There is perhaps no long game more unforgiving than policy work, but Richmond native Jared Calfee is dedicated to “pushing that rock up the hill.”
After graduating with a political science degree from William and Mary in 2010, Calfee worked on political and issue campaigns from Northern Virginia to Las Vegas. When he and his wife landed back in Richmond in 2014, Calfee started working with the Virginia Public Access Project, a free resource that puts information online about politics, policy and campaign finances.
From there, Calfee was hired as executive director of Virginia21, an advocacy organization for young Virginians. During his time with the organization, Calfee and his tiny team were able to “get tens of millions in new money dedicated to financial aid funding,” and helped to pass a bill that “offers those with student loans protection from predatory practices of student loan servicers.”
After eight years at Virginia21, Calfee says he was ready to hang up his fundraising and administrative hats and devote himself fully to policy work. He was hired as state advocacy director for AARP Virginia in October 2022.
“I would argue that nursing home residents are one of the most overlooked populations of our society,” says Calfee. “They’re badly understaffed and many don’t provide very high-quality care.” During his first legislative session with the AARP, Calfee and a coalition of advocates were able to get a bill through the General Assembly implementing nursing home staffing standards. “I view working in public policy as an actual opportunity to make the world a better place,” says Calfee.
Calfee says people have asked him many times: Why work for the 50+ crowd? As a child, Calfee was keenly aware of his grandfather’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. As the disease progressed, he witnessed both his grandmother and mother drop everything to become full-time caretakers.
“Watching how difficult that was for someone with such a strong support system in place made me wonder, ‘How could anyone possibly deal with this without these same resources?’” says Calfee. “Being able to pass bills that help support people like that is really meaningful to me.”
