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.

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