Public information Piece

For this assignment, you will imagine you are a consultant working for a bipartisan think tank studying a major institution: the criminal justice system, the health care system, the educational system, the workplace, or the housing market.

You will then create a public information piece that presents research on institutional discrimination within your selected societal institution.

To prepare for this assignment, watch the Public Information Piece: A Note From the Faculty presentation to learn tips and advice from the faculty regarding this assignment.

Your employer asks you to research and analyze the prevalence and persistence of institutionalized discrimination based on race and ethnicity. For this assignment, you will explore both the causes and consequences of institutionalized discrimination, from the perspective of the individuals it directly affects, the institution you have chosen, and society as a whole.

Prepare

1. Choose one major institution to use for this assignment:
   • Criminal justice system.
   • Health care system.
   • Educational system.
   • Workplace.
   • Housing market.
2. Research institutional discrimination in your chosen institution, locating reliable, scholarly sources. Find suggested sources in the Research Activity for this assignment.
3. Choose one of the following public information pieces in the list below. It is your job to create a public information piece that highlights your findings regarding racial and ethnic inequities within your chosen institution. You will need to support your conclusions with credible data and scholarly research, rather than relying on opinion, and demonstrate your ability to apply sociological thinking to your topic.
   • Information booklet targeted to the general public.
   • Position paper or brief targeted at state or federal legislators.
   • Mock website or blog.
   • Public service announcement (a script for a radio or television program).
   • PowerPoint presentation targeted to a specific audience, with a description of the audience and detailed speaker’s notes.
   • A recorded speech to be given at a national meeting of practitioners who work in the institution you are researching. If you choose this option, include your speaker’s notes or script and references in a Word document along with your audio file.

Write

Create a final, professional-quality product in which you accomplish the following:

1. Create a public information piece that effectively conveys the causes and consequences of the problem of institutional discrimination in one of society’s major institutions, with support from data and scholarly sources.
2. Describe factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities within a specific institution.
3. Analyze data on the factors contributing racial and ethnic disparities in a specific institution.
   • Keep in mind that, to be accurate in your assessment, you will need to look at raw data and percentages as well as to consider the data in relation to each racial or ethnic group’s percentage within the overall U.S. population.
4. Explain ways in which public policies are linked to racial and ethnic disparities within a specific institution.
   • Consider any historical or contemporary influences that may have contributed the disparities you have identified.
   • Example: If you are studying institutional discrimination in the justice system, you would need to consider national policies such as the War on Drugs, as well as law enforcement policies.
5. Assess the impact on minorities and minority communities caused by institutional discrimination within a specific institution.
6. Describe policy strategies for reducing institutional discrimination.
   • These can be community based, legislative (at the local, state, or federal level), or law enforcement strategies.
   • These strategies should focus on reducing institutional discrimination within the institution itself.
7. Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Ensure written communication is clear, organized, and free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Length: Submit a completed public information piece of at least 1,500 words. If you choose to write a speech, record a 10- to 15-minute speech.
• Format: Cite your sources in current APA Style and Format, including a reference list at the end of your document or presentation, along with in-text citations of your sources.
• Sources: Cite a minimum of three scholarly sources
  

  Scoring Guide Criteria

  By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:

  • Competency 1: Describe theoretical ideas of power in relation to policy.
    • Explain ways in which public policies are linked to racial and ethnic disparities within a specific institution.
    • Describe policy strategies for reducing institutional discrimination.
  • Competency 2: Identify historical and contemporary influences of discrimination in American culture.
    • Assess the impact that institutional discrimination within a specific institution has had on minorities and minority communities.
  • Competency 3: Analyze the effects of social policy using aggregated data.
    • Describe factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities within a specific institution.
  • Competency 4: Analyze how laws are applied based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, and social class.
    • Create a public information piece that conveys a central tenet regarding institutional inequality.
  • Competency 5: Apply diversity strategies in professional, educational, and personal contexts.
    • Analyze data on the factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in a specific institution.
  • Competency 6: Apply in text the standard writing conventions for the discipline, including structure, voice, person, tone, and citation formatting.
    • Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate format and with few errors of grammar, usage, and mechanics.