About
The bedrock of our shared future.
Our mission
We empower individuals and institutions to harness the transformative power of civic service, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence for the common good of all.
The Institute starts from a diagnosis: a quiet crisis, the slow, corrosive decline of trust in the institutions meant to serve the public good. It is not a sudden rupture but the product of decades of delivery failures, bureaucratic inertia, and siloed, risk-averse government. Throwing money at the problem has proven insufficient; the disease is structural, and the cure must be too.
The definition
What we mean by civic service.
Civic service is the noble calling spanning the full spectrum of work toward the common good: volunteers, nonprofits, private-sector partners, and the professional civil service, which is its cornerstone and engine room.
The Institute's intellectual spine is the scholar-official ideal: modern government has the best people, hyper-competent technocrats, but has lost wisdom. Merit must be re-enriched with history, ethics, and human-centered judgment. The Institute acts as a convener and bridge-builder, led by practitioners, integrating evidence-based innovation into the machinery of government while remaining grounded in merit, impartiality, and integrity.
Every city runs on public servants few people see.
Plate 0.1. Before the city wakes. Image: Gordon Parks (FSA-OWI), "American Gothic (Ella Watson, Washington, D.C.)," August 1942. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa-8b14845. Public domain (work of the U.S. federal government). Source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordon_Parks_-_American_Gothic.jpg
Core values
Five values.
Collaboration
Building across sectors and silos to solve complex public problems together.
Rigor
Grounded in evidence before ideology, exhaustive analysis before action.
Innovation
New tools for old duties; relentless ambition in administrative method.
Stewardship
Guarding the public trust with unyielding constancy in core values.
Non-partisanship
Service above politics, institutional merit above faction.
People
Led by practitioners.
The people designing our reform agenda are the same people who advocate for it in rooms where decisions are made.
Jonathan Rewers
Chair & Principal Advisor of Practice
Chairs the Institute and leads its strategy, advocacy, and public voice, including the FRAME legislative effort and the growing publications program.
Esther Younan
Vice Chair for Strategic Growth & Partnerships
Leads the Institute's partnerships and growth, strengthening relationships with funders, institutions, and civic leaders.
Jim Morrill
Director & Senior Fellow of Policy
Counsels the Chair on mission, vision, and strategic objectives, and leads applied policy work, turning bold, evidence-based ideas into legislative drafts and governance tools.
Tim Manglicmot
Director & Senior Fellow of Infrastructure Finance
Counsels the Chair on mission, vision, and strategic objectives, and leads the infrastructure finance practice, shaping strategies that scale new institutional models.
Behind the leadership sits a growing network of practitioners and convening partners.
Support and contact
Support the Institute.
Institute for Civic Service is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our EIN is 81-2908499.
Questions, introductions and ideas are welcome by email. People who look for a contact page find us here.