Fellow Spotlight: Ibrahim Bharmal
Why did you choose GFA?
After graduating I wanted to learn how institutions can support and empower marginalized communities. A common refrain I heard was that government was ill-fit to do something like that: relegated as slow, un-inclusive, and outdated. That never sat well with me, because I viewed government as something that’s as good as the people who comprised it. In other words, the tragedy of government was really a tragedy of missed potential. GFA gave me an opportunity to begin to amend this, by allowing me to enter local government as my full self with the intention to learn about it and maybe even make it better.
What does “public service” mean to you?
Public service to me means centering the experiences of marginalized communities, using privilege as a tool for anti-racism, and fulfilling our obligations to take care one another with compassion and dignity.
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone who’s interested in government?
Government is a viable career choice for any background, experience, and age. You do not need to major in political science or economics to be a successful public servant. Rather, the pre-requisite to going into government is integrating compassion in your everyday experiences and acknowledging that you have an obligation to actively fight against injustice.
If you could change one thing about government, what would it be?
Oh God, so many things. We could start by instituting mandatory anti-racist trainings for every publicly funded institution.
What’s the best book you’ve read this year and why?
Separated by Jacob Soboroff. This is a fundamental work in understanding the child separation crisis at the border. Soboroff, one of the first journalists to break this crisis, provides the first-ever, comprehensive account of how our government enacted one of the cruelest policies in the past decade.
Ibrahim Bharmal is a Planning, Budgeting, and Policy Analyst at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. There, he focuses on integrating anti-racism in the department’s planning and innovation team and systematizing department-wide budgeting and policy procedures. He is also leading an initiative to help the department better understand how it can support its undocumented constituents. Previously he’s worked around the world to learn about the ways we can support marginalized communities including a human rights and migration center in East Java, Indonesia to refugee camps in Athens, Greece. Ibrahim graduated in 2018 with degrees in Comparative Literature and International Relations.