Inaugural Editor’s Introduction: What Have We Learned From ‘The Lost Year’?

Abstract

The discovery of COVID-19 in the Life Care Center assisted living facility in Kirkland, Washington in the early part of 2020 marked the beginning of the virus' outbreak in the United States. And, more than a year later, the Coronavirus global pandemic continues to affect our lives, our economy, and our institutions in monumental ways. So, as the vaccine rollout has given us some long awaited hope that we will see a return to normalcy at some point this year, it is important for us to reflect on some of the important lessons learned during this lost year of being housebound and living virtually. Institutions MatterThis past year has reminded us, perhaps more than any other year in recent memory, that institutions matter. From a highly contested presidential election, to vaccine development and distribution, to our impending economic recovery, public administrators played a crucial role in preserving and protecting the institutions that comprise the very fabric of our society and will continue to do so going forward, for the implications of strong leadership and good governance are essential for upholding our democratic ideals. In this regard, new JPNA editorial board member Tina Nabatchi and her coauthors have noted the threat to our democratic foundations and sense of "publicness" of public administration as a result of rising distrust, political polarization, and populism (Ventriss et al., 2019). And, the authors correctly suggest that those of us in the field of public administration need to use our voices to strengthen the ties between democracy, public administration, and public values through our teaching, research, and community-engaged scholarship (Ventriss, 2019).The COVID-19 global health pandemic showed us the importance of leadership and our governing institutions, including coordination among them, to effectively respond to a public health crisis or perhaps any future crisis we might face. Unfortunately, vertical and horizontal collaboration among governing jurisdictions in the United States in the early days of the pandemic were largely drawn along political party lines. New JPNA associate editor Davia Downey and her coauthor suggest this was a reflection of the limitations of American-style federalism; however, the creation and implementation of permanent intergovernmental forums would provide for better organizational capacity for collaboration that is needed for an effective, holistic response to crises such as a global pandemic (Downey & Myers, 2020). At the state level, returning JPNA editorial board member Naim Kapucu and his coauthors examined and highlighted the differences in crisis leadership response to COVID-19 of the governors in the four most populated U.S. states (Sadiq et al., 2020). The authors remind us that, when facing a high level of uncertainty, decisive guidance, effective crisis communication, and collaborations with relevant stakeholders to help build coalitions and mobilize resources

Social Equity in Public Administration: Past, Present, and the Future

“…Note: Adapted from Blessett et al, 2019, p. 296. emerging social equity topics more quickly. Although JPNA has always been dedicated to publishing articles that address any number of inequities in the public and nonprofit sectors, the Social Equity Section is a supplemental and dedicated outlet for this important work to disseminate topics commonly discounted in government and nonprofit affairs scholarship, as well as emerging social equity issues (Carroll, 2021). Since its inception, articles in the new Social Equity Section have included topics such as expanding sick leave during a global pandemic (Rauhaus & Johnson, 2021), reintegration programs and services for Black female parolees in Alabama (Moorer, 2021), increasing access to public administration research for individuals with disabilities (Allgood, 2021), appropriate terminology usage for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual plus (LGBTQIA+) communities (Meyer & Milleson, 2022), a historical analysis of American constitutional values and democratic beliefs toward social equity progression (Trochmann & Guy, 2022), a call for political action on gun control by the professional sports industry (Thomas & Levine Daniel, 2022), digital inequities in community revitalization (Marshall, 2023), and understanding the "B" in #Black Lives Matter (Houston & Krinch, 2023).…”