Governance, Accountability and Ethics

PAS301: Governance, Accountability and Ethics

Fall 2020, Final Assignment Guidelines

Your final assignment for this course has three components.

Role and Purpose: You are a concerned citizen. You have become increasingly concerned about your previously identified public policy issue (Part 1: Governance Assignment). You have researched the issue to discover which level of government (local, state, or federal) intervention is appropriate. In addition, you have identified the public organization (government or non-profit) representative who is most likely to have the ability to effectuate change (systemic or institutional) in the matter. Your objective is to persuasively present your position on the public policy issue and to educate the public actor (county manager, governor, state legislator, agency heads, chief of police, etc.) on the importance of the matter.

Audience: A public organization representative (government or non-profit) who has the ability to effectuate policy action or change on a local, state, or national level. This public servant(possible examples, state legislators, board of supervisors, agency executives, etc.) has no previous knowledge regarding your issue, therefore you will have to first present your issue, give background and context to your audience, explain the importance of addressing the issue, and why your selected public agent and agency are the proper vehicle to resolve this matter. You are expected to use terminology and phrasing which is indicative of knowledge of the field (professional) yet is capable for a layman to understand and to derive meaning (accessible).

Tasks: Your assignment has three components. Part I, create an advocacy letter to your chosen representative regarding your public policy issue. Part II, design an infographic which displays your concerns and research on the matter and urges the policymaker to enact a change. Part III, produce a PowerPoint presentation of your proposal in the event your representative wishes to meet with you. Present your PowerPoint to the public representative.

Format: Part I: Advocacy Letter

Part II: Infographic

Part III: PowerPoint Presentation

Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of this assignment, student will demonstrate the ability to:

· Understand the ethical responsibilities of public/nonprofit administrators and ethical standards and values associated with public service.

· Develop ethical reasoning skills to address ethical issues in public service.

· Evaluate ethical dilemmas by applying multiple perspectives and approaches concerning what constitutes ethically acceptable conduct and an ethically good character.

· Think critically about how ethical values are reflected in various cultural, social, economic, legal and political practices and institutions.

· Understand the functions of government.

· Understand the role of accountability and transparency from a public administrator’s and a citizen’s perspective.

· Think critically about current events relating to governance, accountability, and ethics in public service.

PART I-ADVOCACY LETTER

Choose a policy area of public or nonprofit service. Potential topic areas are:

· Healthcare

· Immigration

· Anti-terrorism

· Drug enforcement

· Housing

· Mental health care

· Law enforcement

· Environmental protection

· Education

· Income security

· Food security

· Climate change

· Zoning and land use

· Economic development

· Fire protection

· Water/sewer provision

· Banking regulation

Your advocacy letter should address a specific issue needing systemic or institutional change within these broad topic categories. The letter should clearly state the problem, question or issue you wish the public representative to address. Using your research to support your viewpoint, write a 1200-1500-word letter advocating your position in the policy matter. In this letter, be sure to

· Clearly identify the public policy ethical dilemma presented

· Provide detail/evidence of the negative impacts of the issue

· Explain why the issue is important to be addressed (timely and relevant)

· Give a history or background on the issue

· Detail any past actions which have worked or have failed in regard to this issue

· Explain why this agency/representative is responsible for the change

· Public/Non-profit administrators’ ethical responsibility/accountability

· Proposes a feasible solution

· Detail specifically what actions are being requested and why

· Respectfully request response from the public representative

· Use professional tone and business letter formatting

PART II-INFOGRAPHIC

Infographics are an effective toll for communicating large amounts of information quickly. This tool uses text, graphics, charts, and images to engage an audience. For this assignment, make sure that you:

Emphasize the public policy issues being addressed

Organize your infographic with your purpose in mind

Use only the most important and relevant information to your topic

Synthesize information gathered from your research

Think carefully about color choice and font choice → be sure the infographic is attractive and easy to read!

It should not be too cluttered, nor should it have too much white space

Choose relevant graphic text features- charts, diagrams, graphs, text boxes, headings, shapes, etc.

YOU MUST CITE with a footnote at the bottom of your infographic

The following are some examples of infographics used in advocating for public policy issues:

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

If I were to give the instructions in this assignment in picture form, it would be this:

The infographic should present the subject, tell us why the topic is important, give us relevant data, tell us the steps to act, and present us with how this will help our world be better!

Read the following articles for information on how to create infographics:

https://www.quantumcloud.com/resources/10-free-tools-for-creating-infographics/

https://govex.jhu.edu/wiki/10-dos-donts-creating-infographics/

https://govex.jhu.edu/wiki/influencing-decisions-with-data-visualizations/

For further information on how to create infographics, please view: https://youtu.be/Je-I6fiE_Wk

PART III-POWERPOINT (GOVERNANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY, ETHICS)

Finally, you must design a PowerPoint presentation regarding your public policy issue. In this assignment, you will produce a PowerPoint presentation for your public policy issue to present to a public representative. Your work will be evaluated based upon:

· How clearly you presented your problem, its importance, timeliness and relevance

· The persuasiveness and credibility of your research

· The professionalism and quality of your work

Instructions for your Powerpoint Presentation:

· Presentation should be 10-15 minutes in length

· Maximum of 15 slides

· Presentation must have a Title Slide which includes your name, course title, public policy issue, and date.

· Provide an Introduction

· Give Background on:

· Governance

· Accountability

· Ethics

· Policy Issue

· Timeliness

· Relevance

· Importance

· Provide Your Policy Stance/Position

· Rationale for selecting the public actor/organization to address the issue

· Provide Data regarding the issue

· Provide Your Potential Solution

· Why this is the most effective stance to take

· Requests The Public Actor to Act

· Includes Reflective Analysis

· How did this project help you to get a better understanding of this issue and its implications?

· Has your perspective as a citizen on the issue changed since the beginning of the project?

· Has your perspective of the public administrators’ roles and responsibilities changed since the beginning of the project?

· What would you have done better or differently? What could have added to your understanding of this project and your learning

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