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Respond to each classmate DQ post with 3-4 sentences long

Classmate 1

In forming any policy that is designed to target a specific group of people, all the branches of government must operate together for the policy to be implemented successfully. The target audience may be comprised of citizens that come from similar, but varied backgrounds, and the different levels of government are adept at handling certain segments of the population better than others. In a perfect system, Intergovernmental relations would allow federal, state, county, and city levels to operate efficiently and cooperate with each other to handle a specific issue and target audience.

Some things that are key in creating new policy, is making sure to educate individuals in the target audience of the policies that are trying to be implemented, why they will benefit them, and receive feedback on if the policy will tackle the issue that the target audience is facing. If the opinions of the target audience are not taken into consideration, then the policy may be doomed to fail before it is even implemented. It is stated in “Public Administration in America” by Michael Milakovich and George J. Gordon, that “Policy directions that offend basic values of large numbers of people are not likely to be sustained for very long without at least being challenged…Few policies survive that offend either powerful political interests or large numbers of ordinary citizens, or both. In sum, although support for what government does is not necessarily enthusiastic, policies must have a certain amount of acceptability,” (Milakovich, Gordon, p. 377).

Classmate 2

Each part of the government intertwines with each other. As a public administrator the goal is to create a policy that has the best interest of the community and political officials that will have longevity.  When it comes to implementation and evaluation of new public policies there are more parties involved other than the government and public administrators. The target population has a huge role in the public policy progress because, usually the policies are created because of them. Another reason that the target population has a key role because they are on individuals that vote on the policy, which majority of the time is the deciding factor if a policy will be implemented.

The target population becomes involved in the policymaking process with the election of the government officials and different community activist. When choosing government official many times the votes weigh heavy on the ones that articulate their visions on different community battles so policies can be created to find a solution. Community activist on the other hand, have the communities support and are usually the ones that gather the information needed and can present it to government officials. Although, the target population is involved in the policymaking process, another key factor is determining if the different services are through public means or private means. Usually, when services are provided through public means, are the ones that have a clear and cut direction for eligibility and no not include organizations other than the government. The services provided through private means are typically, the ones that have other organizations along with the government and sometimes are faith based.