Resources | The Policy Lab

Digital Tools

Track Every Bill. Never Miss a Move.

A ready-to-use spreadsheet built for Mississippi advocates — import into Google Sheets or Excel and start tracking the moment session opens.

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Spreadsheet · Labs 2 & 3 · Google Sheets & Excel Compatible

Mississippi Bill Tracker — Digital Spreadsheet

A fully formatted, import-ready spreadsheet with separate tabs for House and Senate bills. Tracks bill number, title, sponsor, committee, progress status, and your organization's position — all with built-in dropdowns so your data stays clean and consistent.

Included in the spreadsheet:
✦ Separate House and Senate tabs
✦ Progress dropdown: 15 status options from In Committee → Became Law
✦ Position dropdown: Support / Oppose / Watching
✦ Notes column for hearing dates, contacts, and next actions
✦ 200 rows per tab — enough for a full session
✦ Built-in instructions: Make a Copy → Search Legislature → Copy & Paste
✦ Color-coded legend for every status

One-time download

Purchase & Download →

Works in Google Sheets & Microsoft Excel

Checklists

Before, During & After Session

The checklists that keep you organized when session is moving fast and the details that matter get lost.

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Checklist · Labs 2 & 3

Pre-Session Readiness Checklist

Everything your organization should complete before January — priorities, relationships, trackers, and staff roles. The organizations that finish this checklist show up prepared. The ones who don't are scrambling by week two.

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Checklist · All Labs

Post-Session Debrief Checklist

Capture what happened — wins, losses, relationships, capacity gaps — before everyone exhales and moves on. The organizations that improve fastest are the ones that debrief systematically. Pairs with Labs 3, 4, and 6.

Session Management

Track What's Moving in Real Time

Tools for staying on top of what's happening in Jackson when everything moves at once.

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Tracker · Lab 2

Weekly Session Tracker

A weekly reflection and tracking sheet for use during session. Bills that moved, actions taken, what's coming next week. The thread that keeps you from losing the plot when session gets fast and chaotic.

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Ranker · Labs 2 & 3

Bill Watch Priority Ranker

You're tracking 15 bills. You can only act on 3 this week. This ranker forces a weekly decision based on urgency, impact, and your ability to actually move it. Tracks everything without acting on nothing.

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Debrief · Labs 3 & 6

Hearing Debrief Worksheet

Fill this out within two hours of leaving a committee hearing. Who testified, what the committee's energy was, what the chair signaled, what your next move is. The institutional memory most organizations never capture.

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Analysis · All Labs

Win/Loss Analysis Worksheet

At the end of session, go through every priority bill. What happened, why, what you did well, what you'd change. Forces learning instead of just moving on. Pairs with the Post-Session Debrief Checklist.

Strategic Planning

Build Your Campaign Before Session Builds It for You

Frameworks for making intentional choices about where to focus your limited time and power.

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Framework · Labs 2 & 3

Issue Prioritization Matrix

A 2x2 scoring framework for deciding which policy issues to pursue this session — scored by urgency, impact, winability, and your capacity. Prevents the paralysis of tracking everything and acting on nothing.

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Framework · Lab 3

Power Mapping Worksheet

Map who holds the power over your issue and how to reach them. Decision-makers, influencers, allies, opponents — and the path from your organization to the people who can give you what you want.

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Framework · Labs 3 & 6

Advocacy Campaign Planning Framework

The one-page structure for running a full campaign through a bill — goal, audience, message, tactics, timeline, and success metrics. The difference between reacting to session and running a campaign through it.

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Worksheet · Labs 2 & 5

Policy Issue Clarity Worksheet

Go from "I care about education" to a specific, actionable policy ask. Walks through defining the problem, identifying who is affected, naming the solution, and writing the one sentence that a legislator can actually act on.

Relationships & Communications

Build the Relationships That Move Bills

The tools for researching legislators, tracking relationships, and making every meeting count.

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Research · Lab 4

Legislator Research Worksheet

A structured template for researching a legislator before your first meeting — district profile, committee assignments, voting record, known priorities, and potential common ground. The anxiety before a meeting usually comes from not knowing enough. This fixes that.

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Follow-Up · Lab 4

Post-Meeting Follow-Up Worksheet

Capture what was said, what commitments were made, and what your next step is — immediately after leaving a legislator's office. Turns a conversation into a record and a record into action. Most advocates lose this information within 48 hours.

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Coalition · Lab 6

Coalition Partner Assessment

Not every organization that shares your issue should be in your coalition. Assess alignment, capacity, reputation, and potential conflict before you make commitments. Prevents the coalition that looks good on paper and falls apart in February.

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Mapping · Labs 3 & 4

My Network Mapping Worksheet

Discover the relational capital you already have. Most advocates dramatically underestimate their connections. Map your direct relationships, second-degree connections, and organizational affiliations — then identify the gap and how to close it.

Communications & Messaging

Say the Right Thing in Any Room

Worksheets for crafting messages that land — for legislators, community members, and media alike.

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Messaging · Labs 6 & 8

The Message Box Worksheet

Four quadrants that prepare you for every argument before it's made against you. What you say, what they say, what you say about their argument, and what they say about yours. Used by campaigns, advocacy organizations, and policy professionals nationwide.

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Communications · Labs 6 & 7

Plain Language Translation Worksheet

Say the same thing three completely different ways — for a community member, a legislator, and the media. Teaches the code-switching skill that separates advocates who are heard from advocates who are ignored.

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Digital · Lab 8

Social Media Advocacy Planning Worksheet

Turn a legislative priority into a coordinated social media campaign — audience, message, content plan, hashtags, call-to-action, and how to measure whether it's working. Bridges the gap between posting and organizing.

For Organizations

Build an Organization That Advocates Year-Round

Tools for assessing your organization's advocacy capacity and building the infrastructure to sustain it.

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Finance · Lab 7

Advocacy Budget Worksheet

Make the invisible investment in policy work visible — staff time, travel, printing, events, coalition dues. Most organizations dramatically undercount what they spend on advocacy and therefore dramatically underfund it. This worksheet makes it real.

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Leadership · All Labs

Board Advocacy Readiness Assessment

Does your board know what your 501(c)(3) can legally do — and do they support it? Helps executive directors identify the conversations that need to happen before session begins. Because board hesitation kills more advocacy than opposition does.

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Assessment · All Labs

Organizational Power Analysis

What kind of power does your organization actually have — membership, legislative relationships, media connections, community trust, financial resources? Honest assessment across eight dimensions leads to smarter strategy and stops you from punching below your weight.

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Capacity · Labs 3 & 6

Staff Advocacy Skill Inventory

Who on your team knows what — and where are the training gaps? A simple self-assessment grid across six core advocacy skills. Know your team's strengths before session forces you to find out the hard way. Pairs directly with The Policy Lab certification path.

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Planning · All Labs

Year-Round Advocacy Calendar Template

Map the full 12-month advocacy cycle — debrief season, relationship building, priority setting, session prep, and session itself. The organizations most effective in January started in May. This calendar keeps that discipline.

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Template · Labs 2 & 3

Organizational Legislative Agenda Template

A one-page fillable template for defining your organization's session priorities — bills you support, bills you oppose, and bills you're monitoring. Share it with your board, staff, and coalition partners before session begins. Forces the clarity that keeps you focused.

Just Starting Out

For Anyone Who's New to This — Which Is Most People

You don't need a degree or a title to be an advocate. These worksheets meet you exactly where you are.

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Self-Discovery

Am I an Advocate?

Spoiler: you probably already are. This reflection worksheet helps you recognize what you've already been doing — and gives it a name. Because most people who are advocates don't call themselves that.

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Policy Literacy

Policy vs. Politics — What's the Difference?

Why you can care deeply about policy without choosing a party or getting into arguments. The distinction that removes the biggest barrier most people have to showing up.

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Issue Identification

Finding Your Issue

For someone who cares but doesn't know where to focus. Walks through values, lived experience, community connections, and capacity to help you land on the issue that's genuinely yours to work on.

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Action Planning

My First 30 Days as an Advocate

A simple day-by-day action calendar for someone brand new to advocacy. Day 1: find your legislator. Day 30: tell someone else what you learned. Removes the overwhelm of "where do I even start."

For Your Community

Wherever You Show Up, There's a Tool for You

Whether you're a parent, a business owner, a faith leader, a healthcare worker, or a first-time voter — policy affects your life and you have the right to affect it back.

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Faith Community

The Faith Leader Advocacy Guide

How to engage your congregation in civic issues without crossing any legal or denominational lines. Mississippi civic life runs through the church — this guide helps faith leaders use that trust responsibly and effectively.

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Parents & Families

The Parent Advocate Worksheet

Connect your child's classroom experience to the decisions made in Jackson. Parents are often the most motivated advocates and the least equipped — this worksheet bridges that gap and shows you exactly where to show up.

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Healthcare Workers

The Healthcare Worker Policy Worksheet

Nurses, social workers, and community health workers see policy failure every day. Your testimony changes votes. This worksheet helps you connect what you see at work to the decisions being made in Jackson — and how to make your voice heard.

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Small Business

The Business Owner Advocacy Worksheet

Connect your bottom line to what's happening in Jackson. Small business owners have enormous legislative interests and rarely show up to advocate for them. Your credibility as a job creator and community investor is unique. Use it.

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Young Adults

The Young Voter Policy Worksheet

Policy affects your life more than you realize — housing, wages, student debt, healthcare, criminal justice. This worksheet makes those connections concrete and shows you how much power you actually have between elections.

For Community Groups

Tools Built for Groups — Do These Together

These worksheets are designed to be used with 5, 15, or 50 people. Bring them to your next community meeting, church small group, or neighborhood association and see what happens.

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Group Organizing

Community Problem-to-Policy Pipeline

From "something is wrong in our neighborhood" to "here is our specific policy ask and who we're taking it to." Designed for groups to do together — the conversation is as valuable as the answers.

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Meeting Organizing

Community Meeting-to-Action Worksheet

Community meetings produce energy. Without structure that energy disappears in 48 hours. This worksheet captures the momentum before everyone leaves the room — priorities, decisions, who does what, and when you meet next.

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Community Analysis

Neighborhood Policy Audit

Walk your neighborhood. Look at what you see. Then ask: who decided this? Every pothole, every closed school, every under-resourced clinic is connected to a policy decision. This worksheet makes that connection visible and actionable.

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Intergenerational

Intergenerational Policy Conversation Guide

Structured questions for a conversation between older and younger community members about what has changed — and what still needs to. Use it at a family dinner, a church small group, or a community gathering.

Unexpected & Powerful

The Tools Nobody Talks About — But Everyone Needs

These worksheets don't fit into a traditional advocacy toolkit. That's exactly why they're here.

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Personal Foundation

Personal Mission Statement Builder

One sentence that tells the world why you do this work. The sentence you read when you're tired, when a bill fails, when it feels pointless. It reminds you why you're in the room.

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Self-Awareness

What Motivates Me in This Work

Values clarification for advocates. Understanding what drives you helps you sustain the work when things get hard and communicate it to others when they need to understand why you care so much.

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Sustainability

Burnout Prevention for Advocates

The resource that should exist in every advocacy toolkit — and doesn't. Civic engagement is exhausting. This worksheet addresses workload, boundaries, emotional capacity, and restoration. Because you need to still be here in ten years.

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Vision

My Policy Legacy Worksheet

Zoom all the way out — then come back to today with more purpose. In ten years, what policy change do you want to be part of? What would Mississippi look like if you succeeded? What does that mean for what you do this week?

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Community Connection

Talking to Family About Policy

Conversation starters for the people who know you best and may disagree most. How to bring up a bill at the dinner table. How to find common ground. How to respond when someone says "that's political." The kitchen table is where it starts.

For Individual Advocates

Personal Planning & Reflection

You don't need an organization to be an effective advocate. These worksheets are built for individuals who want to be strategic about their civic engagement.

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Personal Development

My Advocacy Origin Story

Every advocate has a story. The moment that made you say "this has to change." This worksheet helps you find it, articulate it, and use it — in testimony, in meetings, in the conversations that need to happen in your community.

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Goal Setting

My Policy Goals — 90-Day Planning Sheet

Three policy goals, three relationship goals, three skill goals for the next 90 days. Concrete, time-bound, reviewable. The personal version of an organizational strategic plan — for advocates who show up on their own.

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Documentation

Lessons Learned Log

A running record of what you learn from every meeting, hearing, win, and loss. The advocates who improve fastest reflect systematically. This log is your professional development record — use it after every significant advocacy activity.

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Community Strength

Community Asset Mapping

Start from power, not deficit. Before you advocate for your community, know what it already has — the people, organizations, spaces, and relationships that are your foundation. Flips the deficit narrative and starts from strength.

How It Works

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1. Purchase a Track

Each educator track is sold separately at mspolicylab.com/pricing.

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2. Receive Your Code

Your unique educator access code is emailed immediately after purchase.

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3. Unlock & Download

Enter your code below to unlock your PDF bundle and download all resources.

Lesson 1

Teaching Policy: A Framework for the Classroom

3 classroom-ready PDFs for introducing the legislative process to students at any level

What's Included

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Legislative Vocabulary Builder

30 essential terms with plain-language definitions and classroom connections

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How a Bill Moves — Fill-In Diagram

Student fill-in worksheet + complete answer key with reflection questions

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Classroom Discussion Guide

Discussion frameworks for all 4 Foundation Track labs — 3 question levels + synthesis prompts

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Enter Educator Access Code

Lesson 2

Mississippi Civics: From Statehouse to School

3 activity-based PDFs for teaching Mississippi government structure and civic participation

What's Included

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MS Government Structure Map

Fill-in worksheet mapping all three branches, checks & balances, and reflection questions

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Mock Hearing Role-Play Script

Complete role-play script for a classroom committee hearing simulation with debrief

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Civic Action Planning Sheet

A 4-step guided planning tool for designing a real civic engagement project

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Enter Educator Access Code

Lesson 3

Education Policy Issues in Mississippi Today

3 analysis-focused PDFs for connecting current policy issues to student advocacy

What's Included

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Policy Issue Analysis Template

4-section structured analysis: problem, evidence, current policy, recommendation

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Stakeholder Mapping Activity

Full stakeholder inventory across 5 categories + Power/Interest grid

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Student Advocacy Letter Guide

Annotated letter template with research prep, paragraph guidance, and quality checklist

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Enter Educator Access Code

Lab	Title	What Learners Will Know	Track
Lab 1	Mississippi Legislative Process 101	How a bill becomes law — chambers, committees, key deadlines, and what actually kills most legislation	Foundation
Lab 2	Session Prep & Bill Tracking	How to build a legislative agenda, track bills using legislature.ms.gov, and engage before session starts	Foundation
Lab 3	Advocacy 101	The legal difference between advocacy and lobbying, the 3 types of policy power, and effective advocacy strategies	Foundation
Lab 4	Building Legislative Relationships That Last	How to structure legislator meetings, what to research beforehand, and how to maintain relationships year-round	Foundation
Lab 5	From Problem to Bill: Designing Legislation	How to move from a community problem to a legislative solution, find a sponsor, and think strategically before drafting	Advanced
Lab 6	Advocacy in Action	How to give effective testimony, run call-in campaigns, build coalitions with unified messaging, and follow through after the vote	Advanced
Lab 7	Data, Research & Resources	How to find Mississippi-specific data, conduct local research, and address fiscal notes	Advanced
Lab 8	Digital Advocacy, Media & Campaigns	Geofencing, geotargeting, text banking, radio/church outreach, and integrated advocacy campaign planning	Advanced

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Educator Resources

The Sites Every Mississippi Advocate Should Bookmark

Curriculum Map