With the 2016 United States presidential election race ramping up, experts from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice, or SP2, are analyzing 10 of the nation’s key social justice and policy issues ­­in a project called SP2 Penn Top 10 Social Justice & Policy Issues for the 2016 Presidential Election.

The project seeks to educate, enlighten and empower a diverse audience of voters and policymakers. The School kicked off the multimedia initiative with a new website www.PennTopTen.com. The site includes essays, animations, author biographies, author interviews and resources related to each of the 10 issues:

• Homelessness
• Interventions for Youth
• Gun Policy Debate
• Food Deserts
• Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
• Measuring Poverty and Wellbeing
• Transforming "Paid Work"
• Mass Incarceration
• Mandated Mental Health Treatment
• Addressing Child Poverty

“We are thrilled to officially launch the SP2 Penn Top 10 and look forward to the road ahead as this multiplatform initiative unfolds,” said Jessica Bautista, SP2 Penn Top 10 project manager. “The energy and expertise from our team and faculty members has been nothing short of inspiring.”

Content and essays on the Top 10 issues will be released each month until the launch of the “SP2 Penn Top 10” book in Washington, D.C., on May 19. The dynamic, user-friendly workbook will feature all 10 abridged essays, statistics, policy recommendations and voter resources to inform conversations and decisions leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

“The experts tied to this project are offering arguments about how we should envision the social justice and policy landscape given research that they’ve conducted,” said Dean John L. Jackson Jr. “Some of these issues, like gun control, are already mainstays of our national political conversation. Others probably deserve a lot more election-time discussion than they receive.”

The first essay now featured on the site is a piece by Dennis Culhane, the Dana and Andrew Stone Chair in Social Policy Professor, “Ending Homelessness Now.” It explores tangible and evidence-based ways that the U.S. can end homelessness among veterans and nonveterans.

In addition, 10 graduate students in the School have been chosen to be SP2 Top 10 Fellows. During the semester, they will produce blogs, op-eds and feature stories.