The Public Policy Institute publications are designed to take the reader, facing a problem that can only be solved by changing a public policy, from the initial "good idea" stage through the process of assembling all the resources for a winning public policy campaign.

Newcomers will find a clear road map to success by using the step-by-step instructions and the rules and tools in all the texts. Old hands will find the guidelines and checklists helpful for reframing their good instincts and productive experiences.

Offering the overview, the insight, the details, and the hands-on learning tools for demystifying the policy making process, the PPI texts compliment one another to provide a comprehensive look at the public policy process itself, the role of each of the key players inside and outside of the policy making arena and the political dynamic that frames the attitudes and actions of every elected and appointed policy maker in this democratic society.

Each of the texts is written for community-based activists in an informal style free of most of the "insider" jargon used by public officials and staff in and around the policy world. Whenever necessary, translations into plain language is provided.

Real Clout was written for a national network of local healthcare activists who, having engineered some remarkable advances in health access in their own communities, wanted to learn how to replicate their programs state wide, and change some other bad policies that were getting in the way of their best practices while they were at it.

While they already knew more about their state county and local government than most citizens did, still, the notion of driving farther, going to another, bigger public building and talking to a bunch of important politicians and bureaucrats filled them with anxiety and dread.

Real Clout was written to help these smart committed community leaders figure out how their own state capital really works and how to insert themselves into the policy making process so they could make sure it was done right.

The principles of Real Clout, and the rules and tools outlined in the text, can of course be applied by any group of advocates working on any issue that advances social and economic justice.

Sometimes ordinary citizens who are directly affected - even hurt - by an existing law or regulation, or the absence of any law or regulation protecting them from a threatened harm, get mad enough to try to do something about it. They are angry because they, or someone they know, have been harmed; feel helpless because they aren't sure if they can do anything to change things; and anxious because this business of changing a law involves 'lobbying': a new and unfamiliar game. Even the word 'lobbying' conjures up an image of a slick, high-priced lawyer lobbyist whispering in the ear of a key politician to whom he has contributed thousands of dollars.

If you are a board member, professional staff or grassroots volunteer in a non-profit organization that aspires to change a particular public policy, and have experienced any of these things, then The Real Clout Workbook is for you.

Lobbying on a Shoestring, now in it's 3rd edition, was grew out of handbook written for participants in a legal services legislative advocacy training in 1979. and is now an award winning publication of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in collaboration with Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.

Known as the citizen lobbyists "Bible" in Massachusetts, Lobbying is a wise and witty description of law making that uses the process in Massachusetts to illustrate the general principals of building and executing an effective lobbying campaign.

Readers from other states can benefit from the stories and the lessons embodied in Lobbying, because while each of the fifty states' law making procedures accommodate regional differences or geographical limitations, there is relative uniformity among them in legislative organization and rules of debate.

In the end, each state's legislative body organizes itself into some sort of leadership structure, develops rules governing debate and voting procedures, and sets a meeting schedule. Eventually everybody meets in a large room where the members take turns proposing specific changes in the law, argue back and forth for a while, vote one way or another, and go on to the next proposal. At some point they decide they have finished and go home.

It's all pretty simple when you get down to it.