Focus
Develop a leadership guide to help students start Roosevelt Institute
chapters in their own schools
Name:
Organization:
Client:
Mentor:
Team:
Roosevelt Chapter Leadership Guide
Roosevelt Institute Campus Network
Brenna Conway, Illinois Field Director
Daniel Rees Lewis, Brantley Harris
Justin Hatfield, Stephany Rosa, Nikita Ramanujam, Brooke Rischbieth
Organizational and Learning Context
 Organization: Roosevelt Institute Campus network (www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/)
is the largest student policy organization in the US, with over 10,000 members and 115
chapters in 38 states. The Campus Network aims to generate powerful policy change in
dozens of localities and to leverage its presence nationwide towards elevating young
people’s priorities and serving as a thought leader on how the Millennial generation is
redefining political engagement. Students have changed policies around predatory
lending; established a tax fund in New Haven capable of sending every high-school
graduate to college tuition free; and even included an automatic healthcare enrollment
policy in the Affordable Care Act.
 Learners: Roosevelt Network students consist primarily undergraduates aged 18-22.
 Domain: Roosevelt Network trains students in writing policy briefs. This includes a
yearly 10 big ideas competition. Roosevelt Network is also looking to branch out to
other forms of activism.
Project background
This project will focus on create a “Chapter Leadership Guide”. The leadership guide will be a
resource for the Midwest regional leadership team (comprised of undergraduates) to share with
students interested in started a chapter at their own university. The guide will cover topics such
as membership, leadership/structure, culture, and what the day-to-day activity might look like in
a chapter.
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Organizational need: Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is a grassroots organization
whose health and growth depends on developing leaders who can run local chapters.
Learner’s task: Chapter leads need to organize chapters.
Users: To test your prototypes, you will contact Roosevelt chapter leads at
Northwestern, and the Midwest regional leadership team members
Where: Roosevelt NU chapter leaders will access the curriculum online.
When: Roosevelt NU chapter leaders manage their studios through the school year.
Tentative scope of work: produce an online guide and a service blueprint on organizing
on membership including forming a leadership team and recruiting members. The guide
should cover what the day-to-day activity might look like in a chapter. The first guide
could address recruiting.
References
Running a chapter-based organization consists of a number of objectives:
 Leadership -- creating a leadership team and structure for running the studio and
member projects
 Membership -- recruiting members, forming design teams, and managing teams
 Fundraising -- managing studio finances and raising funds
 Partners -- Finding and Maintaining Community Partners for project teams.
 Culture -- Creating a positive social environment, from social activities to swag.
 Administrative support -- Getting Recognition, Buy-in and Resources from your
university campus
 Training -- Teaching the Policy Analysis process and the hard & soft skills that
accompany it.
 Networking -- Connecting to the larger Roosevelt Network and all the resources in it.
Goals
Transfer
Learners will be able to independently use their learning to …
<What kids of long-term independent accomplishments are desired?>
T1: Be able to successfully recruit new members to a budding organization
T2: Engage members to participate in the core activities of the organization
T3: Sustain progress towards organizational goals and objectives
Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
Learners will understand that …
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Learners will keep considering…
<What specifically do you want learners to
understand?
What inferences should they make?>
U1: The trends that lead to a successful social media
guide and how they can be reapplied/replicated to
other social sites
U2: The importance of positive social media in the
recruiting process
U3: The activities that are most effective at engaging
members in an organization's’ mission
<What thought-provoking questions will
foster inquiry, meaning-making and
transfer?>
Q1: How can I improve my use of social
media to attract and engage new chapter
members?
Q2: How do I ensure members are kept
engaged in the organization once they join?
Q3: Why should new chapter members be
interested/invested in our organization?
Q4: How do I ensure my organization
sustains progress towards the core mission?
Q5: What kinds of everyday activities relate
to discovering a strategic mission?
Acquisition
Students will know…
Students will be skilled at…
<What facts and basic concepts should students
know and be able to recall?>
K1: Students will know that effective social media
requires personalized engagement and input from
various stakeholders
<What discrete skills and processes should
students be able to use?>
S1: Students be skilled event planning detail
orientation
S2: Students will be skilled at leading teams
K2: Students will know that effective social media
requires branding and buzz
K3: Students will know how to use social media to
communicate with both current and potential
members
K4: Students will know what activities to do, and how
to engage, with their new members
K5: Students will know that the core mission of
Roosevelt Institute is to engage students in politics
K6: Students will know that team dynamics at the
onset of an establishment are fluid
S3: Students will be skilled at navigating
ambiguity
S4: Students will be skilled at managing
multiple projects
S5: Students will be skilled at
communicating across various levels of a
project team
S6: Students will be skilled at defining roles
S7: Students will be skilled at reflecting on
team experiences and correlating said
experiences to larger organizational
objectives