Does anyone know if there is a forum, group or association for graphic designers that work for the government? I work at the City of Gaithersburg and there are some challenges unique to working for the government, so I was wondering if there is such a group.
None that I know of … but that doesn’t mean much 
I’m sure if anyone else has any ideas, they will chime in. Otherwise I would just start asking around with people that are in your line of work.
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There are a few specialty associations of government communication professionals that have design components, but they’re not really centered on graphic design.
There’s also Govloop, which has some design-related groups and online forums, but they’re not especially active. For example: https://www.govloop.com/groups/grahpicdesigningovernment/
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I can’t think of one, but an association like the RGD have a lot of useful resources. For example, a document on designing for accessibility (which almost reads as a government produced document).
Hope that helps.
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A Canadian association isn’t likely to be much help to someone in Gaithersburg MD USA.
What kind of challenges are you encountering? Several of us here have worked for .gov entities. Maybe we have answers?
Oh, wow. I’m in Maryland too. 
I’ve done some work for Montgomery County.
A big thing with designing for governments is if you design for something that has federal funding, it must be accessible to people with disabilities. I was sought out to learn this by PubCom. They are in Takoma Park.
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I’ve been contracting with parks and rec departments for 30 years and don’t know of any group specifically about graphic design. If you start one I’ll join!
In another thread you mention activity guides. If this is related to parks and rec, you might check with your state association. Here in California, CPRS organizes ‘brochure exchanges’, where the people involved in the marketing of parks and rec get together regularly and trade marketing materials and compare notes. There are designers who go to the meetings, but the meetings aren’t necessarily about design. It’s about marketing. A state association of public information officers might be another place to check.
Let me know if you find something though. I’d be very interested.
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If you are park services or historical, there is this:
https://www.aam-us.org/
The OP hasn’t been back with specifics.
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Thank you all, these are really good resources. Specially the link for the American Alliance of Museums. I’m the graphic designer for all the city facilities, within the Public Relations office. I design all kinds of pieces including the recreation guide and all marketing materials parks and rec may need. But we also have a museum, so I design for them as well. It’s a wide range of publications. I’m looking to learn more about resources that can apply to the kind of projects I work on and see what other cities are doing. This is a good starting point! I might start a government graphic design forum or group!
That’s helpful info.
Here are some more resources:
A very handy resource for museums. The NPS has strict guidelines regarding ADA and they have a specific style guide, but the general parameters are very easy to understand.
https://www.nps.gov/features/hfc/guidelines/
The latest greatest ADA regulations
https://www.ada.gov/reg3a.html
Specifically section 4.30 when it comes to signage and way finding.
https://www.ada.gov/reg3a.html#Anchor-10133
Your city fire codes may be more strict than these regarding emergency egress signage.
Note also, Grade 2 Braille is a truncated version of standard Braille. You can’t use a braille font to do letter-for-letter translations. Grade 2 translations will be much shorter than standard Braille. Any sign shop that does ADA signage will be able to do the translation for you.
As far as organizations go, you may also want to check into the Society for Experiential Graphic Design. Their XLabs explore what cities are doing as far as wayfinding etc.
https://segd.org/
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Just wanted to update this threat with 2 very good resources I found:
- AIGA DOTGOV DESIGN (Washington DC) - https://dc.aiga.org/programs-initiatives/dotgovdesign/
- DIG (Design in Government) - https://www.facebook.com/designingovernment/
http://www.godig.org/