Week 7: Presenting and Defending Policy Proposals

Changes are products of intensive efforts.
—Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

As a professional social worker and policy advocate, you will be called upon to make a difference in the lives of those who need assistance and can benefit from your expertise and experience. You will develop and defend policy proposals that must be creative and, ultimately, effective. Creating, presenting, and defending policy proposals can be challenging, sometimes frustrating, but also very rewarding when you have made a difference by persuading the policy makers to listen.

This week you will explore and analyze strategies for presenting policy proposals and strategies of persuasion to insure that your issues and items capture the attention of your targeted audience. Finally, you will produce a video presentation as a simulation for real-world policy leaders that summarizes a policy proposal you have created.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze strategies for presenting policy proposals
• Analyze strategies for defending policy proposals
• Present a policy proposal summary presentation

Learning Resources

Required Readings

SOCW 6361 Webliography
These websites will be required throughout the semester. Become familiar with these websites, especially when doing research for your assignments.

Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice  (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.
Chapter 9, “Presenting and Defending Policy Proposals in Step 5 and Step 6 of Policy Analysis” (pp. 284-326)

Jackson-Elmoore, C. (2005). Informing state policymakers: Opportunities for social workers. Social Work, 50(3), 251–261.

Optional Resources

MSW home page
Use this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

Small Group Discussion: Presenting Policy Proposals

Policy practitioners should know that being forewarned is being forearmed. You should know how to diagnose an audience, develop a persuasive strategy, have a “tactics tool bag” for dealing with difficult or expert audiences, and know how to develop non-confrontational communication methods with audiences when necessary. In short, you need to know how to skillfully defend the creative policy proposal you are about to present and how to talk to policy makers who may not be interested in the issues you are presenting.

In this Small Group Discussion, you explore and analyze strategies and ideas for presenting policy proposals.

To Prepare: Think about strategies you can use to persuade others who might not share the same concerns about your issues or your policy proposals. Think about how you might defend your position on an issue or a policy and get them to agree with your perspective. Review Chapter 9 of your text, paying special attention to the section entitled “Combative Persuasion in Step 5 and Step 6” from pages 286-292.

By Day 3

Post your responses to the following question presented for your small group discussion:

Policy advocates sometimes find themselves discussing the needs of vulnerable populations with less-than-sympathetic groups of policy makers. Vulnerable populations might include families living in poverty, individuals with histories in the criminal justice system, or groups who have recently immigrated.

How might you communicate the needs of vulnerable populations to policy makers who may not share your views about the need for services?

Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week’s resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.

Response

 Darnell FAWCETT RE: Small Group Discussion Group A – Week 7COLLAPSE

Communicating the needs of vulnerable populations to policymakers who do not share views about the need for services can be approached in many different ways. Jansson (2018) tells us that some ways include appealing a topic to the political platform that the policymakers may already support. Other ways include debating, coercing, or negotiating (2018). To me, this seems very much like what I would anticipate among politicians and lawmakers as most of these options can create additional hostility, in which this seems counter-productive to wanting to create or implement social justice for the underserved populations. Negotiations may be the most reasonable of all the options; however, this is complicated in that negotiation means giving up to gain which then can leave very necessary parts of a suggested policy presentation (2018). For me, I would lean on negotiation as a last option while I would use an attempt to go into a policy proposal with community support while also presenting to those who have already indicated similar supports for the topic. Beginning a proposal with rallied support on the topic would be much more difficult for opposing parties to debate or attempt to coerce in exchange. I recognize as well though, that it is likely that often there would be less than cordial opinions about a proposal, in which case it is necessary to do effective research on the political atmosphere at the time and the views of the policymakers that exist at the time.

Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.

Response 2

 Tonya Adams RE: Small Group Discussion Group A – Week 7COLLAPSE

Communicate the needs of vulnerable populations to policy makers

Policy advocates first must know how to use persuasion skills to capture the attention of their audience. Although persuasion can be challenging, there are several strategies, such as written, verbal, and Powerpoint presentations. However, the policy advocator needs to know the audience that they will be going before to advocate for a policy or service. The advocator needs to research to what degree the policymaker is motivated on an issue, their views, uncertainties, and what is their position on the subject so they can create a persuading strategy Jansson, (2018).

Some audiences are hostile with values and beliefs that predisposed them to oppose a specific message. Or, the audiences may be apathetic.  Therefore, the advocator should first go into the community and listen to the voices of the audience. By listening to the people in the community and their neighborhoods allows them an opportunity to express their desired needs. Also, the advocator can ask for volunteers for their support in accompanying him or her to the policy maker’s location to discuss their needs because there is strength in numbers.

Additionally, the best way to communicate the needs of the vulnerable population to the policymakers who may not share the advocacy’s view about the demand for services, according to Jansson (2018) is to communicate with respect for each other and develop creative solutions.  Parties who are friendly can usually agree on making a winning situation for all parties.

Reference

Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate from Policy Practice to Social 


Justice (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

By Day 5

Respond to your colleagues’ responses within the small group discussion. Offer alternative strategies for presenting policy proposals to one or more colleagues.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 7 Small Group Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:
Week 7 Small Group Discussion

Assignment: Defending Your Policy Proposal

Once you have built an agenda for your policy, developed a policy proposal plan, and strategically analyzed the composition of the audience to which you will present your policy proposal, you must now be prepared to defend it.

In this Assignment, you will submit a video presentation summary of the policy proposal you created from last week’s Discussion. This is a simulation for a presentation summary you would make to policy leaders.

By Day 7

Submit a video presentation summary of the policy proposal you created from last week’s Discussion. Be sure to incorporate feedback from your colleagues. Make sure that your summary presentation provides a solid rationale for the passage of your policy, using reputable sources from experts in the field. This should be a simulation of a summary presentation you would make to “real-world” policy leaders, so make sure you are succinct and informative. You can include any visual aids that you think help your presentation.

Your video should be 4–5 minutes and no more than 6 minutes.

Make sure that your assertions are supported by appropriate research and reputable resources.