2009-2010 - Eagleton Institute of Politics - Rutgers, The State ...

Eagleton Institute of PoliticsOpportunities to present the Program’s research agendaand perspective on pressing issues increased during theyear, with faculty and staff making public presentations andoffering testimony before the New Jersey legislature. Majorplayers such as the Spring Institute, the American JewishCommittee, the Migration Policy Institute, and the Fund forNew Jersey now seek EPID’s views as they consider how toshape their own programs. The Program is represented onthe New Jersey Commission on New Americans, created tosucceed the Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Integrationand implement its recommendations. A number ofinitiatives jointly sponsored with the Commission are indevelopment.The Star-Ledger reported on the RutgersImmigration Infrastructure Map.Youth Political Participation Programwww.eagleton.rutgers.edu/programs/ypppEnthusiastic and energetic teams of undergraduates carry out much of the work of Eagleton’s Youth PoliticalParticipation Program (YPPP), directed by political scientist Elizabeth Matto. Now in its fifth year, YPPP offerstwo major programs: RU Ready TM , serving high school students, and RU Voting, reaching out to Rutgers students.Students who worked on YPPP have parlayed their experience into exciting new efforts; one is a politicalorganizer in New Brunswick, another has become a production assistant on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” anda third was named student ambassador at the U.S. Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, to cite only afew. Some have represented Rutgers and RU Voting at the National Campaign Conference at Harvard University’sKennedy School of Government.RU Ready TM is in its third year of work at New Brunswick HighSchool (NBHS), supported by gifts from the Magyar BankCharitable Foundation and several generous individual donors.Building on what was learned from past years, RU Ready TM internspresented a specially tailored set of in-class lessons:• Because Politics Matters - Through group discussion, studentsexplored the relevance of politics in their lives and wereintroduced to the various methods of civic and politicalengagement available to them.• All Politics is Local - Students simulated the process of policymaking by examining a recent state publicpolicy initiative.• Voting 101 - Students were guided through the process of electoral participation by simulating a presidentialcampaign.The program also organized training for student leaders at NBHS, which was held at Eagleton in October 2009.Participants, including elected officers of the student council, JROTC, and Honor Society, learned about publicspeaking, agenda setting, Robert’s Rules of Order, and the roles and responsibilities of officers.- 10 -RU Ready students learned aboutpolitical action, role-playing a protestat the Board of Education oversignificant school budget cuts thatmeant teacher layoffs, cancellationof textbook orders, and reductions insports programs.