Congressional Offices
Benefits to Your Office
The Research-to-Policy Collaboration is a non-partisan, unbiased resource for building connections between policymakers and researchers as an approach to evidence-based policy. We maximize our utility by leveraging the expertise of our network of scientific researchers to provide support on your current legislative efforts. Rather than coming to you with an agenda or specific requests - the RPC seeks to understand your policy priorities related to families and children. Overall, we seek to engage staff in mutually beneficial connections with researchers who can work with you on things you’re planning to work on already.
How We Approach Congressional Needs
The Research-to-Policy Collaboration can assist with your office’s efforts in a number of ways, including:
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Leveraging the value of prevention: The status quo of our system's agendas and policies tends to prioritize reactive solutions to existing problems rather than eliminating problems before they occur. The RPC strives to reorient problem-solving processes with a proactive lens that most often reduces burden on citizens' quality of life and need for tax dollars.
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Accessing information directly: Literature reviews are incredible assets for translating research into policy recommendations, but the ability to directly connect with experts regarding a topic allows offices to ask nuanced questions regarding practical applications of research. The RPC seeks to support both one-on-one connections and Congressional briefings, where primary experts are made available for consultation.
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Requesting information for prospective legislation: Oftentimes there are plentiful resources on topics that are on the forefront of the agenda, but information is needed even before legislation is written or introduced in Committees. The RPC can respond to requests for information even if the issue is not yet highly visible in the policy arena.
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Action-oriented recommendations: Research-informed recommendations are an important piece of the equation, but are sometimes not specific enough to be written into legislation. The RPC seeks to support efforts to translate recommendations into tangible language that can be adapted for legislation.
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Implementing existing legislation: We recognize that the passage of legislation is merely one step of the process and much work needs to be done following. The RPC's network of practicing evaluators and community-based consultants may have the expertise you need for making recommendations that will support adequate infrastructure for successful implementation in communities.
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Informing future research: The divide between research and policy operates in both directions. Not only does the RPC seek to translate existing research, we also recognize that interactions with legislative staff can inform researchers about policymakers’ unanswered questions that should be addressed with future studies.