From the judges: This program created a unique product showcasing alumni of the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy in an innovative, timely and impactful way on a notable budget of zero dollars. The collection of compelling stories was the result of extensive personalized outreach efforts. They effectively accomplished both of the program goals to develop new content highlighting alumni at work and putting their Sanford education into meaningful action, as well as creating an opportunity to re-engage with alumni during a tumultuous time. The project is one that can be replicated at varying scales by other alumni relations offices with limited budgets.
#WhyPublicPolicyMatters
Category
Alumni Relations > Alumni Engagement on a Shoestring
Description
Silver
Institution: Duke University
Title of entry: #WhyPublicPolicyMatters
About this entry: #WhyPublicPolicyMatters is an alumni video blog series featuring Duke Sanford School of Public Policy alumni. We invited alumni to film themselves giving a brief description of their work, how it was being affected by the pandemic and how their Sanford education was helping them navigate these challenges.
We posted our first vlog on April 8, just three weeks after our team was directed to start working remotely due to the pandemic. As of October we have 18 videos in our series, and more in the pipeline.
Our collection includes compelling and timely stories such as our local town council member sharing the scope of her work on the day after local stay at home order was issued. Another alumna, a senior strategy advisor for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human services, spoke to the State’s work to support children and families on during the pandemic. Other featured alumni spoke to their areas of policy expertise which spans education, health care, affordable housing, and small businesses and the economy. We asked each alum to reflect on the skills and knowledge they gathered from their studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy and how they are applying it to the real world problems they are now facing.
Through this series of videos, we have created a story arc about the management of public policy during the pandemic and how these practitioners utilized an array skills learned from the Sanford School of Public Policy.