MEDIA ALERT August 1, 2008 For Immediate Release For additional information:  Barbara Kerr, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Telephone: 360-992-2921 E-mail:  bkerr@clark.edu Karmel Shields, MSW Vancouver Program Director EWU School of Social Work@Clark College Telephone:  (360) 992-2082 E-mail: karmel.shields@mail.ewu.edu

 

A MATTER OF POLICY

On Wednesday, August 6, regional legislators will listen at Clark College as students offer mock testimony on important social issues

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Universal health care.  Post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans.  Loan forgiveness.  Those important topics will be the focus – not of hearings in Olympia or Washington, D.C. – but at a mock hearing featuring 60 students in the social welfare policy class which is part of Eastern Washington University’s (EWU) part-time Master of Social Work (MSW) program offered at Clark College.

A number of regional legislators with formal experience in creating public policy will attend the session, in which students will simulate policy hearings and give testimony on social welfare policy issues.  Officials who are scheduled to attend, serving as a mock legislative panel, include State Senator Craig Pridemore and State Representatives Bill Fromhold, Jaime Herrera, Ed Orcutt and Deb Wallace.

 

The class will be held on Wednesday, August 6 from 6-9:30 p.m. in Foster Hall Auditorium. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver.   Media parking will be available in the college’s Red #1 and Red #2 parking lots on the east side of Fort Vancouver Way as well as the purple lot on the west side of Fort Vancouver Way.  Red lot #3 is currently under construction. 

 

According to organizer Karmel Shields, “All of the students will be taking part in the evening in some capacity.  Most will be testifying. The course is designed for the students to gain effective advocacy skills in the policy making arena.  The students have completed writing letters to state and federal legislators on topics of their choice.  The hearing is the next step in the learning process.  The students will conclude the course with a policy position paper -- much like a policy brief -- on a social welfare issue.”

 

Shields added, “We are very grateful to the local officials who are donating their time to make this experience especially meaningful for our students.  Our focus is on the social policies which affect our community.  Our hope is that today’s students will be tomorrow’s leaders in the dialogue on these kinds of important issues.”

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