MinnEsOTa EduCaTiOn POliCY FEllOwshiP PrOgraM(Mn EPFP)

2020/21 Mn EPFP aPPliCaTiOn APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON A ROLLING BASIS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

We are pleased you are considering the Minnesota Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). EPFP is a 13-month professional develop-ment fellowship focusing on education policy at both the state and federal level. Before applying to the fellowship, please read through an overview of the EPFP program.

EPFP invites your application if you:

• Have a commitment to both personal and professional development in the area of public policy.

• Have a desire to learn and hear from different perspectives.

• Believe that all Minnesota students should have access to a high-quality, rigorous, and engaging education.

• A desire for making things happen—inside and across organizations

The Program Fee and Scholarships

• The Fellowship program fee is $2,200. This includes all dinner seminars (including the cost of hotels needed for rural and metro site visits), and the fee for the Washington Policy Seminar in Washington D.C. Note: Fellows are in charge of their own transportation for rural and metro site visits, and the program fee does not include travel and lodging costs for the Washington Policy Seminar. The estimated cost for travel and lodging are $1,500.00.

• Scholarships are available to applicants who are acting as their own sponsor. The amount and payment schedule are determined in consultation with the applicant.

• Final selection of Fellows is made by EPFP Coordinators in consultation with the applicants.

iF YOu havE QuEsTiOns, PlEasE COnTaCT:

METRO COHORT—Dan Loritz: 612-791-1919 or dloritz@centerforpolicy.org

Krista Kaput: 612-327-5456 or kkaput@centerforpolicy.org

RURAL COHORT—Troy Haugen: 218-737-6511 or thaugen@lcsc.org

PREPARING LEADERS SINCE 1964

ParT a1. september 24, 2020,* 4:30-8:30pm Overview of the

Fellowship, Policy Leadership and Policy Simulation

2. October 8, 2020,* from 4:30-8:30pm Grounding the Work in Equity & Inside Minnesota’s Demographics (Metro and Rural together in Twin Cities)

3. October 9, 2020, 8:45am–3pm A Behind the Door Look at the Legislative and Executive Branch Policy and Fiscal Offi ces—At the Minnesota Capitol (Metro and Rural together in Twin Cities)

4. november 12, 2020,* 4:30-8:30pm Debriefi ng Minnesota Hill Day and the election, and teacher preparation (Metro and Rural together in Fergus Falls)

5. november 13, 2020, 9am–3pm Policy issues in rural education, role of service cooperatives, and tours (Metro and Rural together in Fergus Falls)

6. december 10, 2020, 6–8:30pm The difference between lobbying and advocacy

IEL prepares and supports leaders of all ages, stages, and contexts who can work effectively across sectors. IEL leaders are champions of eq-uity in their communities, states, and the nation.

The Center for Policy Design (CPD) is a Minnesota based nonprofi t, non-partisan policy design orga-nization that focuses on redesigning important large systems to achieve the goals society has set for them. It does so by focusing leadership on fi ve components necessary for the change of large systems: analysis, research, design, implementa-tion, and evaluation.

The Center develops state and federal policy rec-ommendations, including enabling legislation. It also actively assists those who decide to advance the Center’s policy recommendations.

Lakes Country Service Cooperative (LCSC) is a public, nonprofi t membership-based organization dedicated to providing services that help make our members successful.

LCSC is one of nine Service Cooperatives in Minneso-ta. LCSC primarily serves members in a nine-county region in west central Minnesota. Those counties include Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin. LCSC serves as a li-aison to state agencies and has partnerships with numerous businesses and associations that provide opportunities to our members.

7. January 7, 2021, 6–8:30pm Gearing Up for Minnesota’s 92nd Legislature

8. January 21, 2021, 6–8:30pm Local Politics: Speaking with School Board Members

9. February 11, 2021, 6–8:30pm Minnesota teacher licensure system and diversifying the teacher workforce

10. February 25, 2021, 6–8:30pm How Federal Legislation Impacts Minnesota: Overview of ESSA, Perkins & HEA

11. March 21-24, 2021 IEL’s Washington Policy Seminar in Washington D.C. (More details to come. These dates are tentative. Rural and Twin Cities EPFP)

12. april 15, 2021, 6–8:30pm Debriefi ng WPS and Closing Session

13. October 21, 2021, 6–8:30pm The EPFP Experience: Looking Back, Thinking Forward

*The September 24, October 8, and November 12 will be longer. All other dinners will be held from 6:00-8:30 PM.

ParT b (Optional) May –October 2021 “What do you want to do in the policy arena with what you have learned?” Individual conversations with Fellows and option to do a Policy Design Brief.

Minnesota EPFP Partners

Minnesota EPFP—2020/21 schedule

Overview of Minnesota EPFP Program

Minnesota EPFP is a partnership of the Washington D.C. based Institute for Educational Leadership and the Minnesota-based Center for Policy Design, and a rural cohort that is run by Lakes Country Service Cooperative. All organizations are non-partisan, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organizations. The first year of the Fellowship was 1975-76. Since then over 520 Fellows have completed this unique policy experience. Together they form an important network in Minnesota and the nation.

THE FELLOWSHIP—WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT The Fellowship has as a primary focus on mainly state and some federal policy development and the leadership that is necessary to influence policy development. It is designed to expand and update your working knowledge of state and federal policy design, enactment and implementation.

THE LEARNING MODELThe Fellowship’s instructional process is experiential. It is based on the belief that knowledge and skills are the “resi-due that is left when the experience wears off.” Therefore, there are no required outside readings or written papers.

CREATING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR OPEN CONVERSATION—THE DINNER SEMINARS AND WASHINGTON POLICY SEMINAR The dinner seminars are the backbone of the Fellowship. They are designed to provide you with an up close and personal experience that will include discussions and conversations with key members of Minnesota’s executive and legislative branch and their staff. In addition, there is a one-day Policy Seminar at the State Capitol and three day Washington Policy Seminar (WPS) in Washington D.C.

Minnesota EPFP has a proud history of trust with those who will discuss, very candidly, some of the most sensi-tive problems (and solutions) facing our state and nation. You can, and should, talk about the sessions but we ask that you not attribute names as part of your conversations with others.

CONDITIONS, PROBLEMS, POLICIES, POLITICS Public policy starts with a condition or a problem. A condition is a situation or circumstance in which no one will invest. If you believe that “poverty will always be with us”, then you believe that poverty is a condition. If poverty will always be with us, why work on it? A condition must be turned in to a problem before you can convince someone to work on it. Once you have a problem clearly identified you can develop a policy to address it. What is left then is the politics of getting it enacted and implemented. You will hear often during the Fellow-ship, “What is the problem, what is the goal and what are the “hows”?”—what are the policy “hows”, what are the implementation “hows” and what are the political “hows”?

A WORKING DEFINITION OF PUBLIC POLICY There are many working definitions of the term “public policy.” To help us be clear in our policy discussions we will use the following definitions of public policy:

• Policy is a course of action, for a given period of time, based on a given set of circumstances, designed to influence future decisions or actions.

• Policy Design is a proposal for action, for a given period of time, based on a given set of circumstances, de-signed to influence future decisions or actions.

• The “Policy Cycle” will be used to provide a map on how to advance public policy.

THE POLICY DESIGN CYCLEThe “Policy Design Cycle” is a policy tool that explains how policy moves from “values” to “problems” or “is-sues” and then moves to action. The Policy Cycle provides guidance about where to start on any policy work.

Our values tell us to describe some things as “problems” and some as “issues.” We want to solve the problem/issue—most often without deciding on a “goal.” What is needed is a clear statement of the problem and a clear statement of the goal. Then the “how?” question can be asked.

Finding the ‘How’ requires finding and fixing a problem that has a clearly stated goal. Often the problems are not really of “performance.” They are problems of policy design, fixed only by redesigning the systems that shape the way people and organizations behave.

POLICY DESIGN BRIEFThe Policy Design Brief (PDB), like a legal brief, is intended to guide you to convenience the reader that the policy issue in the Policy Design Brief (PDB) is worth an in depth review and investigation. It is critically import-ant that the reader can, in a short period of time, clearly see the relevance and importance of the policy design being proposed. Here is the table of contents for the brief:

• Why is a PDB Important?• Title• Executive Summary• Problem(s) to be Solved• Goal(s) to be Achieved• Options Considered• Policy How(s)• Implementation How(s)• Political How(s)

The Fellowship will provide you with the support you, independently or with others, to create a Policy Design Brief (PDB) on a policy issue that is important to you

LEADERSHIP Policy work takes a special type of leadership—both transactional and transformational—one cannot get to transformation in the policy arena without a solid base of transactional leadership. This will be a recurring theme throughout the Fellowship.

2020/21 Mn EPFP aPPliCaTiOn

Click the fields provided below to fill out this 3-page application.

Name

Organization

Street Address City

State Zip Code

Phone (Direct) Phone (Office)

Phone (Home) Email

Are you apply for the Metro (Twin Cities) or Rural (Fergus Falls) Fellowship?

METRO RURAL

EDUCATION (Please cite most recent institution first)

University/College City, State Major Field Degree Date

OPTIONAL INFORMATION

Race/Ethnicity

Sex

How did you learn about EPFP?

This page must be completed, signed, and dated. (Typed name along with date can serve as signature.)

Applicant Signature Date

2020/21 Mn EPFP aPPliCaTiOn page 2

SHORT ESSAYS (250 words max)

1. Why do you want to be an EPFP fellow?

2. What education issues do you hope to learn about in the fellowship?

2020/21 Mn EPFP aPPliCaTiOn page 3

SPONSOR INFORMATION

nOTE: if you are your own sponsor, this section is nOT required.

Name of Sponsor Title

Signature of Sponsor Date

Name of Organization

Street Address City

State Zip Code

Email Phone

PlEasE inCluDE YOur rEsuME Or viTaE

METRO APPLICANTS—

Return by Email to:

dloritz@centerforpolicy.org and kkaput@centerforpolicy.org

OR by Mail to:

Minnesota Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP)

Center for Policy Design Attention: Dan Loritz and Krista Kaput

332 Minnesota St, Suite W1360 Saint Paul, MN 55101

RURAL APPLICANTS—

Return by Email to:

thaugen@lcsc.org

OR by Mail to:

Troy Haguen Lakes Country Service Cooperative

1001 E Mount Faith AveFergus Falls, MN 56537