Having applied for jobs in the democracy space last year after being laid off, I noticed just how undemocratic the democracy space is. First of all, not many remote jobs, ruling out a lot of disabled people, as well as anyone who can't afford to live in New York or DC. Second, so many of the "about us" pages were teeming with bios of elite university grads. Third, what few "new career" roles existed were either implicitly or explicitly age-limited, so if someone had a late start or a career shift, they weren't given the opportunity.
This isn't about sour grapes at not having been hired in this industry. I'm thinking much bigger than myself. Democracy is supposed to be about all the people, right? How can we make that case and gain the best insights if we're loading teams up with people from the same fancy institutions, wearing the same nice suits, living in the same expensive cities, and following essentially the same career trajectory? It seems so patently absurd that it shouldn't have to be mentioned, but only a few groups seem to understand that the democracy sector should be more representative of the democracy we're trying to strengthen.
I'm grateful to Rashawn for putting this out there. Diversity of all kinds absolutely makes every organization, and our democracy, stronger, and I hope more groups will do more than pay lip service to that idea.
1000000% agree... More can be done to foster innovation in the democracy space. Spread out the funding and allow the space for more than 1 or 2 ideas to thrive.
Rashawn, thank you for writing this. It’s powerful to hear another voice give shape to thoughts I’ve carried for a long time.
While my background isn’t in nonprofit democracy work, I’ve been exploring how to bring my experience and skills into this space—because I believe it will take everyday people stepping up in new ways to secure our future.
The barriers you name aren’t just frustrating—they’re holding the work back. If democracy is truly about the people, then those doing the work should reflect the full spectrum of who we are. We need more voices, more lived experience, and more connective tissue between communities and institutions.
I also think this gap is part of why unity work feels stalled. Our society is conditioned for hyper-personalized communication—what breaks through is what resonates. If we want to re-engage the disengaged, we need people who speak the language of the audiences we’re trying to reach—not just ideologically, but culturally, emotionally, and contextually.
That kind of connection isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical
Having applied for jobs in the democracy space last year after being laid off, I noticed just how undemocratic the democracy space is. First of all, not many remote jobs, ruling out a lot of disabled people, as well as anyone who can't afford to live in New York or DC. Second, so many of the "about us" pages were teeming with bios of elite university grads. Third, what few "new career" roles existed were either implicitly or explicitly age-limited, so if someone had a late start or a career shift, they weren't given the opportunity.
This isn't about sour grapes at not having been hired in this industry. I'm thinking much bigger than myself. Democracy is supposed to be about all the people, right? How can we make that case and gain the best insights if we're loading teams up with people from the same fancy institutions, wearing the same nice suits, living in the same expensive cities, and following essentially the same career trajectory? It seems so patently absurd that it shouldn't have to be mentioned, but only a few groups seem to understand that the democracy sector should be more representative of the democracy we're trying to strengthen.
I'm grateful to Rashawn for putting this out there. Diversity of all kinds absolutely makes every organization, and our democracy, stronger, and I hope more groups will do more than pay lip service to that idea.
1000000% agree... More can be done to foster innovation in the democracy space. Spread out the funding and allow the space for more than 1 or 2 ideas to thrive.
Rashawn, thank you for writing this. It’s powerful to hear another voice give shape to thoughts I’ve carried for a long time.
While my background isn’t in nonprofit democracy work, I’ve been exploring how to bring my experience and skills into this space—because I believe it will take everyday people stepping up in new ways to secure our future.
The barriers you name aren’t just frustrating—they’re holding the work back. If democracy is truly about the people, then those doing the work should reflect the full spectrum of who we are. We need more voices, more lived experience, and more connective tissue between communities and institutions.
I also think this gap is part of why unity work feels stalled. Our society is conditioned for hyper-personalized communication—what breaks through is what resonates. If we want to re-engage the disengaged, we need people who speak the language of the audiences we’re trying to reach—not just ideologically, but culturally, emotionally, and contextually.
That kind of connection isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical