The PolicyOptions.org community think tanks will provide the following information on a wide range of community issues at the local, state, and national level:

• News
  • Funding announcements (available & awarded)
  • Legislative announcements (proposed & passed)
  • Court announcements (legal)
  • Meeting announcements
  • Reports, studies, publications
• Research
  • Policy options in the form of planning trees that describe distinctly different approaches to addressing a community problem, including model programs and best practices
  • Issue Briefs (2-3 page summaries that describe the scope of the problem, past policies, current programs and policies, proposed solutions/options, key organizations/individuals, and a glossary of terms)
  • Community-Based Research papers
  • Community-Based Research courses at the five Trenton-area colleges and universities
  • Directories for organizations, programs, and individuals
  • Data Sources (links to primary sources of data such as census, employment, and other relevant data)
• Non-Profit Management Resources
  • Training and technical assistance resources
  • Resource publications (guides, handbooks, etc.)
  • Training workshops and related conferences
  • Directory of consultants and resource organizations
  • Job opportunities

Under the PolicyOption.org research methodology developed at the Youth Policy Institute, researchers summarize a local, regional, state, or national public policy issue in a format and style that is easy to understand and use in dialogue, plannning, and decision making.

The issue brief answers the following questions:

1. Goal Statement

What is the goal of the policies or programs

2. Scope of the Problem

What was the scope of the problem in the past? How is the problem defined today? What is the future outlook for this issue?

3. Past Policy

What is the past policy? What programs have been in place? How much money was spent each year? What have been the evaluations of those programs? Past policy includes: key milestones, legislative history, funding history, and evaluation history.

4. Current Policy

What is currently being done to address the problem? Current policy analysis includes: federal programs, funding levels, regulations, evaluations, and reports.

For each policy option (past, current, and proposed) and model program, the following questions are answered to provide a consistent analysis for comparison: goal, cost, allocation, implementation, evaluation, outlook/status.

5. Policy Options or Program Models

What are the distinct policy options? These options may be in the form of legislation, demonstration projects, model state & local programs, and conceptual papers/books. They are presented in the form of a "planning tree" (see below).

6. Key Organizations/Individuals

Who are the key people or organizations in the areas of politics, government, academia, neighborhoods, corporations, unions, and nonprofit organizations?

7. Glossary

What are the key terms related to this issue and/or policy discussion?

8. Bibliography

What are the key bibliographic references? Where can one find more background material? For each reference, the following questions are answered: goal, author, date, and publisher.

More on the issue briefs can be found at www.policyoptionswiki.org. Belos is a chart showing how the policy options are organized to show distinctly different approaches categorized in a planning tree format.