get into the agenda in a minute, but I wanted to understand the understanding that a shutdown isn’t necessarily, hopefully, going to be too long term, so the potential participants may not have the availability to go through an entire course. What is the setup there? Is it just kind of go day by day, and you’ll just offer them until shutdown ends?
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Alison Jacknowitz: So what we did was we did just a day of classes. So it’s much easier commitment for fed employees because their status is day to day. And so we just pick a day and just say, ‘We’re opening up our school and here’s what we’re offering, and come join us for the day.’
Eric White: Gotcha. All right. And so, yeah, let’s get into that agenda. This year’s session ranged from cybersecurity and leadership, to filmmaking, workplace resilience. How do you decide what to offer? And what is the feasibility of giving somebody knowledge that they can actually use just from one day of teaching?
Alison Jacknowitz: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I think we wanted to do something. We wanted to have a variety of topics that covered current events that covered resiliency and professional development because we know during this specific shutdown, we’re hearing more from people that they’re thinking of career transitions. And then we also wanted to have some more fun classes as well. So we just put a call out to faculty and said, ‘Does anybody want to teach in these three general areas?’ And we got an overwhelming response of faculty who wanted to contribute their time and teach. And so the classes were short. They were just an hour. And so you really could just get a highlight or a couple of key takeaways about a topic.
Eric White: Let’s talk about the School of Public Administration itself at American University. Full disclosure, we sometimes lean on you all for providing guests and experts in other areas that are not shutdown-related. What kinds of teachings do you all provide to current students who may be looking into entering the federal service, about government shutdowns and really the step up that has happened in their occurrence. There have been more and more of them in the recent years than ever before. Is that something that you all prepare potential future federal employees for?
Alison Jacknowitz: Yeah, that’s a great question because we do send a good number of students into federal service. And it’s definitely we see more shutdowns happening or even fear of shutdowns happening has been increasing. And so that’s something that we prepare our students for, specifically in like budget classes. And students will spend some time thinking about the federal budget and how does it come together and why shutdowns might happen.
Eric White: Yeah, and getting back to this particular program, what does it do for the mindset of a furloughed federal employee? Obviously, gives them something else to think about, rather than sitting at home and stewing. But does it do wonders for the confidence in, ‘OK, if things don’t work out here, or if this goes on for the long haul, maybe I potentially have some other options.’ What have you heard from participants?
Alison Jacknowitz: So we got really great feedback from participants and it was really overwhelming and touching. They were really grateful. We heard several of them saying like, ‘I feel seen. It’s nice to know that I’m cared about or that people are thinking about us during this time,’ which has been very difficult. Many of them were very excited to think about other career opportunities or just to have that conversation. So we had a couple of sessions on career planning and career professional development. Those were very popular. And so I think people liked the opportunity. And then I think people enjoyed the opportunity to come together. So we saw people just meeting each other and talking about their experiences and what they were doing and networking. And so I think that was also a really nice opportunity for them. One person said to us, ‘It was just nice to have a place to get out of my house.’ And people were very grateful for the experience. And this year was different than previous years because we included feds who had been laid off or RIFed previous to the shutdown. So some people that came, they hadn’t been working for five, six months. So they were in a very different position than people who were impacted by the shutdown.
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Eric White: And getting on top of the actual curriculum, have you heard any success stories of people who have come to this one or past events that were similar where they actually were able to utilize that new knowledge and branch out into a new career or finding a way to implement it into their current occupations.
Alison Jacknowitz: We’ve definitely heard stories about people from people who in past versions where they were like, ‘I was able to apply this information to when I got back to work.’ So that’s really gratifying to hear.
Eric White: And looking ahead, it seems we’re still, as of this recording, still in the midst of this government shutdown, and the RIFs seem to be on the table for the future, whether or not the legality, we won’t get into that, of whether they’ll actually go through but regardless, it seems as if you may have more willful participants for programs like this. Do you all have any future plans for broader professional development platforms for federal employees who are looking to advance themselves?
Alison Jacknowitz: Yeah, so we do. We also have a program that started in the summer for people who are impacted by all the changes in the federal government. It’s on the weekends and it’s much more intensive. It’s about four hours and it really is about pivoting in careers. And so I think the last session that in this program was on creating your own company, how do you even start thinking about creating your own company. And so that’s a different opportunity that we have, much more intense, more of a commitment for people who are impacted by the changes in the federal government.
Eric White: And obviously, the day has come and gone for this round. But is there any place people can who are interested can find more information for potential future events like this that they’d like to participate in?
Alison Jacknowitz: Yeah, so follow the School of Public Affairs at American University on any of social media platform and that is where people would hear of upcoming opportunities.
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