White papers are informative, persuasive documents written by an experts some issue, for a particular outside audience. They typically provide a concise overview of a complex problem, and propose specific actions that the target audience can and should take to address the problem. Each of your groups has a complex problem related to the Future of NYC that you are working with a community contact to address. The white papers you develop should be informed by the expertise of your community contact and by your research, and should be targeted to City Council, NYC’s legislative body. For help with this, please review the following:
Policy Recommendations are solutions that you propose that will make a systematic change to a problem you have identified through your research; these are specific, targeted to a particular person or entity with the power to make the change that you propose, and generally fall under one of 5 categories:
- Legislative: involves changes to existing laws or introducing new laws. These laws can be local laws, state laws or federal laws; i.- The Mayor and City Council should pass a living wage law.
- Enforcement: calls for the enforcement or implementation of laws that already exist on the books but may not be implemented in practice; i.e.- The Department of Labor should enforce the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.
- Budgetary: calls for funding changes, such as increased or decreased funding for a particular program or community or opposition to budget cuts; i.e.- The Governor should allocate $20 million dollars for housing for people living with HIV/AIDS in the state budget
- Oversight: calls for monitoring and oversight over a particular issue, agency or program from either governmental or citizen committees or individuals; i.e.- The Mayor should appoint an independent monitor to oversee the New York Police Department.
- Democratic Participation: calls for increased public and citizen participation or democracy in an issue or government body; e.- The Mayor should appoint a new Charter Revision commission, which includes low-income people of color, to revise the city charter.
Tips for Developing Recommendations for your White Paper: Brainstorm 2-3 policy recommendations for the each of the categories above. Start by identifying and categorizing the policy recommendations that have already been suggested/ are being advocated for, especially but not exclusively by your community contact. Next, work to develop your own recommendations, based on your analysis of the problem and of potential responses. It is possible that some categories will more relevant than others for each of your projects. For each recommendation, discuss which category it is in and why, who the target is and why, and what information is still needed to make it a strong policy recommendation. Finally, try to prioritize a few recommendations that you will elaborate in your report, based on the following:
- Which recommendations seem most in line with the vision of our community contact and the priorities of those most affected by this issue?
- Which recommendations will have the biggest impact for those most affected?
- Which recommendations seem the most winnable in the short term?
- Which recommendations seem like more long-term fights?
- Which recommendations are going to be the most difficult to win?
Once you decide which recommendations to pursue, use these guidelines to produce your white paper.
And Remember! Your white papers (and public engagement products) should be in tune/conversation with how your focus issues and their broader contexts are developing politically, how different types of responses are being portrayed in the media, etc.
