Five Good Ideas for getting your issues on the public policy dance floor
The community sector has much to offer when it comes to the public policy-making process. Communities are bellwethers for emerging challenges and solutions. We are on the front lines in implementing programs, adapting big ideas to local realities and learning what works and what doesn’t. Yet, too often, a gap remains between policy intentions and lived experience. The worlds of those who design policy and those who implement it do not come together nearly enough. There are a number of changes that government could make to break down barriers and provide a more integrated, grounded and participatory approach to designing public policy. But like the old saying goes: it takes two to tango. So in that spirit, what can we do to bring the worlds of theory and practice together? What are some of the moves that we in the community sector should be thinking about as we approach the policy-making dance floor and make our ideas shine?
Five Good Ideas
- Know your stuff and bring the solutions
- Be a good listener
- Build social movements
- Diversity is your strength
- Celebrate
Good resources
- John Stapleton offers a once-a-week, 14-week course that offers a policy start for neophytes, a refresher for the experienced, and a confirmation for the seasoned – it gets right down to everything you need to know about policy in Ontario (http://openpolicyontario.com/course-offerings/)
- Get plugged into what’s on the agenda at City Hall, Queen’s Park, etc through “insider” publications such as QP Briefing, Inside Queen’s Park, NRU, etc. (http://www.nrupublishing.com/nru-toronto/ | http://www.qpbriefing.com/ | http://insidequeenspark.com/)
- Read the Advocacy and Policy section in the Five Good Ideas book for four excellent, applied perspectives on government relations.
- Join a coalition, help build social movements for change.