University members have increasingly sought CYFC’s assistance with building their own policy efforts, while policymakers continue to look to CYFC for up-to-date research and expertise on children, youth and family issues. In response to these demands, CYFC provides consultation as part of its policy education efforts and to help meet a very real need for University faculty and staff to engage in policymaking.

Intentionally connecting research with policymaking across party lines is no simple task. At the university and the capitol, different training and backgrounds determine what ends each professional seeks, how they achieve those ends, and who they trust in the process. Similarly, differing values, norms, and operating procedures define how each institution conducts business and makes decisions.

CYFC’s Policy Program seeks to bridge the divide between the professional and institutional cultures experienced by researchers and legislators. By closing this gap, as well as that between parties, all groups are provided with increased clarity about how each other functions, opportunities to establish trusting relationships with one another, and common ground around the children, youth and family issues important to the University of Minnesota, Minnesota’s legislators, and the constituents that policymakers represent.