Time to Choose a Focus Issue
Now that you’ve researched your Big Topic, your group needs to narrow its focus and select a specific and related issue or problem. This will be your Focus Issue. Your Focus Issue should be meaningful to you, community related, and something that you can address in this project.
To help you decide on a Focus Issue, discuss and answer the following questions:
- What issues/problems related to our Big Topic did we find interesting and community related? (Community can be your school/district, town, or city.) In your project, you will focus on a part of your Big Topic, so you want that part to be something that exists in your community. If it doesn’t exist there, you likely won’t be able to do much about it.
- What feels doable? You can’t fix your Big Topic, but what piece seems manageable and realistic for your group to tackle?
- If your Big Topic comes from one of those suggested in Step 1: Pick Your Project, look at the following Focus Issues and see if your group would like to choose one.
PRO Tip
If you need to do more research to identify a community connection, try these tips:
Community sources. To search for articles or stories about your community, add quotation marks when you type in the name of your town. (This makes sure that the search site uses that term.) For example, “Brighton, MA, homelessness."
News sources. To search only news sources, click on the “News” tab near the top of any major search site. Look for articles in community news sources.
After your group has discussed your ideas and the three questions above, choose a Focus Issue for your project.
REMEMBER TO “SAVE” YOUR WORK
Food Insecurity Example:
| Our group Focus Issue is: | Food deserts, which are areas where it’s difficult to buy the affordable, healthy food that you would find in a full-service supermarket. Food deserts are a major cause of food insecurity. |
