Bowen Public Affairs Consulting believes that the only way to build a more just society is to demystify the functioning of government, and how government can be turned from its current operation (frequently stingy, surveillance-oriented, and violent, to name a few qualities) to one that expresses the actual will of the people and provides resources that will expand democratic possibilities. (Ahem.)
To that end, we work on political education materials: items that will either support people in learning about obscure pieces of governmental functioning, or can help people plan their own actions for social change. We will build this out more in the coming months. See below!
Worksheets
Plotting Administrative Advocacy: A lot of the work of government is getting government agencies to do what you need–outside of legislative action, it could be that your task is just getting obscure people in government agencies to do what you ask. Maybe you just get them to follow a procedure you lay out. Maybe you want them to put out a special policy document that outlines a new way of doing things. But you might need to coordinate the different layers of government (federal, state, municipal), get a sense of the history, etc. That’s what this document is for! It takes you from stating what you want to see done, then outlining who needs to do it for you, what kind of legal things you need to do to make that happen. (Updated 11/5/20)
Budget Process Explainers
#BudgetPlanningForToday Twitter threads (NYC budget focused, but folks elsewhere have said it’s useful!):
Reading budget documents to figure out what you want to advocate for
Turn your ideas into actionable proposals!
Learning your local history, getting a sense of how budget numbers move
bowenpublicaffairs.com 