What we mean when we say “public service”
Public service is about care, not control.
We believe in those who show up alongside communities—with courage, integrity, and a commitment to collective good.
Faces of public service—abstracted.
This artwork reflects the layered, intersecting roles of people who serve the public good, whether from within institutions or alongside communities.
At Public Servants, we use the phrase public service often. We center it in our name, in our work, and in the people we admire.
But it’s important to say plainly: when we celebrate public service, we’re not endorsing every action the government has taken—or every system it maintains.
Too often, the banner of “public service” has been used to defend harm, excuse inaction, or mask power. That’s especially true in the way policing has functioned in the United States—where safety has often been defined by those with the most privilege, and enforced at the expense of those with the least. We don’t celebrate that. We don’t build toward that.
Public service, to us, isn’t limited to a job in government. It’s a set of commitments and care-centered actions, often carried out by people in nonprofits, neighborhood coalitions, hospitals, classrooms, community kitchens, and mutual aid networks. It’s about people—inside and outside of government—who show up to make things better, even when the systems weren’t built to support them.
It’s the librarian fighting for digital access.
The housing worker navigating broken systems to get people into homes.
The school custodian who sees every child as worthy of safety.
The case manager translating policy into real help.
The organizer pushing city hall to show up better.
The analyst rewriting procurement rules to make them fair.
These are the kinds of public servants we’re here for, and with.
We’re clear-eyed about the legacies we inherit. We know public systems were often designed to exclude, extract, or control. Some can be repaired. Others must be reimagined from the ground up.
That’s why we align with the people—inside and outside of institutions—who are doing the work to care, to question, to build, and to demand better.
Because public service isn’t about preserving what was. It’s about co-creating what could be.
If you’re showing up to make systems more just, more human, and more accountable to the people they’re meant to serve, you’re not alone.
We see you. We work with you. We are you.
If you see yourself in this, you’re not alone.
Public service needs more people who lead with care, courage, and clarity.
Let’s find each other.
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