Op-Ed: For the sake of our communities, honor our public servants

Check out Managing Director of Civil Service Strong Rob Shriver's op-ed in Roll Call for Public Service Recognition Week

For the sake of our communities, honor our public servants

This year's Public Service Recognition Week comes during a gutting of the federal workforce

Last week was Public Service Recognition Week — an opportunity for the country to honor those who choose to spend their careers serving the American people.

Our society has traditionally respected people who make that choice because of the importance of their work and the sacrifices that public servants make. But in recent years, the immense contributions of our public servants have too often become overlooked or even villainized.

And this year’s Public Service Recognition Week was like no other, coming on the heels of the first 100 days of the Trump-Vance administration. Not since the spoils system of the 1880s has public service been so demonized by the government, nor have civil servants been so cruelly treated.

Through firings, forced resignations and hollowing out of agencies, the Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his so-called “DOGE,” is dismantling the federal government’s ability to deliver services essential to local communities.

Federal workers are how the government shows up in people’s lives. They’re food inspectors, Veterans Affairs nurses, air traffic controllers and emergency responders.

They keep our food, medicine, transportation and water safe; secure our public safety and our national security; deliver our mail; support our education and health care systems; ensure our financial system operates and that small businesses and business owners have access to credit; and work in our courthouses, our airports, our national parks and so much more.

In many regions — especially rural and underserved areas — federal jobs and grants are among the largest drivers of local economies.

You can’t run housing programs, food aid, veterans’ health care or small-business support without the professionals who make those programs work. Cutting them is cutting the American people off from the services they’ve already paid for.

If these cuts were really about efficiency, where is their plan for delivering services to the American people without the workers who deliver them? Why would they have to go back multiple times to rehire federal workers whom they never should have let go, such as nuclear safety specialists? Why would they fire their highest-performing experts and new hires who have shown the most potential?

It’s not about efficiency — it’s about power. Project 2025 is clear: federal workers who take an oath to the Constitution and are hired based on merit rather than political loyalty are an intolerable check on a president who only wants to follow the laws he supports.

Civil servants are the everyday heroes of American democracy. They show up — not for fame or fortune — but to make sure our government works for all of us. They fix broken systems, respond to crises, uphold the law, and keep our communities safe, healthy and connected.

These are people who believe in country over politics, mission over ego and service over self-interest. Their work touches every community in America — and makes life better for millions.

At Democracy Forward, we launched Civil Service Strong in January 2025, with the expectation that the federal workforce would need support. Now, we are a coalition of over 50 organizations providing resources from legal services to online job support. And we’re just getting started.

Last week, we honored public servants’ contributions. But more than that — we committed to fighting for them.

To every public servant: Thank you.

Your work matters. Your service inspires.

And your role is indispensable to a democracy that delivers — for all of us.

Rob Shriver is managing director of Civil Service Strong, a national project of Democracy Forward that seeks to inform the public of attacks on the federal civil service and provides resources for civil servants. He also previously served as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management during the Biden Administration.