The committee has already begun to lay plans for inviting state and local policy makers to the Center for discussions about several bills pending in the NC Senate, particularly Senate Bill 71, which would establish alternative pilot programs for suspended public school students. Second, the committee has outlined plans for disseminating the Center's policy-relevant work to a policy audience. Vehicles could include an expanded Center website and newsletter, a new series of policy briefs and live briefings with policy makers. The R2P Group will serve as a conduit for gathering information about Center research and developing policy uses for it. Third, the R2P Group will serve as a forum for creative brainstorming, a setting in which members are encouraged to share their uncensored ideas about ways in which research can help children and families through policy.
Big ideas are welcome.
In this forum, researchers can be helped to find the policy implications of new projects before the work begins. Finally, the R2P Group will create ways to institutionalize the interface between policy and research. As these are established, the R2P Group could widen its vision and actively recruit members from other disciplines and, in the long run, perhaps undertake such activities as creating a national clearinghouse on child and family policy research. Full R2P Group meetings will begin in May. Agendas and meeting times will be distributed to Center members and other interested people via e-mail. The aim of this program is to train young scholars in the scientific study of normal and deviant development from childhood through early adulthood.