| Dianne Stewart
Director of Public Works
Dianne Stewart began the program that is now Public Works in 2002, with the goal of building support for an effective, accountable, and well-resourced public sector that can address the challenges our nation faces in the 21st century. This effort was dedicated to the idea that our economy can and should offer opportunities for all Americans and that government has a particularly important role to play in ensuring this happens. Public Works now works with leaders in 34 states to build an articulate constituency that can successfully make the case for the public structures and systems that we have built over generations and that helped create and maintain the quality of life we expect in this country.
Ms. Stewart’s work – spanning the last 30 years – has focused on carrying out these ideals. Prior to leading Public Works, Ms. Stewart founded and ran the Texas-based Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP), a non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to building the economic and social well-being of low-income Texans. CPPP influenced public policy by providing timely, credible, understandable data-based research and analysis and using that research and analysis to advocate for policy change. This work, as well as previous work in Texas state government, in Washington, D.C., and in the private sector all converged on goals of creating effective government.
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Patrick Bresette
Associate Program Director
Patrick is responsible for taking the work of the program out to the
states and partner organizations and seeking ways to imbed the lessons
learned and strategies developed into the everyday work of the many
stakeholders for an effective public sector. Patrick comes to the project after thirteen years as Associate
Director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and before that as
a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives. He brings
with him a broad understanding of how to work with and within the
public sector for positive social change. His years of work leading the
policy team at CPPP, spearheading the organization's legislative
initiatives, and leading diverse coalitions of partner organizations
situate him well for his outreach and partnership development efforts
with this initiative. Patrick has an MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas at Austin and a BFA in Sculpture from the New York
State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
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Marcia Kinsey
Program Associate
Marcia joined Dēmos
in September of 2003. Marcia conducts trainings and workshops designed to help partner organizations in their efforts to build support for an effective, empowered public sector. She also helps to produce
the analytical and organizing tools for use by our state
partners. Marcia most recently served the United States government as a
diplomat in Belize in Central America. Prior to her stint in the U.S. Foreign Service, Marcia worked for seven
and a half years as a public policy analyst for the Texas-based Center
for Public Policy Priorities where worked on a range of public
policy issues affecting Texans
with low and moderate incomes. Marcia has a
bachelor's degree in Economics. She lives and works in Austin,
Texas.
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Elaine Mejia
Senior Program Associate
Elaine joined the Public Works
team in July 2010 after eight years as the Director of the
North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, a state-level policy research and
advocacy organization in her home state of North Carolina. During her time with the NC
Budget & Tax Center, Elaine incorporated Dēmos’ research on how talk
about government into her work on several successful policy campaigns
including initiatives to raise state taxes to address budget shortfalls,
to enact a state Earned Income Tax Credit and to raise the state
minimum wage. Prior to serving as the
Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center, Elaine worked as an analyst
in state and local government in North Carolina. She holds an MPA from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and B.S. in Political
Science from Texas A&M University.
As
a Senior Program Associate with Public Works, Elaine is responsible for
taking the work of the program out to current partners and potential
new allies and then helping them to integrate best practices into their
everyday work.
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Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith
Program Assistant
Jonathan joined the Public Works team in November 2010. As
Program Assistant, Jonathan manages online communications with Public
Works partners and maintains the Public Works website. Prior to serving
as Program Assistant, Jonathan held internships in the office of
Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez, the non-profit housing association
Avenida Guadalupe, and UNITE HERE! in Chicago, Illinois. He has worked
on political campaigns as a field organizer and speech writer. Jonathan
recently graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in
Philosophy and International Studies.
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