Experts

John Bridgeland

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Founder and CEO of Civic
  • Vice chairman of the Service Year Alliance
  • Former director, White House Domestic Policy Council
  • Expertise on domestic policy, volunteerism, education, environment

Areas Of Expertise

  • Domestic Affairs
  • Education
  • Law and Justice
  • Social Issues
  • Leadership

John Bridgeland is founder & CEO of Civic, a social enterprise firm in Washington, DC. He is also executive chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a civic moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In that capacity, he is co-founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative, a national platform to combat COVID-19; co-chairman of Welcome.US, which works to inspire, educate, and engage Americans in supporting the resettlement of Afghan, Ukrainian, and other refugees; co-founder of ACT NOW, a ground-up effort to re-envision community safety and policing; and co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of More Perfect, a bipartisan initiative with all 14 presidential centers to protect and renew American democracy.

Bridgeland is the founding CEO and vice chairman of Malaria No More and senior advisor to the United Nations special envoy for malaria, which together are mobilizing the public and private sectors to end malaria deaths in Africa. He is the co-founder and vice chairman of the Service Year Alliance, an initiative to create a civilian national service counterpart to military service in the United States. He is also co-convener of the Grad Nation campaign to address the high school dropout crisis. In addition, he founded Tennis for America in 2020 with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which awarded him their lifetime achievement award.

Bridgeland led the White House Summit on American History, Civics and Service and worked with the National Archives to develop “Our Documents” to promote understanding of 100 important documents in American history. He testified before the National Academy of Sciences on his post-9/11 efforts to increase civic engagement. Bridgeland also served on the Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Political Reform, which released its bipartisan blueprint in 2014. 

Previously, Bridgeland was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions. He also served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, assistant to the president, and first director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11 under President George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law and has honorary degrees from the College of William & Mary, Averett University, Saint Anselm College, Ripon College, and Hamline University, where he delivered commencement addresses. He is the author of the book, Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America’s Civic Spirit.

 

 

Featured Publications

Heart of the Nation
Heart of the Nation: Volunteering and America's Civic Spirit

John Bridgeland

Moneyball for Government
Moneyball for Government

John Bridgeland

John Bridgeland News Feed

Politico
Biden’s vaccine ad campaign hits roadblock: Not enough doses
“We’re very cognizant of the supply and demand issue, but we also know we have to get out there with an educational effort,” said John Bridgeland, a former senior official in the George W. Bush White House and co-founder of the COVID Collaborative, an independent initiative created to help states and localities coordinate their pandemic responses.
John Bridgeland POLITICO
Politico
‘Harris Has the Potential To Change the Face of U.S. Politics’
From the perch of the vice presidency, Harris has the potential to change the face of U.S. politics. Harris’ election is a clear signal that the American people are willing to elect women.
Jennifer Lawless POLITICO Magazine
The Upswing
'The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again'
Robert Putnam and co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett discuss their book The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again. It's a brilliant analysis of economic, social, and political trends over the past century demonstrating how we have gone from an individualistic “I” society to a more communitarian “We” society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation. We’ve been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However as the 20th century opened, America became—slowly, unevenly, but steadily—more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today’s disarray.
John Bridgeland Miller Center Presents
Young man in mask during COVID-19 pandemic
Millions of youth forgotten amid pandemic
The catastrophic effects of the coronavirus crisis are reversing progress for many young people.
Melody Barnes and John Bridgeland The Hill
New York Times
We Need National Service. Now.
John Bridgeland, who ran George W. Bush’s Domestic Policy Council, and Alan Khazei, who co-founded the nonprofit City Year, suggest that the Coons bill be supplemented with a provision to create 250,000 “service year fellowships.”
John Bridgeland The New York Times
Covid testing
'Ask not': National service in times of crisis
President Kennedy's famous call to service, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," served as an inspiration to Americans in the 1960s. Join us for an exploration of national service, civic responsibility, and presidential leadership as we face 2020's daunting coronavirus challenge.
John Bridgeland Miller Center Presents