Earlier this spring, with Congress going remote and in massive disarray, we thought seriously about whether we should cancel our upcoming fellowships. Could we bring in a new class in June, with Congress operating almost entirely remotely? Would offices still be willing to host fellows? Should we consider a medium-term hiatus, waiting to field a new class until mid-2021, or whenever a vaccine is developed and deployed?
We always tell fellows to think about the fellowship experience in two parts: the first half you’ll be drinking out of a firehouse learning the unique context and process of Congress, and building trust in your office and the institution. The second half of the fellowship is where you’ll be able to really start to own issues, and produce results.
In late March and early April it was clear that COVID-19 had accelerated that timeline dramatically.
The fellows— some less than four weeks on the job— were having enormous impacts in their offices. They were drafting portions of the Coronavirus response bills, leading the daily briefs for their members about the pandemic response, writing COVID-19-specific health privacy legislation, and examining the technical options for remote voting. In short, they were making a massive contribution to the country during one of its darkest hours.
We decided that rather than pulling back on our work, we needed to ramp it up.
And this parallels my message to prospective applicants that might be on the fence about applying: the Coronavirus should not be the reason not to apply for this fellowship; it’s the reason you absolutely need to apply.
COVID-19 is massively accelerating trends across the country. A name brand retailer is going out of business once a week. Remote work and education will be a core part of life well after we have a vaccine. As a result of growing inequality, we’re living through two pandemics: one that is a moderate inconvenience to wealthy Americans, and another that has put tens of millions of Americans on the precipice of health and economic collapse. The country seems to have woken up to the fact that racial equity and economic equity are inexorably linked.
These challenges were decades in the making, but the Coronavirus semed to accelerate the rate of change by orders of magnitude. In government, the need for tech expertise has dramatically accelerated as well.
We have seen this in the contributions of our current fellows. We’ve seen this in the placements with our newest class, which are among the best we’ve had. We’ve seen this in our one-time Congressional Digital Service Sprint fellowship, where fellows are working on urgent digital gaps, helping Congress to launch basic digital infrastructure like remote bill introductions, virtual hearing and markups, and adopting 21st century tools.
In truth, this fellowship has been hard on our fellows. Working mostly from home, without face-to-face contact with new colleagues makes it a lot harder to build trust, and some days, to be productive. The fellows aren’t getting to have that impromptu moment when they find themselves in a conversation with a Senator or Cabinet Secretary because they ended up together in an elevator or on a subway ride into the Capitol. The reception circuit— tasting craft beers at the Brewery reception, or snacking on treats at one of the fast food receptions— doesn’t exist right now.
But my greatest hope for them— and what we’ve experienced thus far— is that in five, ten, or thirty years they’ll look back on this time and take real pride that they were part of something far more meaningful than the regular fellowship experience. These aren’t regular times for anyone, and fellows are providing their expertise to a branch of government that desperately needs their skills, at the most urgent crisis in our country in three generations. I for one feel a deep sense of gratitude and privilege to be contributing my small part to the country at a time of such uncertainty, and I hope they do as well.
We are a government by the people. Our government— and our Congress— is us, and it’s what we make of it. The pandemic has revealed that our government needs tech expertise more than ever. That’s why we’re doing all we can to meet the challenge. And it’s my hope you’ll do the same, and consider applying to lend your skills during this urgent moment.