| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

About Us > Local Bureaus

Page history last edited by Robert Hackett 3 years, 10 months ago

Front Page / About Us / Local Bureaus 

 

About Us


Overview     |      Background     |     Content Plan     |      Local Bureaus


 

We are organizing a national network affiliated local and state PolicyOptions.org Bureaus linked to a national organization that collects the national level information. The share underlying PolicyOptions.org web platform (this wiki and the upcoming content management system) to facilitate information sharing and dialogue within and across communities nationwide. 

 

Phase I - Issue Briefs via PolicyOptions Wiki

  • Experimenting wiki as platform for collaborative writing, editing, and publishing of issue overviews & briefs
  • Requesting that topics researched are determined in response to request by a specific community organization, elected or public official, advocacy group, or campus service organization
  • Seek to develop process of "peer review" by academics and activists in the fields being researched
  • Learning how this research assignment is best incorporated by college and university students working with faculty in academic courses and internships
  • Assess suitability of issue overview/brief templates for various audiences

 

Phase II - Local/State PolicyOption.org Bureaus

  • Pilot local PolicyOptions bureaus on campuses in the Bonner Network
  • Learn what volunteer student staffing levels needed to manage local bureaus that populate and maintain local PolicyOptions content on the PolicyOptions Wiki (this site).

  

 

Principles


 

The principles underlying the PolicyOptions.org network partnerships are:

  • comprehensive, objective research that shows all sides of an issue
  • shared tools and information via PolicyOptions.org network
  • leverage community-university partnerships
  • community-driven philosophy

 

National Network Plan


Below we outline our strategy for staffing and generating the content for the PolicyOptions.org website:

 

Local Bureaus

 

Local campus affiliates/partners will have the following staff:

  • faculty/staff advisor
  • students in policy courses and graduate students assigned to or focused on specific types of research
  • student interns working as part of a local community research corps 

 

Local Bureaus will establish an Advisory Board made up of both campus (faculty, student, and staff) and community leaders.  Through these boards, all participants will be involved in program planning, training, supervising, developing, and recognizing others who are involved in their local activities.  In addition, the principles of participatory research operate in each initiative involving our campus-community partnerships.

 

National Bureau

 

The national office staff will:

  • update and maintain PolicyOptions.org web platform and content
  • support local and state affiliates (college and universities, researchers) 

 

The national staff will be supported by the following advisory groups:

  • National Advisory Board that is broadly representative of our affiliate bureaus
  • Editorial Board of Issue Experts

 

 

 

PolicyOptions Pilot Efforts


For our initial pilot phase, we have begun working staff and faculty from colleges and universities in the following locations:

 

The Bonner Foundation is working with its national network of 65 colleges and universities to establish community information and networking hubs that link the civic engagement mission of higher education with the information and networking needs of community change leaders.  Through this initiative, we seek to address the need for news and analysis that is timely, comprehensive, and neutral, as well as provide opportunities to network with other people and organizations seeking to address pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

 

This effort will mobilize teams of students with support from campus staff and faculty to: (1) maintain their local PolicyOptions Wiki Bureau as a community information hub with policy briefs, a directory of organizations, and sources of information; (2) link community partner requests for original community-based research and data analysis; and (3) provide networking support for individual organizations and coalitions by hosting issue forums, leveraging social media tools, and researching issue briefs.

 

Since September, 2009, more than 150 issue briefs have been started by nearly 600 student policy analysts from 25 colleges and universities.  Using the wiki platform allows the students to collaborate with others on this research not only at their own institutions but nationally as well.

 

New topics are being added regularly.  In addition, we are in the process of soliciting participation by issue experts to serve as contributing editors to help ensure the quality of the issue briefs.

 

 

 

You can learn more about our plans in these powerpoints: 

 

 

 

 

And a little more about how the PolicyOptions.org initiative fits into our overall strategy for helping campuses develop comprehensive, integrated partnerships with their local communities by reading this vision statement and also reviewing the powerpoint below:  

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.