As regulatory battles rage over data privacy and monopoly laws, we often think of Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. as separate worlds. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. Historically, technologies like silicon chips and the Internet were rooted in huge government investment, leading to America's ascendance as a technological and militar…

Civic life in America is on the decline. In the past few decades, trust in the media and politicians has decreased dramatically. Adults volunteer less often, and kids are less likely to take a civics class in school. It’s not that people don’t talk politics -- but that we no longer feel equipped to take up our problems with the people in power. Tod…

Today on Rebuilding Government, I’ll be chatting with Rachel Dodell, the Executive Director of Coding It Forward, and Nik Marda, a Stanford student and 2019 Civic Digital Fellow, about bringing young technologists into government. We all know that government technology isn't always the most up-to-date. But it may shock you to learn that only 7 perc…

Today, I'm talking to Rohan Pavuluri, founder and CEO of Upsolve, a legal aid nonprofit that helps Americans file for bankruptcy for free online. Bankruptcy is central to the American economy. The option of a financial fresh start has empowered risk-taking entrepreneurship and given a path out to families struck by emergencies, like job losses or m…

*Today's guest is Frederick Hutson, the cofounder and CEO of Pigeonly, a simple, affordable way to stay in touch with those incarcerated. * Frederick talks about how expensive it is to communicate with loved ones in the corrections system and how Pigeonly is helping solve these problems. He also touches on his path into the space from being incarce…

Today's guest is Zac Bookman, the cofounder and CEO of OpenGov, a cloud platform that supports government budgeting, performance, communications, and reporting. Government accounting probably isn't something that we think about too often. It might not be the flashiest thing in politics, but it's the system that allocates every dollar that goes to r…

America is facing a crisis of trust in government, and there are good reasons why. But unless we're willing to engage and rebuild these powerful systems, we can't solve the planetary-scale challenges facing us today. Rebuilding Government is a podcast telling the stories of the people, technology, and missions redefining government. From city offic…