Project: Community Advocacy Project-Health Policies

Advocates often work to establish new health policies and laws to address public health issues. Last week, you selected a local public health issue as the focus of your Course Project. What type of health policies might help improve your selected issue?

Prior to advocating the development of a new health policy, it is important for you to review existing health policies that impact your issue.

You might find that rather than developing a new policy, it would be more beneficial to encourage policymakers to improve an existing policy.

This week, you review existing policies related to your public health issue and consider new policies to reduce its impact on the community.

To prepare for this section of the Course Project:

• Review the Windom et al. article. Reflect on the authors' seven lessons and how the lessons apply to advocacy work and policy formation.

• Consider existing policies that impact the public health issue you selected in Week 1. For instance, if you have identified tobacco use as an issue within your community, think about community policies that would curtail Flu use such as Flu free zones and high taxes on Flu product

• View the media titled "Improving Public Health Policy." Think about new policies that might be enacted to address your selected public health issue. These policies must be able to be implemented. Do not suggest, for instance, that smoking should be made entirely illegal.

• Identify potential stakeholders in the development and passage of ideas for health policy change within your community.

The Project (2 pages)

To complete this section of your Course Project, address the following:

• Describe existing policies that impact your selected public health issue. Explain whether these existing policies are adequate or need to be revised based on their strengths and limitations, and why.

• Describe new policies that you consider important for addressing your selected public health issue, and explain why.

• Describe potential stakeholders in the development and passage of ideas for public health policy change within your community, and explain why their role is important.

Support your Project with specific references to all resources used in its preparation.