Facilitating understanding of state government
The MD General Assembly recently completed another packed legislative session. At CDCE, we're focused on fulfilling our goal of helping students and the public understand state government.
At CDCE, we are always laser focused on our core mission to mobilize the whole UMD community strengthen democracy. As part of that goal, we serve the university community and the state of Maryland by continually working to facilitate deeper understanding of state government among UMD students and the general public. With another exciting MD General Assembly session now in the books, we wanted to share an update on the three strategies we are pursuing to fulfill this charge.
1) New Maryland Issues Poll with the Washington Post shows how Marylanders perceive public challenges
CDCE is proud to work closely with the Washington Post to investigate public opinion about key issues facing our democracy. Many of our polls with the Washington Post work with a national sample to explore issues like support for the events of Jan 6, climate change, or the intersection of politics and sports. As part of our mission to facilitate understanding of state government, we work with the Washington Post on state level surveys of Maryland voters. These surveys help all Marylanders - both policy makers and the public - understand how different issues are perceived in different parts of the state and what public policy responses are politically viable.
In March, we were proud to release a new survey of Maryland voters with the Washington Post. While much of the media coverage has been about the results about voter preferences for Maryland’s U.S. Senate race, we also included many questions about issues coming before the General Assembly. The Washington Post covered many of these results including important insights about how Marylanders perceive public challenges around crime, housing, and cannabis.
2) In partnership with Maryland Student Legislature, we launched the Maryland Policy Career Resource Center.
As a University community, we are always striving to meet the workforce needs of the state and nation. At CDCE, we try to do our part in that effort in several ways by studying the public service workforce and supporting students exploring careers in politics and public service. Through CDCE’s work on the Effective Government Transitions Project and the Election Workforce Advisory Council, we contribute important knowledge about urgent workforce issues related to the upcoming election. And through the Maryland Democracy Initiative’s Laufer Democracy Internship Program, we are supporting UMD students in finding their calling in the work of moving America towards 100% voter participation.
Now we are proud to be expanding this work in partnership with Maryland Student Legislature (MSL), an incredible program that provides college students from across the state with practical experience in drafting and debating bills, navigating parliamentary procedure, and understanding the legislative process. MSL was founded at UMD in 1989 and we are thrilled to be expanding CDCE’s partnership with them through the Maryland Policy Career Resource Center.
We know from our research on the public sector workforce that providing information about career opportunities in an inclusive and accessible way is crucial for producing a representative and effective public sector workforce. Through the Maryland Policy Career Resource Center we seek to make information about government internships more accessible to students all across Maryland and strengthen the talent pipeline to public service in our state.
3) Making the state legislative process accessible with our new “Annapolis 101” curriculum
Throughout our work with community partners at CDCE we consistently hear a lot of confusion about how the Maryland General Assembly works. While partners often have a basic understanding of the federal legislative process through consuming national news or the iconic Schoolhouse Rock video “I’m just a bill,” they often express confusion about the legislative process in Annapolis.
To address this problem, CDCE Fellow Maddie Wolf developed the Annapolis 101 curriculum in consultation with numerous partners both on an off campus. This curriculum is designed to support both advocacy groups and educators cultivating a deeper understanding of the legislative process in Annapolis in a way that empowers the students and advocates they serve to participate fully in state politics. We are so grateful to on-campus partners in the Maryland Fellows program and UMD Student Government Association and off-campus partners at Maryland Student Legislature and Helping Oppressed People Excel - H.O.P.E who tested the curriculum this spring and provided incredibly valuable and thoughtful feedback. We also are grateful to the team at Jews United For Justice whose annual pre-legislative session training provided the inspiration for this program.
Continuing our work facilitating understanding of state government
At CDCE, we are just getting started in our efforts to facilitate understanding of state government both on campus and in the public at large. State governments have extraordinary influence and power in our society. Yet there are now less than 1,000 full time statehouse reporters working in the entire United States. Fewer than 20% of Americans can name one of their state legislators. Facilitating understanding of state government so that the power and influence of state governments is used in a way that is accountable and legitimate is one of the most important grand challenges facing American civic life. At CDCE, we’re working hard to improve future iterations of the MD Issues Poll, the Maryland Policy Career Resource Center, and the Annapolis 101 curriculum to meet this crucial challenge in our state.
Please reach out if you want to use these tools or have ideas about how to we can improve them! The 2025 legislative session will be here before you know it.
Mike Hanmer is Director of UMD’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and the Michael Miller Endowed Faculty Fellow in Government and Politics. Sam Novey is Chief Strategist at the UMD Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.