Toby Cain
2026-2027 Obama Foundation USA Leader
Organizing Director, Civil Service Strong
Decorah, Iowa
Toby Cain is the organizing director for Civil Service Strong, a project of Democracy Forward. She is building a national coalition of civil servants, advocates, and supporters working to protect the public workforce and strengthen its role in serving communities across the country. She has created the foundation for long-term grassroots and grasstops engagement by recruiting and stewarding over 120 organizations across the civil service ecosystem. Previously, as chief of staff at the USDA’s Risk Management Agency, Toby supported more than 1.1M farmers through a $207B federal farm safety net program while advancing agency-wide equity initiatives and expanding outreach to underserved agricultural communities. She helped launch the $3B Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, aligning federal policy, private sector investment, and local stakeholders to shift market incentives toward sustainable agriculture.
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