Web Site:   www.policylink.org

Mission:

PolicyLink is a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity building, and advocacy organization working to advance a new generation of policies to achieve economic and social equity from the wisdom, voice, and experience of local constituencies.

Description:

PolicyLink's work is guided by the belief that those closest to the nation’s challenges are central to the search for solutions. With local and national partners, PolicyLink is Lifting Up What Works®, spotlighting promising practices, supporting advocacy campaigns, and helping to bridge the traditional divide between local communities and policymaking at the local, regional, state, and national levels.

By developing and implementing multifaceted strategies, PolicyLink seeks to ensure that everyone—including low-income communities of color—can contribute to and benefit from local and regional growth and development. Among Policy Link's approaches is equitable development, which is grounded in four principles: the integration of people and place; reduction of local and regional disparities; promotion of “double bottom line” investments; and ensuring meaningful voice, participation, and leadership from community members. This framework is used to promote a range of economic and social issues, including achieving the fair distribution of affordable housing throughout regions, equity in public investment, and community strategies to improve health.

Resources to Share:

Publications Page on PolicyLink Web Site

Recent publications:

Ending School Overcrowding in California: Building Quality Schools for All Children, Spring 2005
Over a million California schoolchildren—predominantly from low-income families and communities of color—attend severely overcrowded schools. Yet school construction resources are too often diverted to newer schools in suburban or exurban communities, bypassing critically overcrowded urban or inner-ring suburban schools that typically lack vacant land for expansion or local funding sources. Ending School Overcrowding in California: Building Quality Schools for All Children explores California’s overcrowding relief initiatives and proposes policy recommendations for fair and equitable distribution of school construction funds. more ...