Policy Memo- Introduction to Public Policy

Policy Memo Writing Assignment POLS 2120 – Introduction to Public Policy
Memo Topic Due Monday July 12, 2021

Full Policy Memo Due Monday August 9, 2021 

 

I am happy to comment on one draft of your final paper.

You are a policy analyst for (pick one) the US government, the State of North Carolina, or the City of Charlotte. You must make a policy recommendation to me.  I am the chief executive—the president, governor, or mayor, depending on the level of government you choose to target. 

• You must select one policy issue about which you can make a recommendation. The issue should not be too broad. For example, “Medicare Reform” is very broad. A more appropriate topic might be “Medicare expansion to North Carolina”. 

• Your policy topic can cover any issue for which the government is intervening or could intervene.  Note: a law is not the same thing as a policy.  If you are interested in a particular law ask yourself what policy does that law change?

• You must recommend that the government take a particular action – this includes recommending that the government stop doing something that it is already doing. A good strategy is to think of a broad policy area (e.g. health care, traffic congestion, police use of force, the national debt, containing North Korea’s nuclear program, polluted rivers, gun violence, etc.), and then look for articles that discuss that area. The articles should give you some ideas about specific policy actions that the government can take. Find several articles that discuss that option. 

Research: 

• You must use 4 to 6 sources that are academic journal articles (peer reviewed) and/or university press books (such as Cambridge University Press). These are the only type of sources have gone through a peer-review process, and therefore are less likely to be politically biased. Look at Google Scholar and/or talk to a librarian in order to identify appropriate sources. You must use this material to support all claims that you make. In other words, you are not to give your opinions. You must base all of your claims on what legitimate sources say about the issue. You may use other sources such as government documents or reports in order to clarify certain facts – such as getting the number of people who would be affected if Medicaid were expanded in North Carolina – but these sources do not count towards your 4 to 6 articles or books. 

Late papers: Any late papers will earn a zero (0%) for this assignment.   It is your responsibility to ensure that your assignment is able to be uploaded/downloaded.  Any inaccessibility of your assignment will result in a late penalty for the assignment. 

EXAMPLES

Use the style manual below to cite your work. Here is the full citation of one of my articles: 

Mohr, Z., Pope, J. V., Kropf, M. E., & Shepherd, M. J. (2019). Strategic spending: Does politics influence election administration expenditure?. American Journal of Political Science, 63(2), 427-438.

Here is an example of how it might appear in a sentence in your memo: Election administration differs by party and county in North Carolina. (Mohr, Pope, Kropf, Shepherd, 2019). 

A reference page that lists the full citations must be attached to the end of the memo.  It doesn’t count as one of the pages.  Google Scholar will give you the format for citing all articles – just click the quotes symbol (“) under the title and description. 

 

 

The MEMO

 

The memo should begin with the following information (note how everything lines up with the same indent): 

 

Memo Format:

Date: Use the due date 

To: President, Governor, or Mayor Mary Jo McGowan

From: your name, Senior Policy Analyst 

Office of Public Policy Research 

Re: topic of the memo (for example, “Proposal to Expand Medicaid in North Carolina”) 

Your first sentence should state your recommendations (DO NOT use first person). Something like this: 

The Office of Public Policy Research (OPPR) recommends that the State of North Carolina expand its Medicaid coverage as per the Affordable Care Act. (Note: The OPPR is a fake office, but assume that is where you work) 

Nothing else needs to be said in the first paragraph. 

The next paragraph should discuss the current state of affairs regarding your topic. So, if you are talking about Medicaid expansion, you explain what Medicaid is and how it works. You then explain what Medicaid expansion is. Provide citations where appropriate. Assume that the chief executive is not familiar with the issue and needs a brief overview. 

Use subheadings for the remaining sections (see example attached). 

Next, discuss in more detail the benefits of your proposal. Here you use your sources to support your argument.  Use sources that detail the benefits of this policy and give details. 

Next, discuss any drawbacks. Use your sources to document that there will be some negatives associated with your proposal.  Remember your job is to inform your boss (that’s me) about the benefits and the drawbacks of the policy.  I need to be informed! 

Conclude by saying that the OPPR has weighed the positives and negatives and believes that the positives outweigh the negatives. You, of course, will want it to sound more professional than the above sentence. 

This is a professional memo. I will grade your memo on both the quality of your writing and the quality of your argument. Memos are supposed to be brief. The chief executive does not have enough time to read a lot of details, but does want to be informed about the key issues. The chief executive wants unbiased advice.  This is not the time to give your opinion! He/she wants to know the drawbacks of anything you recommend because he/she will take the heat for any decision that is made. 

Two page maximum (this does not include the reference page). 

Logistics and Format: Once your paper is properly formatted I assume it is ‘ready to grade’.  If it is not properly formatted I will not grade it until it is.  You will be assessed a late penalty while you fix it.  

It is your responsibility to ensure that your paper can be uploaded/downloaded.  Any inaccessibility of your paper will result in a late penalty for the paper.

• 11 or 12 point Times New Roman font

• One-inch default margins. 

• Do not use contractions such as “don’t”. 

• You may use no more than one direct quote. This quote can be no more than two sentences long. 

• Try to avoid using passive voice.

• Do not indent the first line of each paragraph. Your memo should be single-spaced, with double spaces between paragraphs (just like the first two paragraphs on this instructions guide) (see the example below). 

• When you provide numbers (such as the total revenue collected from the corporate income tax), make sure to give the fiscal year(s) the numbers come from. 

• Use this style manual for all c

• Reference page including all cited sources.  Use the above style manual.

• Do not include any running header/footer in the paper

Get started as soon as possible. You are encouraged to make an appointment to come by my office to discuss your memo topic. 

Your proposed topic must be submitted via Canvas by July 12. You must list at least 3 potential sources that you read.  You do not need to use all of these for your final memo, but I want to see that you have done some initial research to ensure that sufficient material is available. The proposal must be written at a college level. Poorly written proposals will hurt your final memo grade. 

See an example of a good memo below (you may not use the topic of the example as your topic): 

 

Date: 11/19/2019

 

To: Governor Mary Jo McGowan

 

From: Student Name Here, Senior Policy Analyst

           Office of Public Policy Research

 

Re: Proposal to Establish Needle Exchange Program in North Carolina

The Office of Public Policy Research (OPPR) recommends the state of North Carolina establish a statewide needle exchange program.

 

The needle exchange program (NEP), also referred to as a syringe exchange program (SEP), is a publicly funded program that allows individuals who use injection drugs to turn in used needles for new, sanitary needles. Needle exchange programs were first implemented in 1981 in response to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic (Bramson, Des Jarlais, Arasteh, Nugent, Guardino, Feelemyer, Hodel, 2015). The original goal of the program was to limit the spread of HIV amongst the vulnerable injection drug user population. It has since evolved to provide a safe environment with access to education, detox and rehabilitation centers, and social services in addition to the access of clean needles (MacNeil & Pauly, 2011). Today, needle exchange programs are implemented by numerous local governments across the country.

 

Benefits of Establishing a Statewide Needle Exchange Program

 

There are several arguments for establishing a statewide needle exchange program. Firstly, as of now, needle exchange programs exist primarily in urban cities. However, data collected between 1999 and 2005 in national drug use surveys found that half of all persons who inject drugs (PWIDs) live outside of large metropolitan areas (Oster, Sternberg, Lansky, Broz, Weinert, & Paz-Bailey, 2015). Therefore, as it stands, the program is only reaching half of the population in need and could benefit twice as many people if organized by the state.

 

Additionally, the program has proven effects in cities where it has been implemented. Most notably, it has been successful in the prevention of HIV outbreaks and the reduction of other bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis C. From the time needle exchanges were first implemented in 1990 to 2006, HIV was reduced by nearly 80% in people who use injection drugs (Des Jarlais, Nugent, Solberg, Feelemyer, Mermin, & Holtzman, 2015). 

 

The establishment of needle exchange programs has also created a safe environment for many injection drug users who live on the streets as a result of their addiction. The sense of community fostered within needle exchange programs builds trust between workers and injection drug users that generates an avenue for the workers to provide resources for drug detox and rehabilitation centers, counseling, welfare applications, education, and many other services (MacNeil & Pauly, 2011). As a result, the stigma associated with drug abuse is weakened and individuals struggling with addiction have easier access to health care.

 

Finally, implementing a statewide needle exchange program is cost effective. Resources such as screenings and testing for HIV and TB coupled with access to sanitary needles at needle exchange programs have been shown to prevent infection and reduce future treatment costs since many PWIDs do not have health insurance (Belani & Muennig, 2008). A study conducted in 1995 and 1996 at a needle exchange in New York City with 8,000 registered participants found that giving preventative therapy to people infected with HIV saved $283,012 in future medical expenses (Belani &Muennig, 2008). Providing access to proactive screenings, preventative treatments, and clean needles reduces the rate of infection and in turn will reduce the number of PWIDs on Medicaid being treated for bloodborne infections which can save tax dollars.

 

Drawbacks of Implementing a Statewide Needle Exchange Program

 

There are two drawbacks associated with implementing a needle exchange program. First, access to clean needles through a needle exchange program creates a wider distribution of needles and supplies addicts with the necessary means to abuse injection drugs. Ultimately, the easy access and wide distribution sends the message that injection drug use is acceptable (Bramson et al., 2015). A needle exchange program funded by the state government would suggest that the state promotes the use of injection drugs.

 

Second, needle exchange programs are undermined by current laws which make illegal the possession of a syringe without a prescription. As a result, there is a higher arrest rate in areas surrounding needle exchange programs (Cooper, Des Jarlais, Tempalski, Bossak, Ross, & Friedman, 2012). Services offered at needle exchange programs are less effective if PWIDs are arrested and denied access to them. Thusly, for a NEP to be most effective, laws need to be reformed to allow police to work with NEPs and refer subjects to their services (Strathdee, Beletsky, & Kerr, 2015). 

 

Conclusion

 

The OPPR has analyzed the positives and negatives associated with the establishment of a statewide needle exchange program. The current implementation of NEPs on a local government basis fails to serve half of the population effected by injection drug use. Additionally, the program has effectively lowered rates of bloodborne diseases within the half of the population that it has reached. The needle exchange program addressed the larger problem at hand, drug addiction, by offering social services and medical treatment to PWIDs. Furthermore, the program is not associated with higher rates of crimes and ultimately produces a safer community by removing dirty needles from the street. For these reasons, the OPPR recommends that a statewide needle exchange program be established.

Insert page break here

References

 

Belani, H. K., & Muennig, P. A. (2008). Cost-Effectiveness of Needle and Syringe Exchange for 

the Prevention of HIV in New York City. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services 7(3), pg.229-240

 

Bramson, H., Des Jarlais, D., Arasteh, K., Nugent, A., Guardino, V., Feelemyer, J., & Hodel, D. 

(2015). State laws, syringe exchange, and HIV among persons who inject drugs in the United States: History and effectiveness. Journal of Public Health Policy, 36(2), 212-230.

 

Cooper, H. L., Des Jarlais, D. C., Tempalski, B., Bossak, B. H., Ross, Z., & Friedman, S. R. 

(2012). Drug-related arrests rates and spatial access to syringe exchange programs in New York City health districts: combined effects on the risk of injection-related infections among injectors. Health & place, 18(2), 218-228.

 

Des Jarlais, D., Nugent, A., Solberg, A., Feelemyer, J, Mermin, J., & Holtzman, D. (2015). 

Syringe Service Programs for Persons Who Inject Drugs in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas – United States, 2013. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 64(48), 1337-13341.

 

MacNeil, J. & Pauly, B. (2011). Needle exchange as a safe haven in an unsafe 

world. Drug and Alcohol Review, 30(1), 26-32.

 

Oster, A., Sternberg, M., Lansky, A., Broz, D., Weinert, C., & Paz-Bailey, G. (2015). Population 

Size Estimates for Men who Have Sex with Men and Persons who inject Drugs. Journal of Urban Health, 92(4), 733-743

 

Strathdee, S, Beletsky, L., & Kerr, T. (2015). HIV, drugs and the legal environment. 

International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(1), S27-S32.

 

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