To Prepare:
- Review Chapter 2 of the Jansson text.
- Focus on “Policy Advocacy Challenge 2.4” (pp. 39–40) for websites and examples of different ways to think about the relationship between social problems and policy.
- Identify a social problem—for example, food insecurity, domestic violence, child maltreatment, policing, and so on—that you would like to investigate throughout the course. This can be a problem that has personal or professional meaning to you. You will use the social problem as the foundation for your Final Project Assignment—a Social Change Project— due in Week 10 (although, you will work on it in multiple Assignments throughout the course).
- Review the websites listed in the Resources for Policy and Advocacy Work document in the Learning Resources this week.
- Search for and select at least three sources related to the social problem you identified.
- One source can be a government or other professional website.
- At least two of the sources must be scholarly articles or studies from reputable journals.
By Day 7
Submit a 2- to 3-page paper to complete Part 1 of your Social Change Project.
- Describe a current social problem and the vulnerable population it impacts.
- How/when has this problem been identified historically, and what were the actions taken to address this concern?
- How have the populations affected by the social problem changed over time?
- How might this social problem be incongruent with social work values/ethics?
- Describe the next steps for how you will identify a policy.
Be sure to incorporate the sources you found related to your selected social problem using standard APA format.
Resources for Policy and Advocacy Work
SOCW 6361: Social Policy: Analysis and Advocacy
Brookings Institute (https://www.brookings.edu/)
A nonprofit public policy organization that conducts high-quality, independent research and provides innovative and practical recommendations based on that research.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (https://www.cbpp.org/)
Conducts research and analysis to help shape public debates over proposed budget
and tax policies and to help ensure that policymakers consider the needs of low-income families and individuals in these debates. Also develops policy options to alleviate poverty.
The Center for Law and Social Policy (https://www.clasp.org/)
A national nonprofit working to improve the lives of low-income individuals.
Child Trends (https://www.childtrends.org/)
A nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of
development to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children, including program providers, the policy community, researchers and educators, and the media.
Child Welfare League of America (https://www.cwla.org/)
Strives to lead the nation in building public will to ensure safety, permanence, and wellbeing of children, youth, and their families by advancing public policy, defining and promoting excellence in practice, and delivering superior membership services.
Families USA (https://familiesusa.org/)
A national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the achievement of highquality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research (https://iwpr.org/)
Conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of
women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies.
Mathematica (https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/)
Strives to improve public well-being by bringing the highest standards of quality,
objectivity, and excellence to bear on the provision of information collection and
analysis.
MDRC (https://www.mdrc.org/)
Created to learn what works in social policy and to ensure the evidence it produces
informs the design and implementation of policies and programs.
National Center for Children in Poverty (http://www.nccp.org/)
The nation’s leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the economic sec urity, health, and well-being of America’s low-income families and children.
Urban Institute (https://www.urban.org/)
Conducts nonpartisan economic and social policy research
