Announcing the Departure Dialogues Project

Learn more at popvox.org/departure

So far in 2025, thousands of federal civil servants have left or been removed from their roles as agencies work to shrink the size of the Executive-branch workforce. Behind each deactivated ID card and abandoned email account lies years — even decades — of institutional knowledge about how specific government systems function, where they excel, and where they are failing to deliver. These departing public servants carry with them detailed perspectives on implementation gaps between policies as written and as implemented.

But for most departing federal employees, there is no structured process to capture their accumulated wisdom and insights into how their agency could be made more efficient and effective — let alone a process to relay those big- and small-picture observations to Congress.

POPVOX Foundation and collaborator organizations aim to fill this gap by creating the Departure Dialogues project, a safe, trustworthy, nonpartisan platform for departing federal employees to share their insights and advice to Congress on how to strengthen federal programs for decades to come.

For some departing employees, this might be a big-picture recommendation about overall program goals and structure; for others, a small note of frustration about how Congress could save the federal government time, money, and headaches by eliminating statutory language that creates unnecessary, burdensome processes. For everyone, the project aims to create a cathartic, validating experience that can serve as the capstone to a rich career in public service.

For Congress and policy organizations, this project will create a first-of-its kind nonpartisan archive of institutional program knowledge solicited specifically to inform Congressional policymaking and oversight. This project is also a proof-of-concept demonstration for how Congress and other legislative bodies can utilize new tools to solicit, analyze, and act on qualitative data from constituents, experts, and stakeholders.

Are you a departing federal employee? Learn more and participate at popvox.org/departure.