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Featured ArticleFrom English to Local Government Public Policy
May 20, 2005
Being a liberal arts major was great preparation for Ellen
Dektar's current work in child care policy.
According to Dektar, the writing, reading and critical thinking skills you develop as an English major are critical. "Everything you do in public policy requires you to be a strong writer. Creating persuasive and clear letters, analyses and public policies requires the ability to critically read through a lot of source material and sensitivity to different types of writing. Frankly, lots of policy work requires copious reading which you do as an English major. Monitoring newspaper stories and internet information composes a lot of my daily activity. I think English majors also can zero in on social justice or environmental issues in their studies that can provide an interesting historic perspective to modern day policy work. I was really interested in the Romantic Period and what was happening in England with the poor and the environment and with globalization/imperialism; as it turned out, William Wordsworth and Thomas Hardy were interested in many of these issues as well," said Dektar. Career Center (CC): What are your main job responsibilities? Ellen Dektar (ED): My organization links child care with other community infrastructure planning. The Local Investment in Child Care's (LINCC) long term goal is to increase the capacity and sustainability of quality child care with an emphasis on preservation and renovation of existing child care facilities and development of new facilities. It's funded by The Packard Foundation but housed at Alameda County and other counties around California. As coordinator for LINCC, I work with child care providers and specialists to facilitate the inclusion of their perspectives and goals in the land use and economic development process. I then attempt to persuade public and private sector actors to incorporate and fund child care in their planning and policy making. This involves learning a lot about community and economic development myself, identifying opportunities to forge new relationships and policies, writing outreach materials and recommended city policies, working with city elected officials and staff people and child care providers, and public speaking. CC: What other experiences/training beyond your BA in English were important in getting you to where you are in your career? ED: Internships were vital during the school year and during summers. My sophomore year I found an internship in Washington, DC on my own, and I worked on higher education policy and other issues through a campus arranged internship starting around my junior year. CC: What do you like about your work? ED: I love learning about new subjects and "crossing boundaries" or bridging different worlds. I recently realized this is what I also did with my senior English thesis, which was kind of cross-disciplinary, as well. My work spans the child care and land use and economic development policy fields, and I get to work with a wide range of people from child care providers to city and state elected officials. Previously, as a state legislative staffer and in the Mayor's Office in San Francisco, I bridged worlds between youth policy and practice in order to write new laws, help develop funding guidelines, and create meeting agendas for department directors working on children's policy. I also love working with a variety of people, a dynamic and fast paced work environment, and being able to see the work I am doing create change which will help children and families. CC: .What are some drawbacks? ED: What I am doing now is hard to explain! CC: Do you have any tips regarding what Cal undergraduates can do to prepare for a career in the public policy field? ED: Internships and fellowships like the John Gardner Fellowship for Public Service or the Capital Fellows programs offer great entrees into public policy. You learn a lot about the political process through these channels, and if you want to effect change being able to operate in or at least understand the political environment is key. CC: Other comments or suggestions? ED: People interested in policy should find their passion and pursue it, whether it is using a skill like crunching numbers for budgets, or focusing on a particular subject area. Figure out which aspect of the policy process works with your personality. Do you want to approach policy from a research and think tank, a government, or an advocacy perspective? Policy is an interesting world because there are people working on almost any issue. I always refer back to my discovery of the Snack Food Association in Washington, DC. I know it's an industry group, but the optimistic side of me hopes that some Twinkie lover finally hooked up with their true calling.  Additional Resources
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