Three Brown University graduate students want to influence public policy — with the facts.

The students are concerned about the future of RIte Care, the state’s health program for the poor, which is threatened with cutbacks. So as part of their course work in public policy, they created a Web site that digests and explains in simple terms all the studies that have shown how well RIte Care works.

And they called it RIteCareWorks.org.

“Our goal is just to present the facts,” said Steven Glass, “and let people decide for themselves.”

“It’s a clear, nonpartisan, objective view,” said Patrick M. Tigue.

Even so, the Web site makes no bones about the fact that the three students have a point of view. Their “About Us” section explains that they all consider RIte Care “a truly worthwhile program, whose current benefits and eligibility levels are essential to the future of the State of Rhode Island.”

“All of us have really, really grown to care about the program,” says Joe Braidwood, a Briton who is attending Brown on a scholarship from Cambridge University.

The Web site was launched just five days before a proposal emerged from the state Department of Human Services to remove 18,000 people from the RIte Care rolls, including 10,000 children, as part of efforts to cut $450 million from the state budget for next year.

The Web site describes the program’s track record in keeping children healthy, and declares that RIte Care “works for children, works for taxpayers, works for Rhode Island.” A chart shows that even though people covered by RIte Care comprise 70 percent of Medicaid recipients, they account for only 21 percent of the dollars spent in the Medicaid program.

To publicize their efforts, the students contacted parent-teacher organizations in key school districts and put bookmarks advertising the Web site in every legislator’s mailbox. They’re also sending e-mails to health-care organizations and government agencies.

“We want to engage the community,” said Tigue. “We obviously don’t have any self-interest.”

“Anyway,” said Braidwood, “who wants kids to go without health care?”

The students are earning master’s degrees in public policy or public affairs. After they graduate, they hope the site will be maintained by a coalition of organizations.

The Web site was a term project for a course titled “Communication, Advocacy and Public Affairs.” Although grades have not yet been distributed, the professor, Christine Heenan, revealed to The Journal that RIteCareWorks.org had earned an A.

ffreyer@projo.com