Where does our money go? Who are the beneficiaries of public funding? Which projects get funded? When and how do publicly funded projects deliver concrete results? Are they effective enough? The Scuola di OpenCoesione (ASOC) is an educational challenge and a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), designed for Italian high-school students.
It has three main objectives. First, to find out how public money is spent in a given local area or neighbourhood; second, to follow the projects and investigate how they are progressing and what challenges are they facing and third, to involve local communities in monitoring the effectiveness of public investment.

Many of us have likely heard the expression “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Yet, it is the people who are often excluded from the public policy process. Citizen engagement is typically reactive rather than proactive and passive as opposed to active. Voting and protesting are not the only ways that governments hear the voices of the people. Voting allows citizens to choose individuals who represent their interests, yet their interests are not always represented in ways they desire. Protesting brings attention to issues but doesn’t always lead to problems being solved. This book aims to empower readers to be active participants in the policy process rather than centering elected officials, appointed officials or bureaucrats as the only sources of policy power. This book is written in the spirit of equity. In order to have equitable public policies the voices of those who are impacted by these policies need to be heard as “gaps exist between the services governments deliver and what citizens want or need” (Mintrom & Luetjens, 2018, pg. 122). This is not simply a matter of contributing to policy discourse, but perhaps more importantly, a matter of contributing to the design, development and evaluation of public policy. Further, it is about holding policy makers and other decision makers accountable for their actions and the results of the actions. This book draws from lessons learned from my practical experiences, teaching and research. It is my hope that it equips those on the front lines of public policy and social equity with the tools needed to be effective producers and consumers of public policy ideas.

Save The Food! A Food Waste Prevention Teacher's Guide This resource provides five lesson plans and resources about preventing food waste. Wasted food costs money and harms the environment. This course explains basic concepts of food waste prevention and provides easy tips for students to follow. The content was adapted from the EPA’s “Food: Too Good to Waste” tool kit.The course was developed by Audrey Seligman, MPH, with assistance and consultation from George Schooley, M.A. TESOL. Funding for the course was provided by the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Board.