Project Citizen in Action is a civic education program that promotes competent and responsible civic participation among students, parents, and community members. It engages students in learning how to monitor and influence public policy by identifying a public policy problem in their community, evaluating alternative solutions, proposing their own solution, and developing an action plan to implement it. Students conduct research from various sources and present their findings and policy recommendations in a portfolio.

2. Project Citizen in Action

3. Civic education program Promotes competent and responsible participation in state and local government Engages students in learning how to monitor and influence public policy Encourages civic participation among students, parents and members of the community

4. Identify a public policy problem & evaluate alternative solutions Propose a solution Develop an action plan for implementing their policy Display research in a portfolio and documentation binder I t means you and your class will…

5. alternative policies the problem documentation section our class policy our action plan H ere’s what a class creates to “showcase” their efforts.

12. Start: 56:26

15. Text books emphasize this

16. Debrief Project Citizen text pages vi-3 Comments? Concerns so far?

18. Identifying Public Policy Problems in Your Community Project Citizen text: Step 1, pages 10-16

19. Who should be responsible for solving our community problems? Discuss with a partner.

20. Spheres of Society individuals families private business philanthropists service organizations private clubs churches unions trade groups national, state, local, special districts, government agencies

23. Who solves problems?

25. So, what is “public policy?” Defined Public policy is the combination of basic decisions, commitments, and actions made by government officials who have authority to act. Policymaking is the act of arriving at a decision regarding the public good or well being, through an agreed upon public policy process, based on established norms and procedures.

26. In democracies, a public policy is a concept or set of ideas that guides a course of action or a procedure used in dealing with public issues or problems. Public policies are often embodied in laws, rules, or regulations or agreed upon procedures used by government to fulfill its responsibilities to protect the rights of the people and to promote the general welfare. Found Poem With a partner, pick no more than 10words from the definition on the previous slide and the text below to describe what a “public policy” is.

34. How could the problem be addressed?

35. Debrief Project Citizen text pages 10-16 Comments? Concerns so far?

38. Characteristics of a good policy A rule must be clear and easy to understand. People must be able to do what the rules say. It must not conflict with another rule. It must be enforceable. There should be a penalty for breaking it. It must be posted or explained to people.

40. Finding public policies in the news? Title of the article and author Brief summary of the problem it addresses Public policy issue involved (if any). Government authority with responsibility to handle the problem (if any). With a group, scan through the news to look for stories that deal with an issue relating to public policy. Be sure to answer the following:

43. How the scale works Consider a problem you might want to study Consider the scope. How many people are affected? Assign a numerical score. Consider the duration. Chronic problems are likely to bother more people than recent topics. Assign a numerical score. To what extent is this problem psychologically/emotionally bothering you? *Assign a numerical score. Closing school libraries * You will want to consider the resources which can be used to address the problem later as you propose a policy. Higher scoring problems could provide a topic for study.

46. Debrief Project Citizen text pages 44-45 Comments? Concerns so far? Constitutional Opinion Form

52. Want more training? www.civiced.org