This post will attempt a comprehensive listing of such communities. I am purposefully excluding mere websites that include information about the program, because the emphasis is on connecting with others. I will, however, list out all of the blogs, pages, groups, and other networking tools run by or in support of agency-specific, school-specific, or other demographically specific PMFs. If you encounter anything I've missed, or have started your own community somewhere, leave a comment and let us know!
A quick note on criteria: If I didn't already know of a group, and it was not submitted as a comment on this post, then I found it in one of two ways. Either I searched on Google (and found it somewhere on the first page of results; I don't have a great deal of time to dig for hidden treasures here), or I searched directly on likely networks. If the community has few members and/or doesn't seem to be providing value (is demographically restricted AND walled off, for instance), then I am probably excluding them here. I am open to persuasion, however, so if you want your community profiled here, and I've excluded it, make your case. In any event, you can simply include it in the comments, since I won't remove those unless you're a spambot.
- Presidential Management Fellows: This group is the largest and most active I've found on Facebook.
- PMF Community Service Initiative: Provides formalized community service opportunities to PMFs.
- Presidential Management Interns/Fellows: Another general purpose group, albeit a small one.
- PMFs are the Best of the Best: Small, potentially not used.
- Black Presidential Management Fellows: Very small, but I would like to see more interest.
- NIH PMF Program: A Fan Page for PMFs at NIH.
- PMF Class of 2007 (Presidential Management Fellows): For the cohort year 2007. This is the earliest year-specific group I can find on Facebook.
- PMF Class of 2008 (Presidential Management Fellows): For the 2008 class.
- Presidential Management Fellows 2008: What seems to be a duplicate of the 2008 group. I don't know which was first.
- PMF Class of 2009 (Presidential Management Fellows): For the 2009 class.
- PMF Class of 2010 (Presidential Management Fellows): The 2010 class.
- PMF Class of 2011 (Presidential Management Fellows): Confusingly, and unlike the other year-specific groups, this one is NOT for people who will be applying for the program in 2010-2011; rather, it is for those who will complete the program in 2011.
- Presidential Management Fellows: Fairly active, the largest on LinkedIn
- Presidential Management Program: Smallish
- NIH PMF: Because they want to cover all their bases.
- Presidential Management Fellows Class of 2008: Specific to those who became finalists in 2008.
- Presidential Management Fellows Class of 2009: For those who became finalists in 2009.
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups have been around a while, and it totally shows. My search turned up 9 usable results, but I don't doubt there are some other groups lurking out there. The frustrating thing about Yahoo! Groups, and the reason I rarely use them, is that the membership restrictions are, well, too restrictive. Oh, and there's the fact that you have to have a Yahoo! email address. Anyway, here's a certainly not comprehensive list of what I found there.- PMF-Finalist Central: Going strong for the last 6 years. Lots of current and former PMFs/PMIs are members, and lots of rotations are offered through here.
- DC PMF Social Group: For anyone living and working in DC as a PMF.
- westcoastpmf: West Coast? PMF? Go here.
- PMF-Homeland Security: If you're a PMF at Homeland Security, this group is for you.
- State Department PMF: One of State's three groups represented here.
- State Department PMF Class of 2006: Very specific to class of 2006 at State
- 2007 State PMF Group: Very specific to class of 2007 at State
- Presidential Management Fellow Attorneys: If you are a PMF with a Law degree, I guess this is for you.
- The listserve for Black PMIs and PMFs!: Pretty self explanatory.
GovLoop
GovLoop isn't as mature as the other networks, and its subsequent lack of niche groups is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. I was only able to find 2 groups.Blogs
These are the hardest to track down. I had to wade through numerous Google results gathered with a variety of different search terms, and even so I was left with many blogs that either mentioned the PMF only in passing or were talking about something completely unrelated. What I was looking for with blogs was information similar to what can be found here. The blogs in question do not have to be devoted to PMF, but I would like to gather as many perspectives as possible, especially from those who are in various stages of Fellowship, from finalist to graduate (or beyond). If you know if a resource I am missing, let me know.- Courtney Fong's PMF Assessment Blog: Courtney, if I recall, was class of 2006, and she keeps a blog similar to this one about PMF happenings.
- Aaron Helton's PMF Postings: Aaron is a class of 2009 PMF, and although his blog seems to be dead now (and not accepting comments), there is a good deal of information out there. I hope to replicate some of it here.
- Pete Ruscitti's PMF Papers: Pete is a 2011 PMF hopeful who is chronicling his journey through the process, so you might find some good information there as well.
