Through the lens of racial justice, Racial Foundations of Public Policy will equip students to better understand the critical role of public policy in improving our world and communities. This course examines the power of public policy to bolster or undercut our life opportunities and experiences and explores policy analysis as a critically important tool for us to measure, reflect, historically examine, and help us define the way forward. In engaging multidisciplinary texts and perspectives, we will examine evidence-based solutions to address deep challenges around racial inequity. We will take an intersectional approach to expand our knowledge and highlight strategies and tools that address the complex intersections between public policy and racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, xenophobia, and other societal problems. As we examine the fraught histories and consequences of some of our policies and the transformative power of others, we learn a valuable lesson: Effective and just public policy can only be achieved if we bring diverse perspectives to the table.
