The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has launched Alabama Priorities, an initiative to identify and address the most important issues to Alabama voters.

PARCA surveyed voters, asking them to rank issues affecting the state this year. The council intends to publish a series of policy briefs on each of the top 10 issues, according to a PARCA statement. The briefs will be easy to understand, nonpartisan descriptions of the priority and will answer four questions: What is the issue? Why does it matter? How does Alabama compare?  What options does Alabama have?

Issues ranked by the voters were:

1. K-12 Education
2. Health care
3. Government and corruption
4. Mental health and substance abuse
5. Poverty and homelessness
6. Jobs and the economy
7. Crime and public safety
8. Job training and workforce development
9. Improving the state’s image
10. Tax reform

According to the PARCA statement, the council intends to publish a series of policy briefs on each of the issues during the weeks leading up to the 2018 general election in November.