O'Neill Speaks

By: IU Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
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  • Summary

  • O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. O’Neill Speaks showcases our world-renowned faculty and researchers who provide their analysis of the most pressing challenges facing society. Through their insight and policy expertise, our guests will educate and change the way you think about our world.
    IU Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
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Political Science Politics & Government Science
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Episodes
  • 19 | The Critical Role of Government with Paul Helmke

    19 | The Critical Role of Government with Paul Helmke
    Mar 11 2025
    One of the first actions of the new US presidential administration was an executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been tasked with reviewing and reducing federal spending.

    Since the executive order was signed January 20, the headlines have flown on a near-daily basis about cuts, reforms, and mass layoffs of federal workers. The actions are controversial, immediately triggering a host of lawsuits with some of the department’s actions already being reversed by federal court decisions. The effort has introduced rampant uncertainty into the federal government bureaucracy, and the shifting sands of the future has brought many areas of the government to a near standstill.

    All the headlines about cuts and reforms grab a lot of attention, but overlooked in the winds of change are the essential role government and its programs play in our day-to-day lives.

    We’re joined today by Professor of Practice Paul Helmke to talk about the government’s role in our lives. Paul is the Director of the Civic Leaders Center at the O’Neill School, and he is also the former president and CEO of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and a three-term Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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    32 mins
  • 18 | Improving Federal Government Performance with Jim Perry and Les Lenkowsky

    18 | Improving Federal Government Performance with Jim Perry and Les Lenkowsky
    Dec 17 2024
    On Aug. 12, 1986, then-president Ronald Reagan, held a press conference in the Rosemont Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago, the 38th of his presidency. Before taking questions, President Reagan said he wanted to send a special message to America’s farmers, namely that he had a goal to remove what he believed were some regulatory barriers that were holding back the farmer’s prosperity.

    He phrased that viewpoint simply. “I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help,” Reagan said.

    And with that phrase, President Reagan encapsulated the feelings of millions of Americans. Nearly 40 years later, the issue of the effectiveness of the United States government to be a positive influence on the country remains at the forefront of our political discourse. Americans are distrustful of the government and have deep questions about the role it should play in their lives.

    Seeking some answers to the issue is the impetus behind the upcoming Evidence-Based Solutions for Improving Federal Government Performance Conference, which will be held at the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13. This one-day conference will feature a panel of distinguished experts, including Kevin Kosar from the American Enterprise Institute; Amy Holmes from the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence; Peter Warren, senior advisor to James Comer, who is the incoming Chairman of the House Oversight Committee; Jennifer Mattingley of the Partnership for Public Service; and Renata Lemos from the World Bank. Phillip Howard, chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which advocates simplifying government, will provide the keynote address. They will address the critical question: What can be done to improve federal government performance?

    We’re joined today by two of the organizers of the event, Professor Emeritus in Public Affairs and Philanthropic Studies Leslie Lenkowsky and Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Chancellor's Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs Emeritus Jim Perry. Professor Lenkowsky is an expert in volunteering and civic engagement, nonprofits and public policy, civil society in comparative perspective, education and social welfare policy, and social entrepreneurship. He was a founding director of the Corporation for National and Community Service during the Clinton Administration, and he was appointed by President George W. Bush as the CEO of the corporation in 2001.

    Professor Perry is an internationally recognized leader in public administration and the study of public management. His 45 years of scholarship includes expertise in public management, public organizational behavior, government and civil service reform, national and community service, public service motivation, and performance-related pay.
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    25 mins
  • 17 | Community organizations and combatting social isolation with Brad Fulton

    17 | Community organizations and combatting social isolation with Brad Fulton
    Nov 19 2024
    For the past several years, researchers, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have warned of the growing issue of social isolation, a growing loneliness epidemic, and the impact it is having on the physical and mental health of people not only in the United States but around the world.

    The Surgeon General reported that social isolation increases the risk of premature death by 29 percent, the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It also increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and other serious medical conditions.

    That’s the bad news. The good news is the solution to social isolation, and the loneliness that can accompany it, may already exist in the form of community organizations that once formed the bedrock of community involvement and can play a major, if evolving, role.

    We’re joined by Associate Professor Brad Fulton, an expert on the social, political, and economic impact of community-based organizations. He directs the National Study of Community Organizing—a multi-level study that examines the causes and consequences of racial, socioeconomic, and religious diversity within grassroots advocacy organizations. Fulton also co-leads the Observing Civic Engagement project—a field study that uses an innovative data collection technique, known as systematic social observation, to analyze the internal dynamics of organizations.
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    21 mins

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