1. Issue Track Session #2
Issue Research
Bonner Summer Leadership Institute
June, 2009

2. Issue Research
• Background
• Lessons Learned
★ Community-Based Research
★ PolicyOptions Issue Briefs
• Breakout to discuss...
★ Common issue brief topics
★ Strategies for implementing

3. Engagement
Advocacy Students present findings to School Board
Forum Organize public forum on school lunch
Issue Brief School lunch programs, farm-to-school, obesity
Research Evaluate student attitudes toward nutrition
Training Workshops for new Board & Staff
Summer Manage summer program & plan for Fall
Team Help expand to other Schools in District
Regular Coach students in School Garden Club
1x Plant School Garden for Orientation Service

4. Engagement
Issue Brief School lunch programs, farm-to-school, obesity
Research Evaluate student attitudes toward nutrition

5. CBR Questions

6. CBR Questions
Plan
• Needs & Asset
Assessment
• Issue Analysis

7. CBR Questions
Plan Decide
• Needs & Asset • Model Programs
Assessment • Policy Options
• Issue Analysis • Resources

8. CBR Questions
Plan Decide
• Needs & Asset • Model Programs
Assessment • Policy Options
• Issue Analysis • Resources
Implement
direct service
or advocacy

9. CBR Questions
Plan Decide
• Needs & Asset • Model Programs
Assessment • Policy Options
• Issue Analysis • Resources
Evaluate Implement
• Program Evaluation direct service
• On-Going Data or advocacy
Collection

10. Issue Brief Questions?
• What is the nature & extent of the
problem?
• What’s been tried in the past to address it?
• What’s being done now?
• What are the distinctly different
approaches to addressing this issue?

11. PolicyOption Template
• Goal Statement
• Scope of the Problem
• Past Policy
• Current Policy
• Policy Options / Program Models
• Key Organizations, Programs & People
• Glossary of Terms
• Bibliography

12. “Wikipedia for PolicyOptions”

13. Pilot Campuses
Washington & Lee University
• Poverty Study (90 page)
requested by County Manager
• Public forum (80 participants)
• Working groups & PolicyOptions
Issue Briefs
★ Transportation
★ Health
★ Housing & Water Systems
★ Education
★ Legal Needs of the Poor
★ Economic Development

14. Pilot Campuses
Hamilton College
• Government 202: Immigrants
and Refugees in the U.S.
• Interviews
• PolicyOptions Issue Briefs
★ Refugee Resettlement - USA
★ Refugee Resettlement - New
York
★ Refugee Resettlement - Utica,
NY

15. Pilot Campuses
Lynchburg College
• GS 220 – Exploring Social
Entrepreneurship
• PolicyOptions Issue Briefs
★ Mental Health Parity
★ Early Childhood Education
★ Hate Crimes
★ Homelessness
★ Refugee Resettlement
★ Rural Homelessness
★ Teenage Pregnancy
Prevention

16. Pilot Campuses
Washburn College
• HS302 Social Change and
Advocacy
• PolicyOptions Issue Briefs
★ Academic Literacy - Middle and High
School
★ Access to Health Services for ALS Patients
★ Access to Higher Education for Non-
Traditional Age Students
★ Bullying Policy In Public Schools
★ Domestic Violence Offender Intervention
★ Healthcare Access for Non-Traditional
Couples
★ Health Outreach to African Americans
★ Recycling

17. PolicyOptions Lessons
• Recruit community partners with specific
issue brief-oriented question(s)
• Frame topic to fit “options” focus
• Use PolicyOptions wiki from outset
• Break research process into steps, beginning
with key organizations & individuals
• Provide weekly feedback to students based
on information added to wiki

18. Online Issue Forum

19. Resources

20. Policy Information Hub
PolicyOptions.org
★ local policy news &
analysis
★ national network of
campus bureaus

21. Breakout
• Breakout to discuss...
★ Issue brief topics
★ Strategies for engaging faculty &
community partners

22. Breakout

23. Breakout

24. Report Out
• List issue brief topics
★ Identify common/overlapping topics
• Share & discuss strategies for engaging
faculty and community partners