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Trust Summit

To confront this challenge, the Partnership for Public Service hosts a yearly summit examining the drivers of distrust and actionable solutions to advance a more trusted and trustworthy government.  

Past Summits


2024 Trust Summit: The Role of Civil Servants in Democracy

Civil servants are responsible for issues vital to the health of our nation, from ensuring national security to administering health insurance programs to conserving public land. Amid mounting calls to decimate the civil service, the Partnership’s second annual Trust Summit explored the importance of a nonpartisan, merit-based civil service to ensuring an effective and trustworthy democracy as well as reasonable approaches for improving the government’s ability to meet the needs of our country.

Read more about and watch the 2024 Trust Summit.

2023 Trust Summit: A Government of the People

Our first annual trust summit brought together leaders across sectors—government, philanthropy, media and more—to discuss the state of public trust in government and ways to reset the relationship between our government the communities it serves.

Read more about and watch the 2023 Trust Summit.

State of Trust


The level of trust in the federal government remains low, with only 23% of Americans saying they trust the federal government compared with 63% who say they do not and 13% who are neutral.

About 85% of Americans say the federal government is “wasteful,” and 74% say it is “corrupt.”

Americans tend to express mostly negative views about government as a whole, but when it comes to civil servants, 46% say they trust federal civil servants and, overwhelmingly, the public views a nonpartisan and competent civil service as critical to a well-functioning democracy.

Read more

Opportunities to Build Trust


At the Partnership, we are working to solve this crisis of trust by: 

  • Building the capacity of our government to better communicate with, deliver for and engage the public. 
  • Setting a public standard for trustworthy, accountable and transparent federal institutions. 
  • Improving the narrative around government and public servants for audiences across the country. 
  • Cultivating champions across sectors to break the cycle of negativity and misinformation about government. 
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