explain why your strategic recommendations are best suited for addressing the current problem.

This will include your name; the city council to whom you are addressing the memo; the date; and the subject of the memo.

Executive Summary

This section is a summary of the memo’s key points and recommendations. You will almost certainly write this section after you have completed the rest of the memo. See this guide for how to write an executive summary for more info.

Problem/Context

In this section, you will define the policy problem, provide important contextual background information about the problem in relation to the city you’re focusing on, and explain what issues are being covered. You will also briefly explain why you feel that policy intervention is needed (in other words, answering the “So What?” question). Summarize your main points in a few sentences, then conclude with a description of how the remainder of the memo is organized.

Consideration of Potential Policy Options

In this section, write a brief review of three potential policy interventions for addressing the problem based on your research. These interventions will be potential strategies that you encountered in your research for addressing the problem you are discussing. Feel free to think outside the box, but remember your audience: the potential strategies you are considering here must be something that local government could adopt as policy (or promote through some other government function). Include the following for each option:

Identify the stakeholders impacted by the proposed solution and explain how the strategy would benefit (or not benefit, or even potentially harm) each group of stakeholders. For this section, think about how we have discussed the ways that development affects different groups differently in this class.

Provide a cost/benefit analysis for the potential solution. Based on your research, what are the pros and cons for this potential policy intervention?

Recommendation(s)

In this section, you will build on the previous consideration of potential policy options to make a recommendation about what you believe to be the best course of action (i.e., “action items”) for the decision-makers to whom you are addressing your memo. You will identify the policy intervention or interventions that you think should be adopted based on your analysis, and explain why your strategic recommendations are best suited for addressing the current problem. In doing so, you should first state the broad approach to be taken and then identify some specific practical steps or measures that should be implemented to get there. Conclude by highlighting the consequences of maintaining the status quo (i.e., if policy-makers were to do nothing).

Works Cited

At the end of your memo, include a Works Cited with the resources you used to research your topic. You must draw on a minimum of 5 sources. Your Works Cited can be formatted according to MLA, APA, Chicago, or another formal citation style (you can find clear formatting instructions for each here).

Steps for This Project

Choose your topic.

Research your topic.

Create your policy memo.

Submit your policy memo via D2L.

Examples

Here are two examples (one and two) from previous students (they gave me permission to share these and their names have been hidden).

How to Submit Your Policy Memo

You will submit your Policy Memo through the “Project 1: Development Policy Memo” dropbox in the Assignments section of D2L. You may submit