Professor Brenda Bushouse presented “Thinking Big for Policy Change” to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts Leadership Institute for Political Impact on Saturday, September 11, 2010. The two-hour seminar provided the 40 Institute fellows with an opportunity to dream big in order to create economic justice, access to education, and freedom from violence. Participants worked through strategic decision-making to help realize those dreams through public policy concepts such as framing, venue, valence, timing and understanding the social construction of target groups.
One of the goals of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts is for local women to involve themselves in civic affairs, such as running for political offices. As a result, they created the Leadership Institute for Political Impact in order to train and encourage these future leaders to pursue their utmost potential.
A non-partisan initiative, the twelve-month Leadership Institute for Political Impact stresses personal leadership, community organizing, legislative process and policy, and running for political office. It provides women with education and support by means of intensive workshops, the development of county cohorts, and experienced mentors to help them gain confidence in their abilities as successful political leaders.
Bushouse, a professor of Political Science and Public Policy, has a background of studies that involve early childhood policy, nonprofit governance, and policy-making processes. Her book, Universal Preschool: Policy Change, Stability, and the Pew Charitable Trusts (2009), analyzes the creation of state-funded preschool programs and the impact of foundation funding in state policy-making processes. Currently, she is researching network methodologies and their usage as means to elevate the policy ideas of nonprofit organizations.