Thursday, January 21, 2010

Chapter 4 Agency in Policy Turmoil pgs. 123-124

Chapter 4 Agency in Policy Turmoil pgs. 123-124 Read the case example entitled “Agency in Policy Turmoil” by Samuel Taylor in Chapter 4 of the 4th edition of BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE POLICY ADVOCATE (pp. 123-124). Assess Dr. Breeze’s skill in applying or using 4 skills to accomplish one or more of the six policy tasks. (You may find that the case does not give enough information for you to evaluate Dr. Breeze in every task or skill, but use the available content in the case to make a preliminary estimate.)

6 Policy Tasks
Agenda Building
Problem Analyzing
Proposal Writing
Proposal Enacting
Policy Implementing
Policy Assessing

4 Policy Skills
Analytical
Political
Interactional
Value Clarifying

Research on Welfare Leavers

Research on Welfare Leavers

Most states have commissioned welfare leaver reports or have been the subject of leaver studies with their cooperation. Find a welfare leaver study for your state and read it. (Google)Post on your Learning Journal and be prepared to discuss in class.

Answer the following questions about the report that you found:

Write a synopsis of the study’s findings.

What is your assessment of the quality of the study and the independence of the researchers.

What should we conclude about the success or failure of welfare reform in that state?

FYI – one or two sentence responses are not acceptable.

Chapter 9 Political Institutions

Chapter 9 Political Institutions -After referring to Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.1 (p. 289), students will locate web sites of their home Congressional Representative and Senator. Compare and contrast their web sites with respect to the (1)quality of information provided

(2) as well as the extent the web site has an ideological bias. (refer to table 1.1 pg 16 and pgs. 51-54)

Also find and examine the web site of your state’s Governor, asking the same questions.

Of the three web sites, which did you like the most and which did you place at the bottom of the list?

Use the following textbook and cite your sources and page numbers - Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice (4th Edition)

Clarification of Values

Clarification of Values

Purpose:

To reveal how prejudices and values influence decisions.

Procedure:

Assume the following story to be true.

Read the following scenario and follow the directions.

Scenario:

The Nuclear War

The United States has been involved in a nuclear war. Ten people find themselves in a shelter capable of supporting only six people for the year of necessary confinement. There are no other shelters which survived the attack.

Your problem is to evict 4 people so that the remaining 6 may survive. After you come to a decision, place a plus sign (+) in front of the names of those individuals the group has decided may live in the shelter and a zero (0) in front of the names of those the group has decided to evict. Be prepared to state why you either chose to keep or evict them.

The ten people are…….

1. Bookkeeper, 31 years old

2. His wife, six months pregnant

3. Black militant, second year medical student

4. Famous historian, author, 42 years of age

5. Hollywood starlet, single, dancer

6. Biochemist

7. Rabbi, 54 years old

8. Olympic athlete, all sports

9. College student

10. Policeman with gun (they cannot be separated)

The Future of Children Policy Brief Fall 2007

Families on Welfare

Applying Policy to Achieve Long Term Goals

Best Practice Briefs #4

Economic Security Book (very useful for policy papers)

The Art of Advocacy: Advocacy Handbook

Mentoring Advocacy Toolkit

After-school Policy Brief 2 : A fact sheet on children in youth in out-of-school time

Lessons Learned for Protecting and Education Children after the Gulf Coast Hurricanes

Monday, January 11, 2010

Oreo Video

Oreo Video -Watch the video and add your comments!

Oreo Video -Watch the video and add your comments!

http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/

TrueMajority was founded by Ben Cohen, Co-founder, Ben and Jerry's. It is a grassroots education and advocacy joint project of UsAction and UsAction Education Fund. Jan 19, 2010

Detention of Haitian Asylum Seekers: Summary Jan 19, 2010

Understanding Generalist Practice (Chap 14)

Understanding Generalist Practice (Chap 4)

The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy – (Chap 1)

Read the following articles , then post your comments about the article of a minimum of 100 words. Postings are due weekly although students may post more than one commentary per week - but not multiple comments the last week of the semester. Five (5) points will be deducted from the students final grade for each late posting.