- Each individual student will create a policy brief on an urban health issue directed to decision-makers at local, state, or federal levels using concepts, ideas, or information from the course (25 points).
- Beginning Your Policy Brief: Use these questions to begin thinking about your policy brief‟s purpose, audience, and contribution:
- What problem will your brief address?
- Who is the audience?
- Why is the problem important to them?
- What do you know about the audience (e.g., technical knowledge, political or organizational culture or constraints, exposure to the issue, potential openness to the message)?
- What other policy or issue briefs already exist? How will your brief differ (e.g., different information, perspective, aim, or audience)?
- Format:
- Title
- Needs to be descriptive & catch attention of the reader
- Aim of Brief and Definition/Significance of the Problem
- Includes the aim of the policy brief
- Includes clear definition of the problem or issue
- Includes discussion of key background information needed to support importance of problem and why status quo is not acceptable
- Can include graph or figures if appropriate
- Policy Recommendation
- Discuss key information needed to support policy recommendation as best solution
- Review & refutation of major policy alternatives (optional)
- The nature of the policy issue and policy landscape will determine the need for discussion of policy alternative
- Conclusion
- Why recommended policy is best solution to problem
- This is your 2-4 sentence “take home message”
- Cite References, using consistent formatting, as necessary to document the data sources used to build your case. You should include a minimum of 8 references for your brief.
- Title
- Policy briefs should be no more than 4 pages in length, ideally, 2 pages or less. Layout, font, etc., are entirely up to your discretion based on the format that you think is most appropriate.
- Putting this together should be guided by: a clear sense of your problem/issue definition, knowing “what success looks like,” a well-defined audience, and a clear understanding of both the political and policy context.
- Submit a separate document (1-3 paragraphs), detailing the following (5 points):
- Why you chose this issue: its importance to you
- Background: how you researched issue
- Next steps: what are your plans regarding using the policy brief in actuality or what you learned about how to move forward with this issue
- What you learned: both about the issue and about the process—include successes and challenges