What is Macro Social Work Blog #4

I interviewed three MSWs.  The general conscious is that macro social work creates social justice and equality.  Macro social work can also promote awareness of issues in the community and create change on the larger level such as local, state, and federal government. 

Leadership roles are important to the success of any organization. It was observed that a strong, yet flexible leader, who can get the job done were the most admirable characteristics, per the interviewees. Their views reflect strongly with the Community Toolbox on Leadership Styles and Collaborative Leadership (2011). The Community Toolbox illustrates that strong leadership, as well as, diversity and understanding are also worthily qualities that a successful leader should possess. However, there are several different types of leadership styles highlighted in the Community Toolbox such as collaborative  and managerial which poses their own set of characteristics.  However, it is general knowledge that everyone has different personalities and skills.  These differences are what makes them who they are and those qualities may or may not be leadership quality for a particular organization; but I do believe that each person does have some type of leadership skills that can contribute to an organization no matter how little or big the skill. In my mind, if someone is a member of an organization, they are already leaders to those who have not exercised their American liberty through a community organization and fought for what they believe in.  


Brief Overview of Interviews

Macro social work is a community organization at local, state, and federal level to change policy to reflect equality for all, such as health care and equal pay.  It also means to advocate on a large scale for resources to be distributed equally.  I personally spend most of my time on a one-to-one basis with my students. However, because micros and macro are intertwined I am basically doing macro all the time because I have to look at the whole picture when working with my students.  For example, I may have to look into changing a school policy if the current one is outdated due to my students’ current needs (B. Pereira, MSW, LCSW, personal communication, January 27, 2012).

Macro social work is very broad to me.  It initiates change in policy for a community or organization in a positive way that is going to impact individuals needs.  For example, Old Colony Elder Services created the Supportive Housing Program at the Executive Office of Elder Affairs to support elders in housing as there was a need in the area.  Some other program examples are GAP analysis and applying for HUD grants to cover the GAPS in services.  Most of my time is working in the macro sense of social work as I am a program developer (N.  Welch, MSW, personal communication, January 27, 2012).

I am always thinking on a macro level because my clients are affected by the community resources and political resources available to them. My clients are students from a low SES community in New Bedford.  Therefore, their immediate needs may also be affected by the resources, or the lack of resources available to them. Leadership qualities that I believe are relevant to successful macro social work practice are strong leadership and communication.  It is extremely important to keep the lines of communication open on a macro level so that everyone understands what is going on and so that a commodity can be created among members of the organization.  Also, the members in an organization should have different interest and talents that they can share to increase the success of the organization (K. Peirce, MSW, LCSW, personal communication, January 31, 2012)

The interviews were interesting as I received different perspectives from each reading and interviewee.  However, even though each is different they are tied in together as creating relationship is the key to successful organizations.

References/Cite

Rabinowitz,  P.,  (2012).  Collaborative Leadership. Retrieved from http://plato.bridgew.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_12662_1%26url%3d

 Rabinowitz, P., (2012). Leadership Styles. Retrieved from http://plato.bridgew.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_12662_1%26url%3d

 

 

History of Macro Social Work Blog #3

I thought about this assignment for quite a while before I started writing because none of the reserach I did intrigued me. As I sat here and thought about the readings and class discussions,  I realized that macro social work came long before reasearch indicates the history of any type of social work.  Therefore, this is my version of the early history and establishment of macro social work.

Long before social work was considered a respected working profession in the United States, the idea of helping people through forming relationships  with other individuals to fight for social justice was already taken place.  For example, think about how America was born.  The founding fathers formed a collaboration against Britain and fought for their independence from that country to establish a country that thrived on their own belief system.  This rally of activism, as we know it, is called the Revolutionary War (click for timeline).   Now,  per Netting's (2005) definition of macro social work which suggest that organized efforts to change and advocate for a better quality of life is macro social work. Then, I think that America gaining its independence from Britain sounds like a macro social work effort to me.

Click photo for history of Hull House Settlement in Chicago.

This act of courage by our founding fathers laid the path which allowed for feminist, missionaries, and compassionate workers to eventually help organize movements that realistically  set the stepping stones that eventually helped abolish slavery, establish women's rights and purify quality of life in orphanages.  These actions futher led to the establishment  and growth of settlement houses and charity organizations that assessed and provided for community's oppressed populations and immediate needs. Their focus was on community and social justice and quality of life.  Another organization that is not recognized enough in the history of macro social work is the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. This organization focused on distributed justice. Distributed justice, as I understand it, as explained by per Lamont, J. & Favor, C., (2007) is the equal distribution of goods within a society. Therefore, the Wharton School concentrated on advocating to ensure that the same services and opportunities were available to all people in all societies and not solely to the privileged.  Per, Homan (2008) the movements which were triggered by these organizations cover the three views of Homan's soical welfare perspective.                                     

Jane Adams,  

Jane Adams,who is considered a social work pioneer,  established settlement houses in Chicago (NASW, n.d.).   

The above mentioned organizations helped establish macro social work as we know it today. Over time the needs and policies have changed, but the one constant and common theme that I found, since the inception of macro social work, is that creating relationships and strong allies are one of the many characteristics that a successful organization must have in order to create a dynamic movement that ends in positive change.

References/Work Cited

Homan, M. S. (2008). Relating community Change to Professional

Practice: Making it Happen in the Real World. In M. S. Homan, Promising Commuity Change (pp. 74-95). Belmont:Brooks Cole

Lamont, J. & Favor, C.,  (2007). Distributive Justice. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Retrieved from  http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/justice-distributive

NASW (n.p.) Jane Adams. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkers.org/diversity/women/womenshist2004/addams.asp

NASW (n.p.). History of social work. Retrieved from  http://www.naswdc.org/pressroom/features/general/history.asp

Netting F. E., (2005). The future of macro social work. Advances in social work, 6,(1), 51-59

Timeline of the Revolutionary War (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/revwartimeline.htm

Wade, L.C.  (2005. )Settlement Houses.  Encyclopedia of Chicago.  http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1135.html

Activist Video #1 - What Macro Social Work is to ME....

Blog Post #2 The Clothesline Project

The Close line Project (click for brochure) was founded by artist Rachel Carey-Harper in 1990.  Inspired by the Aids quilt and using her artistic background and skills, Carey-Harperin organized the clothesline project as part of a Take Back The Night event in Hyannis, Massachusetts.  Her vision was to utilize t-shirts to allow women who are survivors and/or the family and friends of victims to  express their emotions and feelings by decorating a color-coded t-shirt.  For example, "white represents women who died because of violence; yellow or beige represents battered or assaulted women; red, pink, and orange are for survivors of rape and sexual assault; blue and green t-shirts represent survivors of incest and sexual abuse; purple or lavender represents women attacked because of their sexual orientation; Black is for women attacked for political reasons". The t-shirt is then hung on a clothes line for all to view (Clothesline Project, 2011). 


The clothesline project has become an emotional outlet and a healing tool for the thousands of women who have been affected by the violence themselves or endured by a women in their life as demonstrated in this youtube video produced students at The College at Brockport (2011) . The clothesline project allows the silence to be broken and the opportunity to show predators that survivors are supported and are fighting back against violence.  In addition, the clothesline project raises awareness and educates society about the facts and warning sign of violence against women.  Violence comes in many shapes and sizes, is not prejudice against age, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and self identity, and it also occurs globally.  Raising awareness about the types and signs of violence against women causes change, and change will create less instances of violence (Clothesline Project, 2011).   

The success of the clothesline project is apparent by spin offs of the original clothesline project. Other projects such as the Youth Clothesline Project specifically for teens is a yearly event at UMASS Amherst with thousands of attendees and participants each year.   The focus is to educate today's youth of the warning signs of abuse towards women and how to get help and prevent abuse in teen dating.  The philosophy is that if teens are taught early about violence against women, that not only will the instances of abuse decline, but that the man's image of what a man is will change as well (UMASS Amherst News and Project, 2011).  Such is the goal at UCLA's clothesline project.  UCLA is trying to change the image of what a man is in a mission to end domestic, sexual, and emotional violence (UCLA Women for Change, 2010).  UCLA's mission is similar to that of   New Hope - a domestic violence organization that strives to end domestic and sexual violence in the community by creating strong, healthy families without abuse through individual, group, and family awareness and dedication (New hope, 2011).


One root cause of violence against women is patriarchy and hierarchy. History has shown that patriarchy creates societal norms and cultural acceptance of certain traditions that are cruel and inhumane such as genital mutilation.  Another root cause is ignorance.  If one does not know that there are alternative ways to handle stressful situations in relationships or how to have a healthy and happy relationship then one may handle it the best way known - through violence and aggressiveness.   Many may believe that drinking and drugs cause domestic violence, rapes, and emotional abuse; however, not all people who drink abuse and not all abusers drink or do drugs. Although some abuse may occur at the hands of someone who has been drinking or on drugs, no direct correlation has been proven (Mass.gov. 2011).  Therefore, the clothesline project is also a tool to create awareness of the different types of violence against women and educate both men and women on what today's perception of a man is and what love looks likes in a healthy relationships.      
  
Homan (2008) reflects upon the way social workers utilize theory, especially Systems Theory, to promote change on the macro level.  Homan's philosophy is that the issues that arise in macro level social work have several layers to them.  In most cases, the presenting problem is not the actual cause of the issue, but actually the effect of a larger injustice taking place.  This perspective coincides with the Clothesline Project that I chose to research. The Clothesline Project works to educate and create awareness and change.  Although some individuals may consider it a residual program, I chose to view The Clothesline Project as a developmental program.  The Clothesline Project is developmental because it educates the community of the signs of abuse and makes it clear to the survivors and victims' family that it is okay to fight back. It also shows support and understanding to the survivors and the victims' family; and additionally illustrates that they are not alone through their healing process. The Clothesline project further creates change by educating men that being a man doesn't mean assaulting a women and that patriarchy is history.  The Clothesline Project is creating awareness and is helping "foster problem solving and developmental well-being on a large scale (p. 77)".

Understanding, compassion, loyalty, determination, caring, and team work describes community development, per Brown (2006). Brown's perspective is that organizing an even or awareness program is important.  However, building relationships is crucial to the success of the organization because power comes in numbers. Therefore, a passionate and diversely talented group of individuals  that are fighting against an injustice will have more power than an individual fighting for the same cause. Furthermore, with compassion brings drive for change and with that compassion and drive voices are heard! This, in turn, is exactly why I chose the Clothesline Project for my social work 432 community and organization class intervention project.

Work Cited

Brown, M. J. (2006). Building community. In M.J. Brown, Building powerful community organizations: A personal guide to creating groups that can solve problems and change the world (pp. 335-348).  Arlington, MA:  Long Haul Press.

Clothesline Project. (2011). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from Clothesline  project: 
http://www.clotheslineproject.org/About_Shirts.htm

Clothesline Project Brochure. (2011). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from Clothesline project:
 http://www.clotheslineproject.org/ClotheslineProjectBrochure.pdf

Homan, M. S. (2008). Relating community change to professional practice: Making it happen in the real world. In M. S. Homan, Promotin commuity change (pp. 74-95). Belmont: Brooks Cole.

Homan, M. S. (2008). Relating community change to professional practice: Making it happen in the real world. In M. S. Homan, Promotin commuity change (pp. 74-95). Belmont: Brooks Cole.

Mass.gov. (2011, October). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from Governor's council to address sexual assault and domestic violence:            http://www.mass.gov/governor/administration/ltgov/lgcommittee/sexualassault/

New Hope. (2011). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from New Hope: http://www.new-hope.org/

Safety Plan Brochure. (2011). Retrieved January 24, 2012, from Adminstration for Children and Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/acf_services.html#violence

Shultz, D. March 21,2011. Retrieved from: The clothesline project at the college of Brockport. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxHaMBIQ4l4

UCLA women for change. (2010). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from UCLA the clothesline project: http://www.women4change.ucla.edu/clothesline.htm


UMASS Amherst news and project. (2011). Retrieved January 20, 2012, from everywomen's center speicalized teen services: http://www.umass.edu/ewc/programs/tcis/newshttp://womenshealth.gov/violence-against-women/am-i-being-abused/index.cfm

 

Introduction

Welcome to my Social Community Revolution Blog!!!

My name is Deana Andrade and I live in a Taunton, Massachusetts. I am a social work major at Bridgewater State University and am scheduled to graduate in May 2012.  I plan on continuing onto Grad School to specialize in Oncology Social Work. This has been a dream of mine since high school and now I am able to work towards fulfilling it--a few decades later.   I chose social work because the Oncology field is in strong need of social workers to empower and guide the millions of families affected deeply by the diagnosis of cancer each year. If I had one magical power it would be to cure diseases, such as cancer, as too many people are endlessly suffering  from crippling  diseases, especially now that the human life trajectory is longer and continues to climb.

The most intriguing aspect of working as a social worker within communities and organizations is achieving  successful outcomes as the result of coming together as a society and creating a culture to promote positive CHANGE.  Therefore, during this semester, I hope to enhance my current social work skills to a higher degree which will enable me to work productively within communities and organizations. The enhanced skills will further enable me to help  promote social justice and awareness of today's pressing issues.  Additionally,  I hope to learn key aspects needed to strengthen communities' grassroots efforts, advocacy groups, and self-help groups along with different models to impose change.  Furthermore, I think that full class participation and feeding off of other students' input and feedback creates a great class atmosphere.  Interactive projects also generate  more interest in the subject at hand and enable's one to conceptualize the subject of discussion through different perspectives using various hands on tools.

Four interesting things about me are that I spent five weeks out of the country in 2011. Three weeks were spent in China doing research to study the"Predictors of Chinese College Students Attitude Towards Aging Population" through an ATP/Undergrad Research Grant with Dr. Jing Tan and three other BSU social work students. You can click HERE to access our trip blog and some photos.  The third and fourth week I spent in Santa Maria, Azores visiting my husband's families' island. Lastly,  I also have a down-to-earth personality, sense of humor, and the ability to know what my husband is going to say before he actually says it (true talent).  For fun, I enjoy spending time with my kids and husband, as well as, my friends. I enjoy reading and playing sports. When I am lucky enough to be able to, I also enjoy traveling and visiting different places and experience the various cultures worldwide.

If I could solve one major social problem it would be inequality.  I feel all humans should have equal rights in all aspects of their life regardless of their gender identity, race, religion, sexual preference, culture, social class, etc. An important and meaningful quote that the Ambassador of  Bahrain spoke in a seminar at BSU in 2010 should be remembered by all.  Her words that have stuck by me throughout my BSU career and that I will continue to utilize during my social work career and probably the rest of my life are  "We Are All People First".