The Roosevelt Institution

The California Plan

The California Plan is a working proposal by Roosevelt fellows and staff at the University of California that comprehensively addresses key concerns articulated during the first semester following the establishment of the Roosevelt Institution at Berkeley.

Key shared concerns include:

• What are the short- and long-term purposes of the organization in light of the current policy context?
• What are the short- and long-term network, institutional and policy objectives of the organization? On what criteria do we determine our common objectives?
• How do we best align our members' incentives with the demands of the chapter to produce policy products?
• What is 'success' and how should it be measured? How does this influence the decisions we make as an organization?
• Given the severe degree of fragmentation in American politics, especially among those who identify as "progressive," what are the key underlying assumptions about society, policy and norms that we share when we approach the study of public policy?
• What should be the Berkeley Roosevelt brand?
• Which best practices should we benchmark from other 'successful' policy players to achieve goals similar to ours?
• Which strategies should we employ to meet our objectives and fulfill our mission?
• To what extent and how should we institutionalize certain practices for the sake of institutional sustainability, longevity, and adherence to short- and long-range strategic goals?
• What set of quality standards should we hold ourselves to?

We intend for the California Plan to articulate a common understanding of the long-range direction in which we should collectively proceed as an organization such that said common understanding (a) is rooted in a common and empirically accurate understanding of the past and present, (b) motivates and influences all tasks and projects undertaken by Berkeley Roosevelt, and (c) is always one that we, as progressives, choose to adopt vis-a-vis a constant and robust internal dialogue and institutionalized evaluation and feedback processes. To that end, the California Plan will also articulate a comprehensive set of strategies and practices to be employed.

Oct - Dec 2005: Informal conversations begin regarding our long-range strategic direction. There is a general consensus among staff and fellows that we must start implementing inclusive conversations and formal feedback/evaluation processes within the chapter.

Fall semester largely spent as an incubation period during which we test known methods and practices while being critical of our work. Much time is also spent understanding the policy and political context in which we operate, including but not limited to other policy institutions, a historical and political (read: fully contextual) understanding of policy development, and strategies employed to advance policy objectives.

Jan 2006: Spring cohort of staff and fellows admitted. Outline of California Plan drafted.

Feb 2006: Rough draft and presentation of California Plan developed. California Plan formally presented to fellows and staff as a proposal to be discussed at the February Systemwide Training.

Will be posted after the systemwide training on Feb 25, 2006.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact either:

• Albert Fang, Past President, Policy Strategy Fellow
• Lizzy Ghedi-Ehrlich, Chapter President, Policy Coordinator