Investing in children, families, and communities: Challenges for an interdivisional public policy collaboration

An interdivisional collaboration to foster the development of strengths-bas ed policies for children, youth, families, and communities is described. Th e initiative includes (1) producing a book that integrates scholarly resear ch and policy; (2) developing materials for policymakers to use, including a policy-oriented summary of the book; (3) enhancing the capacities of the divisions to communicate with and influence policymakers; and (4) taking ac tion steps to influence policymakers. During the process of developing thes e products, a number of tensions emerged between the academically-based and policy-based authors of the book, many of which centered around how the in formation should be presented and, in particular, how to formulate and pres ent policy recommendations Tensions fell into four general categories: unde rstanding the appropriate scope for recommendations, using the right langua ge, understanding the kind of information that is needed, and understanding the bottom line Tile author concludes by urging psychologists to become ad ept at understanding and participating in the public policymaking process.