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About Us     |    Research & Writing Guide     |    Information Sources    |   Campus Working Pages

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About Us

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Background     |     Content Plan    |     Development Plan     |     Affiliate Bureaus

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 PolicyOption.org will gather, organize, and analyze information in the following content categories:

 

• Policy & Program News, including funding, legislation, regulations, reports, meetings 

• Research & Policy Research & Analysis that frames a policy discussion by providing information on Scope of the Problem, Past Policy, Current Policy, Proposed Solutions, Glossary, and Sources. 

• Non-Profit Resources, including links to resource and funding organizations, training opportunities, websites, and publications.

 

Below you'll find more detail on what information we'll be gathering, how we'll be gathering it, how it will be used, and some articles that address our content plan.

 

 

News, Research, & Resources

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The national network of affiliated PolicyOptions.org Bureaus will provide the following information on a wide range of community issues at the local, state, and national level:

 

News

• Funding announcements (available & awarded)
• Legislative announcements (proposed & passed)
• Court announcements (legal)
• Meeting announcements
• Reports, studies, publications

 

Research

• Policy options in the form of planning trees that describe distinctly different approaches to addressing a community problem, including model programs and best practices
• Issue Briefs (2-3 page summaries that describe the scope of the problem, past policies, current programs and policies, proposed solutions/options, key organizations/individuals, and a glossary of terms)
• Community-Based Research papers
• Community-Based Research courses at the five Trenton-area colleges and universities
• Directories for organizations, programs, and individuals
• Data Sources (links to primary sources of data such as census, employment, and other relevant data)

 

Resources

• Training and technical assistance resources
• Resource publications (guides, handbooks, etc.)
• Training workshops and related conferences
• Directory of consultants and resource organizations
• Job opportunities 

 

PolicyOptions Issue Briefs Template

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Under the PolicyOption.org research methodology developed at the Youth Policy Institute, researchers summarize a local, regional, state, or national public policy issue in a format and style that is easy to understand and use in dialogue, plannning, and decision making. 

 

The issue brief  answers the following questions:  

 

1. Goal Statement

What is the goal of the policies or programs

 

2.  Scope of the Problem

What was the scope of the problem in the past?  How is the problem defined today?  What is the future outlook for this issue?

 

3.  Past Policy  

What is the past policy?  What programs have been in place?  How much money was spent each year?  What have been the evaluations of those programs?  Past policy includes:   key milestones, legislative history, funding history, and evaluation history.

 

4.  Current Policy

What is currently being done to address the problem?  Current policy analysis includes: federal programs, funding levels, regulations, evaluations, and reports.

For each policy option (past, current, and proposed) and model program, the following questions are answered to provide a consistent analysis for comparison:  goal, cost, allocation, implementation, evaluation, outlook/status.    

 

5.  Policy Options or Program Models

What are the distinct policy options?  These options may be in the form of legislation, demonstration projects, model state & local programs, and conceptual papers/books. They are presented in the form of a "planning tree" (see below).

 

6.  Key Organizations/Individuals

Who are the key people or organizations in the areas of politics, government, academia, neighborhoods, corporations, unions, and nonprofit organizations?

 

7.  Glossary

What are the key terms related to this issue and/or policy discussion?

 

8.  Bibliography

What are the key bibliographic references?  Where can one find more background material?  For each reference, the following questions are answered:  goal, author, date, and publisher. 

More on the issue briefs can be found at www.policyoptionswiki.org.  Belos is a chart showing how the policy options are organized to show distinctly different approaches categorized in a planning tree format.

 

 

Research Process

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The PolicyOptions.org affiliates will manage a website and weekly email newsletter and discussion list.  The publishing process for the affiliaties will look like this:

 

Community News Bureau:

• Small teams of college students who work 10 hours per week to update news & resources 
• Paid from work-study, AmeriCorps Education Awards, and/or service-based scholarship

 

Policy Analysts:

• Graduate or undergraduate students who research particular issue
• Receive academic credit and opportunity to publish their research

 

We are piloting the collection process with a range of campuses (see About Us > Affiliate Bureaus).

 

 

Publishing

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Websites

 

The PolicyOption.org websites will provide local, state, and national policy news, research, and resources for non-profit agency staff in an easy-to-read and search format. A rough mock-up can be found below:

 

 

PolicyOptions.org will also be providing the policy research content for MyGovernment.org website, which will launched in January, 2009.

 

Issue Briefs

 

PolicyOption Issue Briefs are 2-4 page versions and  the in-depth issue analysis will be available on this wikii as they are being developed. Later these will be incorporated directly into the PolicyOptions.org website.

 

Weekly Email Digests

 

Users will be able to sign-up for weekly email updates on the PolicyOptions.org sites.  The email alerts will have a brief article reference with a link to full article or issue brief on the PolicyOptions.org website. Users will be invited to submit questions or announcements to the PolicyOptions.org editors for inclusion in subsequent weekly email news updates, thus encouraging networking among non-profit, community, and government leaders in a geographical area.

 

RSS Feeds

 

Users to have the option of signing up for an RSS for an entire site or for information from a specific issue area. This has become a popular option on many websites.

 

 

Audiences

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Policymakers

 

Policymakers at the local and state level often lack the professional research staff to keep well enough informed on the issues they are deciding upon while in office.  Specifically, they need:

• Brief, up-to-date, accurate and objective policy news & analysis
• Information on related programs and policies

 

Practitioners

 

Non-profit organizations that are well suited to serving their constituents may lack the necessary resources (i.e., financial, technical, and staff) to generate adequate research to support their funding arguments or evaluate their programs.  The internet is touted as a solution to information access, but the internet has only increased the overwhelming quantity of disorganized information that users face.  They need a source of local information to support planning, collaboration, fundraising, collaboration, advocacy, and policy-making. 

 

A focus group survey of small to medium size non-profit directors conducted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change found the following:

• Information overload causes staff to miss out on important information
• Lack systemic learning or knowledge-management process
• Lack effective data collection and outcome measurement
• Want to hear the “real story” not just success stories
• See a role for a knowledge broker who can sift and sort available information
• Email is most frequently used information technology
• Prefer accessing information through direct one-on-one contact with someone they trust 

 

We believe the information and support provided by local PolicyOptions.org bureaus combined with the other forms of campus-outreach (e.g., direct service, training, issue forums, community-based research in the form of program evaluations, needs/asset assessments, etc.) directly respond to these challenges:

• Easy to use, comprehensive, up-to-date PolicyOptions.org website with linked local, state, and national news & resources
• PolicyOptions Issue Briefs that provide local, state, and national analysis & proposed solutions/policy options
• Organize deliberative democracy forums to bring together non-profit and government leaders, residents, and faculty and students with common interests
• Community-based research partnerships with local campus
• Capacity building training and on-going support
• Connect local nonprofit leaders via national network of local/regional campus-community partnerships
• Staff of local PolicyOption.org bureaus serve as community news & information “bureaus” provide monitor and report on local, state, and national issue activity
• Regular email news update put out by by local PolicyOption.org bureaus, encouraging information sharing and networking
• Individualized research support provided by staff and volunteers from local PolicyOption.org partnerships (esp. students and faculty doing CBR)

 

 Citizens & Communities

 

Individual citizens are often unable to participate in community decision-making and planning due to a lack of information and expertise.  Even the brightest people do not have access to the best available information and to the range of solutions for the many issues that confront us.  At most each of us has expertise in a limited number of areas. Citizens who want to participate in our democracy need current and proposed program and policy news and analysis to educate and inform their involvement in our democracy. Students and other volunteers need this same information to provide a larger context for their community service engagement.

Communities lack a "local community information infrastructure" that makes important data and reports about an area’s assets and resources available to those who are engaged in (or seek to pursue) civic involvement and problem-solving.  Our community partners regularly complain that both resources and communication are fragmented.  This fragmentation applies both to those working to improve the quality of life and those seeking to access services. 

 

Note:  every day it seems there are new internet-based efforts to inform and engage citizens in public policy and social action.  Here is a List of Related Websites.