New think tanks to focus on public service

Two new think tanks will spend millions of dollars over the next few years figuring out how to improve the public service.

This week, the Brookings Institution inaugurated its Center for Public Service, headed by scholar Paul C. Light (who is also a contributing editor to Government Executive). The center aims "to improve the odds that America's most talented citizens will choose careers in the public service," according to Brookings.

The center's upcoming research projects include a report on the state of the public service, a study of the Senior Executive Service, a review of 50 federal government success stories since World War II and a research paper on competition between the public and private sectors.

Brookings also recently published Light's latest book, "The New Public Service," which chronicles the shift from a civil service centered in the federal government to a public service divided among government, nonprofit and private sector organizations. The book also suggests ways the government can change its practices in order to attract top talent.

The center is operating on about $2 million in funding from the Dillon Fund, the Ford Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and individual gifts from an anonymous donor and James A. Johnson, chairman of the Brookings board.

Meanwhile, Samuel Heyman, an investor who once served as an assistant United States attorney in Connecticut, is launching an organization tentatively named the Institute for Public Service. Like the Brookings center, Heyman's organization aims to "make government service as attractive and accessible as possible, so that the best and the brightest that the country has to offer will seriously consider service in the federal government sometime during their career."

The institute will have an annual operating budget of as much as $5 million and a full-time staff of 35. Heyman is recruiting a chief executive officer to launch the center.

In November, Heyman contributed $5 million to Harvard Law School to encourage public service. Twenty Heyman fellowships will be awarded each year to Harvard Law School graduates who commit to at least three years of federal government service.