Please note:  All of the website descriptions listed below are taken directly from the institutions "About Us" page. 

START WITH: 

• Issue Lab

First started in 2006 as a searchable, browseable website set up to collect and share the social sector’s knowledge, IssueLab became a service of Foundation Center in 2012. Since then, IssueLab’s mission has grown beyond the “simple” collection and distribution of knowledge products, to include the support of social sector organizations in adopting the practical and necessary steps to openly publishing what they fund and produce.

• National Association of Social Workers - Policy Issues

Federal policymakers play critical roles in promoting policies that help individuals, families, and communities to fulfill their potential and to lead healthy, productive lives. NASW has developed a policy agenda, which asserts the association’s advocacy priorities for the legislative cycle. NASW’s policy agenda is consistent with the NASW policies in Social Work Speaks, which is developed by members of the association at Delegate Assembly.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: 

• Annenberg Public Policy Center (Penn) 

The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1993 and created FactCheck.org in 2003. By conducting and disseminating research, staging conferences and hosting policy discussions, its scholars have addressed the role of communication in politics, science, adolescent behavior, child development, health care, suicide prevention, civics, and mental health, among other important areas. The center’s researchers have drafted materials that have helped policy makers, journalists, scholars, constituent groups and the general public better understand the role that media play in their lives and the life of the nation.

• Brookings Institute

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

We are a nonpartisan research and policy institute. We pursue federal and state policies designed both to reduce poverty and inequality and to restore fiscal responsibility in equitable and effective ways. We apply our deep expertise in budget and tax issues and in programs and policies that help low-income people, in order to help inform debates and achieve better policy outcomes.

• Center for Law and Social Policy

CLASP is a national, nonpartisan, anti-poverty nonprofit advancing policy solutions to improve the lives of people with low incomes. We develop practical yet visionary strategies for reducing poverty, promoting economic opportunity, and addressing institutional and racial barriers faced by people of color. With over 50 years' experience at the federal, state, and local levels, we're advancing a bold vision for the future rooted in economic security and racial equity.

• Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges.

• Institute for Social and Policy Studies (Yale) 

The Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale University advances interdisciplinary research in the social sciences that aims to shape public policy and inform democratic deliberation.

• Policy Commons (private company)

Policy Commons (formerly PolicyArchive) is a one-stop community platform for objective, fact-based research from the world’s leading policy experts, nonpartisan think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. Individual sign-in required, but much of the information is free to use.

• Think Tank Search (Harvard) 

Think Tank Search searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to HKS coursework and scholarship, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.

• Urban Institute

The Urban Institute is the trusted source for unbiased, authoritative insights that inform consequential choices about the well-being of people and places in the United States. We are a nonprofit research organization that believes decisions shaped by facts, rather than ideology, have the power to improve public policy and practice, strengthen communities, and transform people’s lives for the better.

• Govinfo.gov

Govinfo is a service of GPO to provide free public access to the full text of official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. When you search the content available on govinfo, you will be able to download the full text of publications but you won’t see records for documents that are not stored on govinfo. govinfo is also a standards-compliant preservation repository, advanced search engine, and content management system that securely controls digital content throughout its lifecycle to ensure content integrity and authenticity.