Compacts are agreements between states which must be approved by Congress. Compacts address issues pertaining to conservation and resource management, navigation on waterways, law enforcement, metropolitan development across state lines, pollution, transportation and energy. There are bilateral compacts, but also regional and national. Similarly, regional planning agreements exists between local governments to improve the quality of life for the region through agreed planning activities led by politicians, policy makers, community groups, businesses and other concerned citizens. Each learner will choose an interstate compact or regional planning agreement. The learner will review literature concerning the compact or agreement, its origin, history and will evaluate and summarize the effectiveness of the compact or agreement to address its objective and make recommendations for any improvement needed. Below are some lead agencies you may use to possibly choose your topic and start your research. You may also be aware of regional agreements from other sources that you may choose to use as your topic as well. In any event, all topics must be approved.
APPROVED TOPIC IS: REDIONAL AIR QUALITY: HOW INEQUALITIES HURT
COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-519
THE PHILADELPHIA CITY PLANNING COMMISSION http://www.phila.gov/cityplanning/Pages/default.aspx
THE DELAWARE VALLEY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION http://www.dvrpc.org/
1. To complete the successive requirements of the final course project you will need to identify a topic area related to Intergovernmental Relations by April 5, 2017. This identification should be in the form of a brief descriptive analysis that describes the topic area i.e. who, what, when, how and why (not more than one page).
2. The Unit 1 activity (described below) will be due on April 17, 2017. The Unit 1 activity should build on your original descriptive analysis of the topic area by adding a Policy Brief/Legislative Outline.
3. The Unit 2 activity (described below) will be due on April 26, 2017. The Unit 2 activity should build on your original descriptive analysis, policy brief outline by adding draft 1 of your Policy Brief/Legislative. This draft should be no longer than 15 pages (excluding citations). This draft should be no longer than 15 pages (excluding citations). The policy/legislative brief must include a minimum of 5 peer review journal articles and 5 additional mixed sources such as government reports, think tank reports, organizational reports, newspaper articles, etc.
4. The final course project will combine the work of the two unit activities with any additional findings for the final course project (Policy/Legislative Brief) due May 3, 2017. This final draft should be no longer than 15 pages (excluding citations). Power Point and Oral Presentations of the Policy/Legislative Brief will take place on May 8 and 10,