Chris Lu has spent the last 20 years at the hub of federal policy making, including as Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Labor, and he is still a champion of public service. As he says, government matters: it builds our roads and bridges, creates the laws that protect veterans, keeps our homeland secure and our air and water clean. In his long tenure with first Senator and then President Barack Obama, he has been guided by a belief in the capacity of government to make the American Dream possible for all families, including his own parents, who immigrated to the United States from China. Now a Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Policy, Chris speaks often to young people who want to affect policy change. His advice, in the current political environment, is to think more expansively about where and how change is made. Chris sees innovation and problem-solving on issues from climate change to job training and Census implementation resting in local and state government, nonprofits and even mission-driven corporations. And he sees technology as crucial to the mostly calcified systems that nonprofits and companies use to manage government relations. He is Senior Advisor to Fiscal Note, a company that provides customizable online programs to nonprofits wanting to reach and influence local, state and federal policy makers. Chris Lu is a believer in our collective potential to make change. You might see him going door to door for a local or presidential candidate and he encourages you to do the same. This is where policy conversations really begin.