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Advocacy for Policy Change Advocacy for Policy Change Brandeis students work to reform Massachusetts law November 2020 Advocacy for Policy Change is a part of a national program, ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation. ENACT was made possible by a generous gift from Ethics Center International Advisory Board Member Norbert Weissberg and his wife, former Board Member Judith Schneider. In spring of 2019 ENACT was awarded a multi-year grant from the Teagle Foundation’s “Education for American Civic Life” initiative to expand to all 50 states and to enhance ENACT’s digital platform. t Norbert Weissberg and Judith Schneider at “Present and Defend: Projects from Advocacy for Policy Change,” April 2011. For more information about the projects in this report, visit www.brandeis.edu/ethics/atbrandeis/advocacy To learn about ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation, and to sign up for updates, visit go.brandeis.edu/ENACT Photos: David J. Weinstein except page 2: Mike Lovett and page 4 (bottom): Evan Berry Editorial Assistant: Elaina Pevide ’20 Table of Contents n Introduction 2 Melissa Stimell n A Message from Jay Kaufman ’68, MA ’73 4 n Required Project Components 5 n Ensuring Equitable Health Coverage for Children 6 Erin Chambers ’20 & Kalianni Neal Desatnik ’20 n Removing Obstacles and Expanding Abortion Access 12 Allia Service ’22 & Emma Wolters’20 n Fair Scheduling of Employees 18 Emily Rae Foreman ’20 & Elaina Pevide ’20 n Preventing Overdose Deaths and Increasing Access to Treatment 24 James Parkhill ’21 & Abby Smurzynski ’21 n “Raise the Age” to be Tried as a Juvenile for Non-Violent Crimes 30 Lawrence Sabir ’21 & Kyle Shedden ’20 n Transitioning Massachusetts to 100 Percent Renewable Energy 36 Benée Hershon ’20, Kate Laemmle ’20 & Ben Silver ’20 n Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants 43 Rachel Dovek ’20 & Mayan Kleiman ’20 n Protecting Undocumented and Other Vulnerable Residents 49 Emily Arkin ’20 & Irma Zamarripa ’21 n Ensuring Accurate and Comprehensive Sex Education 55 Rolanda Donelson ’20 & Yael Eiger ’20 n Higher Education Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or 60 Developmental Disabilities Gabi Burkholz ’21 & Zoe Lehner-Neal ’20 n Protecting Undocumented and Other Vulnerable Residents 67 Matthew Patton ’20 & Matthew Rothenberg ’21 n Combating Sexual Violence on Higher Education Campuses 74 Emily Fishman ’20 & Shania Thomas ’21 n Increasing Access to Menstrual Products 8o Mercedes Helm ’21 & Leah Trachtenberg ’21 Introduction n the spring semester of the 2009-10 academic year, I embarked on an experiment with 13 dedicated Brandeis University undergraduate students and the logistical, financial and intellectual support of the Melissa Stimell I International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, and the Legal Studies Program at Brandeis University. Together we created “Advocacy for Policy Change.” This course combines an investigation of the ethical dilemmas that arise in the process of lawmaking with hands-on advocacy work at the state level. Students are encouraged to think deeply about the complexities of shaping laws for constituents who hold diverse viewpoints about what is right and good for society and how best to progress through the legislative process. Students choose existing laws they feel could be credibly challenged on ethical or moral grounds, and advocate for state legislative change. Now in its 11th year, “Advocacy for Policy Change” is dedicated to the creation of citizen advocates: individuals prepared and motivated to create a just society through legislative advocacy. In 2020, we anointed 27 citizen advocates for such issues as worker rights, juvenile justice, access to educational opportunities, renewable energy, reproductive rights, health equity, and immigrant rights. Working in teams, the students research their chosen issues and design and implement models of legislative advocacy. State legislators and advocacy organizations advise each team to help them understand the lawmaking process, connect with colleagues, and set realistic goals. Each student completes a series of assignments related to the project, in formats relevant to advocacy work, such as an “elevator speech,” an op-ed, and a short video. (The full list of assignments is on page five.) This anthology contains excerpts from these assignments, updates on the bills, and links to more information on the relevant issues or organizations. Fortunate to start in-person, these students persevered through the abrupt mid- semester pivot to remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They adapted their work to account for changed legislative priorities and new methods of civic engagement. Their final “Present and Defend” took place via Zoom and incorporated members of the Brandeis community and our ever-expanding network. Once again, I must thank several people whose support over the past 11 years has been invaluable. This course would not exist without the ongoing support of Professor Emeritus Richard Gaskins, my mentor and the former director of the Legal Studies Program. He and Daniel Terris, now Director Emeritus of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, took the kernel of a unique idea and made it a reality. Ethics Center Board member and former Massachusetts State Representative Jay Kaufman ’68, MA ’73 helped me to create a course worthy of Brandeis University. An expanding list of exceptional teaching assistants made the course a reality: Kaitie Chakoian-Lifvergren, David Duhalde, Andrew Hart, Misti Jeffers, Roz Kabrhel, Benjamin Kreider, Christian Lopez, Charlotte Powley, Melissa Ross, Doug Smith and Cynthia Tschampl, 2 | Advocacy for Policy Change: Brandeis students work to reform Massachusetts law This course is part of a national program based at Brandeis University launched in 2015, called ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation. Since the fall of 2016, ENACT Faculty Fellows have been teaching their own ENACT courses at colleges and universities in or near state capitals across the United States. There are now 29 trained Fellows in 29 states. Thanks to a multi-year grant from the Teagle Foundation’s “Education for American Civic Life” initiative, ENACT is in the process of completing its expansion to all 50 states. Students in ENACT courses, like those in “Advocacy for Policy Change,” learn how to work with state legislators, legislative staff members, and community organizations to advance policy. With the guidance of David Weinstein of the Ethics Center, assistant director of ENACT, we are developing a robust national network of faculty, students and alumni that includes an online platform for resource sharing and collaboration. ENACT is becoming a major voice in addressing challenges to American democracy by engaging young people around the country in civic activism built on knowledge, cooperation, justice and integrity. ENACT is supported by generous multi-year commitments from International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life International Advisory Board member Norbert Weissberg and his wife, former Board member Judith Schneider; Advisory Board member and co-founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, Jules Bernstein; The Teagle Foundation; Advisory Board member Mark Friedman; and the Rice Family Foundation. The students, Faculty Fellows and I are very grateful for their ongoing support. In the 2019-20 academic year, ENACT piloted the ENACT Labor Network (ELN), a deep dive into labor issues. With the expertise of Brandeis University’s graduate Heller School of Social Policy and Management, ENACT Faculty Fellows in Arkansas, Connecticut, and Maine joined me to mentor students to explore current labor issues in their respective states and to meet with advocates, experts and state legislators. The ELN was supported by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, which is funded in part by Ethics Center Board member Jules Bernstein ’57 and his wife, Linda Lipsett; as well as Bringing Theory to Practice, a national initiative in partnership with Elon University. Brandeis University students are committed to combining academic rigor with hands-on work in pursuit of social justice. Each year a new cohort of advocacy students develops skills that will serve them far beyond one semester. We look forward to supporting the next cohort of inspirational citizen advocates in Advocacy for Policy Change at Brandeis University and with the continued national expansion of ENACT. For more about ENACT and the ENACT Labor network see go.brandeis. edu/ENACT. Melissa Stimell Academic Director, ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation Director, International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life Professor of the Practice in Legal Studies Chair, Social Justice and Social Policy Program Advocacy for Policy Change: Brandeis students work to reform Massachusetts law | 3 ur democracy is at a crossroads. The global pandemic, racial injustice, climate change and political polarization have made it Oclear that we live in uncertain times. Our norms and institutions don’t seem so normal or so stable, and we are left to wonder about how we A Message from are to govern ourselves. ENACT Distinguished What a demanding and exciting time for the wonderfully engaged students in Legislative Mentor Professor Stimell’s “Advocacy for Policy Change” course. They get to look at policies and policy-making, both as they are and as they might be. Jay Kaufman, ’68, MA ’73 Grounded in a realistic look at what it
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