explore policy issues and identify one you would like to propose to your group to be the focus of the group Final Project.

First, identify a location anywhere in the world. Second, within that location, what are three specific issues for that location in the broad policy areas of environmental sustainability, public safety, public health, and technology? The location should be a place that actually exists (e.g., a city where you live and work). Identifying the location is important because in order to develop a policy solution for the residents of a community, you need to know about the community, including the people who live there, what is important to them, and their contextual needs surrounding policy issues.

When you conduct your research on the current issues in the four broad policy topics (i.e., environmental sustainability, public safety, public health, technology) and for your identified location, you should identify at least three different resources—scholarly article, trade/professional source, and credible local source. For example, if you identify there is an issue regarding seniors in your city getting vaccination information, you might research scholarly articles citing research that demonstrate the geriatric community is most at risk for not receiving vaccination information. You may also research trade/professional sources regarding best practices for how to disseminate vaccination information to geriatric populations and how to overcome the barriers for that demographic. Additionally, you might research local organizations that might assist with the effort to get the word out, such as a local senior center. For this Assignment, you may create a hypothetical public organization for your chosen location that could be involved in addressing the policy issue (e.g., nonprofit or for-benefit organization). In our vaccination example, if the local senior center does not have a communications officer, you could propose the local or state government create an emergency communications branch for seniors.

To Prepare

Review Part 1 of the Final Project Overview (PDF) in the Learning Resources.

Consider specific issues within the broad policy areas of environmental sustainability, public safety, public health, and technology.

Part 1 – Final Project

Step 1 – Select a real-world location. (Note: Consider a local location, such as your city, province, tribe, etc.)

Step 2 – Select one of the four broad policy topics below. Then, research current issues within that broad topic area, and select a specific issue that requires a policy solution in the location chosen in Step 1. Note: You must identify at least three different resources—scholarly article, trade/professional source, and credible local source—to substantiate the policy issue you choose.

• Environmental sustainability
• Public safety
• Public health

Technology

Step 3 – Select, or create, the local public organization (government or nonprofit community service organization) from the location in Step 1 that would be involved in the policy topic from Step 2.