General Information
The LOUDwomen Policy Project is a program that brings together a team of researchers to write a policy brief related to a specific issue in Arkansas. Team members get to spend part of the year working on researching, writing, and advocating for a policy brief. This program is open to all ages, but is aimed at high school/college students. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY OCTOBER 11TH!! Email questions to loudwomencommunity@gmail.com!
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Topic
Education is under attack in several states across the US. A number of states in the South, including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida, have passed bills that restrict teaching critical race theory and sexual orientation in schools, and limit teachers on how they can discuss racism and sexism in the classroom. This year our policy team will be writing policy recommendations regarding education in Arkansas. In the late winter, we will be sharing our brief with state legislators and leaders to have a tangible impact on the effects that this has on education in the state.
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Positions
Our policy team will include 2-4 Team Leads who oversee the project and up to 20 Researchers. This application is grouped by positions, so feel free to apply to be a Team Chair, Researcher, or both. Position descriptions are included below:
Team Lead
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The Team Lead works a few more weeks than the Researchers to plan out subtopics for each week of research, lead team meetings, organize the structure of the brief, reach out to stakeholders, compile reports to create the final policy brief, and oversee the project. This role is more administrative and runs from October - February. Time commitment is about 7 hours per week, although it may be less as the project wraps up. Team Leads will walk away from the Policy Project with a deep understanding of local advocacy through policy research, leadership, and facilitation skills, and an understanding of essential stakeholders regarding education in AR.
Researcher
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The role of a Researcher is to find information about the subtopic of the week, sort through relevant literature, and write short reports about research findings. This role runs from October to December, and the time commitment is about 3 hours per week, including a weekly 30 mins - 1 hour check-in meeting. No prior experience is necessary for this role. Benefits of this position include improving research skills, expanding knowledge of specific details about reproductive rights in Arkansas, understanding the process of putting together a policy brief, and learning policy writing techniques.