Announcing the Corruption Prevention Project

Democracy rests on a basic understanding that public power is entrusted to officials to serve the public. Citizens can disagree deeply about what government should do while expecting that its decisions will not be sold, steered toward insiders, or used for personal enrichment. Corruption gives people reason to believe that access and connections determine whose interests count, weakening the legitimacy of government itself.

The 2026 midterms brought that concern into sharp focus. The AP Voter Poll found that roughly half of voters considered government corruption crucial to their congressional vote.1 The finding speaks to a foundational question: how can public institutions earn confidence that they serve the people? Electoral accountability can bring about change, but changing who holds office cannot by itself close the opportunities for abuse that are embedded in government systems.

THE CORRUPTION PREVENTION PROJECT

The Program Integrity Alliance (PIA) is launching the Corruption Prevention Project, which will identify how those in power exploit public decisions for private or partisan benefit, examine the failures that enable those abuses, and advance practical safeguards. Working with ethics, oversight, journalism, and democracy organizations, we will turn documented cases of corruption and abuse of power into lessons for prevention. The result will be a roadmap for building and sustaining a government that is more resilient to corruption.

WHAT THE PROJECT WILL DELIVER

The project will produce three resources for congressional oversight staff, inspectors general, agency leaders, journalists, and accountability organizations:

1. A map of corruption risks in public decision-making. A framework showing where public decisions, such as contracting, grantmaking, and political appointments, are exposed to pay-to-play, undue influence, and self-dealing, and where the safeguards around them can be bypassed or switched off. Lawmakers and oversight bodies will be able to see where focused attention belongs.
2. A case-study series drawn from real cases. Documented cases across administrations and levels of government, traced to their root causes, including institutional and policy gaps and cultural barriers. Reform debates can rest on evidence of how abuse actually happens, across parties, rather than on headlines.
3. A prioritized reform roadmap. A practical action plan of reforms to policies, institutions, and norms that make government more resilient to corruption, giving Congress, agencies, and civil society a clear set of priorities to act on. PIA will share findings as they emerge and welcomes partners who want to help turn the lessons of past abuses into lasting safeguards. Learn more at programintegrity.org.

[1] AP Voter Poll reporting, November 4, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/688773185f71690b00847726efbf045a