CASE STUDY TERM PAPER INSTRUCTIONS:
Write a 2000–3000-word speech (with a title page including your name, date, and course number) that you would present to the County Manager and her team at 4:00 p.m. that same Saturday. This assignment is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday of Module/Week 8.
Outline for your speech (use these numbers, please):
1. Do not start such a speech without mentioning the sadness in everyone’s heart—to forget that is to look unfeeling.
2. Summarize the phone calls or meetings you would have made prior to coming to make the speech, but say your calls only got voice mail because of it being Saturday.
3. Main body of the paper: In the first 300–500 words of this main part of the paper, recommend a path and a set of arguments for making a realistic and effective plea for the funders to help your county respond to this unexpected natural catastrophe (through a grant extensions, more money, etc.). Keep in mind that those funders may not have additional funds at hand, but they may have some in the future, and may have some contacts for funds from emergency response agencies that are used to tornado situations. Recommend also any other course of action you think will help get the clinic reconstructed as soon as possible. Next, spend significant space (an additional 200–400 words) outlining a realistic plan (present at least 2 options) for dealing with the difficult emotional situation in regard to the incoming clinic employees. This will require innovation and realism.
HINT: As this main part of your speech is being written, anticipate as best you can any ethical or legal or policy barriers to meeting grant responsibilities and to obtaining the financing you will need. Do not endorse actions that are lacking integrity/ethics, but at the same time, do not expect that more can be done than can be realistically done by a poor county, a small foundation, and a distant federal agency.
4. In closing your speech, inform the County Manager and the others present (or give a quick summary list) of the key steps you feel should be undertaken by them and you the first thing Monday morning, or sooner, as far as the two funders are concerned. Include a brief, modest pledge to work over the weekend and into the night—as needed. Be as encouraging in tone as you feel appropriate given the solemnity level of the recommendations you have selected.
5. Attached separately at the end of your speech should be a brief letter (100–200 words) which you would send to the federal funder that let them know in writing what you had told them on their Voice Mail call, and would very briefly discuss the situation. Ask for an extension, but only as a subject to be fleshed out in more detail with them later as details become available. Do not worry about writing the letter in formal business style or about signing it formally; just provide the body of the letter’s text starting with “Dear Federal Agency Officials:.” cials:.”