In our conference calls this week, the 25 participants (representing 21 campuses and the Bonner Foundation) expressed genuine enthusiasm for the aspirations of this initiative. We shared a variety of ideas, challenges and questions about the PolicyOptions.org strategy that now will shape how we move forward. Below are few highlights:

Ideas:

• Using the PolicyOptions IssueBrief template when assigning public policy analysis research papers as part of academic courses, academic internships, or service-based scholarship programs (i.e., Bonner Scholars/Leaders);
• Identifying thematic public policy research projects (e.g., public health, environment, achievement gap, etc.) that can be done collaboratively in multiple local sites
• Presenting this public policy CBR model to disciplinary associations (e.g., public policy, history, social work, etc.) as an approach for undergraduate research and faculty-student research;

Challenges

• Ensuring that the PolicyOptions Issue Briefs are comprehensive and objective or balanced presentations by developing a community of activists and academics who will form the "peer review" function similar to an academic journal;
• Finding ways to connect researchers working on this initiative with others researching the same or similar issues;
• Reaching out to new faculty in a wide ranch of disciplines who could incorporate the PolicyOptions Issue Brief research assignments into their courses;

Questions

• As we seek to raise grant funds to launch this initiative with participating campuses, what budget items will be most useful (e.g., faculty development, student research internships, travel to meetings on this topic, etc.)?
• How can we reconcile a standardized PolicyOptions Issue Brief template with the wide ranch of policy analysis requests that are likely to be requested by community partners?
• How do we ensure quality when working with undergraduate students? What role might the faculty member be expected to play in editing final student research before being published on the PolicyOptions.org website?

In addition to the above, there are two other challenges I am faced with as the lead organizer for this initiative:

• Working with our programmer to move the real PolicyOptions.org website (as opposed to this organizer's blog) to version 1.0 status by early in the new year (see the beta version at trenton.policyoptions.org);
• Finding resources and strategies to pilot a network of campus community information bureaus that engage in both the policy analysis (Issue Briefs) and news and resource research for local and state PolicyOptions.org websites and email news digests.