Milestone One

Overview

The milestone assignments in this course directly support your success in completing your final project. In this first milestone, you will select a topic for your public policy analysis paper and gather supporting research materials.

Your policy should adhere to the following guidelines:

• Select a policy that is of interest to you. You will gain the most benefit from this activity if you select a policy that you feel passionate about. You will need to articulate why this issue is of interest to you.
• It is preferred (but not required) that you select a local policy in your area.
• The policy you select can be at federal, state, or local levels and must have implications for at least two levels or agencies of government.
• The policy you select can be currently in process or one that has already been resolved or implemented.

There are several real-world examples of intergovernmental initiatives discussed throughout this course that may be helpful to review as you select a policy (for example, climate change, fracking, housing, economic development, wage policies, and local hiring).

Directions

Select a policy that addresses the guidelines listed above and identify six to eight current, professional, and scholarly sources related to your policy. Develop a short paper answering the prompt below.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Summary: Based on your identified sources, draft a summary of your policy, including the following:
   1. Describe the issue or problem that precipitated the formation of the policy.
   2. Explain why the issue or policy is of interest to you.
   3. Justify how the policy reflects intergovernmental relations between at least two levels or agencies of government.
2. Sources: Collect six to eight relevant sources related to your area of interest. See the Module One resources for research support and suggestions.
   1. Citation: Identify resources that are current, professional, and scholarly (avoiding wikis, encyclopedias, and other non-scholarly sources). Include a hyperlink with each citation.
   2. Description: Summarize the content of each resource, including how it is relevant to your selected policy.

What to Submit

Your policy selection short paper should be a 1- to 2-page Word document with 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style.