Education, Services, and Outreach

Charged by the Board of Regents to serve the people and communities of Nebraska , the Public Policy Center has evolved into a dynamic research and engagement enterprise that not only makes an impact in Nebraska but also provides innovative policy solutions for the nation.

In upcoming years, the Center will continue to work with all branches of state government and other stakeholders with particular focus in five distinct areas:

• Access, Equity, and Fairness in Government Services
• Behavioral Health and Human Services
• Health Information Technology, Information Systems, and Health and Human Services Information and Referral Systems
• Water Science, Law, and Policy
• Deliberation, Democracy, and Public Participation

A few of the exciting new projects that the Center is working on include:

• Assessing the expansion and coordination of 2-1-1 information and referral access in Arkansas , Louisiana , and Mississippi in partnership with the United Way of America .
• Convening community conversations and conducting community-based participatory research to identify strategies to reduce the co-occurrence of such health problems as diabetes, obesity, and depression.
• Evaluating a Centers for Disease Control citizen and expert consensus process in Nebraska and three other states that engages the public in establishing priorities for vaccine protection against influenza in the event of a pandemic.
• Partnering with other researchers from the Water Resources Research Initiative to design and test user-friendly, computer-based information technology systems to assess and manage water quantity as part of an adaptive management policy for water management in Nebraska.