Local Knowledge

One of the big barriers to getting started on a public health business plan is this: worrying that you don't know enough.

As it turns out, local knowledge is one of the most important factors for business plan success. So you might already know a lot of the important details, or have easy access to them through your local partners.

Yes, the science is important (the general framework provided by national or state-level statistics is nice; the references to model programs are important too). Knowing how to build a budget is important (and it is not hard to learn). Just as important is getting the details right about your local community, local needs, and local assets.

I mention it now because of an interesting article from the New York Times published today: Report Says Public Outreach, Done Right, Aids Policymaking .

For decades, laws have required many government agencies to seek public participation in the establishment of environmental policies. And for decades critics have derided the requirement as producing little more than confusion, delay, expense, distorted science and, as a government report once put it, “a proliferation of opportunities to misinterpret or misapply required procedures.”

But a growing body of evidence suggests that the process, done correctly, can improve policies and smooth their implementation, according to a report issued Friday by an expert panel convened by the National Research Council. Though critics often assert that members of the public are too ignorant to weigh the science involved in environmental policies, “public participation can help get the science right and get the right science,” said Thomas Dietz, the director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University, who headed the panel.

“A lot of science has to be applied to a very local context,” he said in a telephone interview. “Local knowledge is essential.”

The article includes links to the full report if you're interested.