Social Work is a Political Profession

Grant:

Instructional Development Fund (IDF)

Academic Year:

2019 - 2020 (June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020)

Funding Requested:

$50.00

Project Dates:

Wed, 02/19/2020 - Thu, 02/20/2020

Applicant(s):

hodjusti

Graduate Student/Postdoc:

Juri Sanchez, juriys

Briana Tetsch, tetschb

Overview of the Project:

The purpose of the project is to create an initiative that provides social work professionals practical steps to engage in political action. It will be a two-part event: first, there will be a seminar for up to 100 students led by Dr. Lane and it will be followed by a dinner reception with 20 students to dive deeper into a conversation of how social workers can hold elected office positions to drive social change.
This seminar will promote critical thinking for current graduate students and inform their professional political identity. She will discuss how to engage individuals and communities in voting, influencing policy agendas, and seekings and holding elected office. Dr. Lane will introduce critical thinking exercises in the areas of: power, empowerment, and conflict; planning political interventions; empowering voters; persuasive political communication; and making ethical decisions in political social work. The seminar will also touch on the roots of social workers historically involved in political action to challenge systemic social inequality.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

Provide a space for students to immerse themselves in a dialogue about how social workers can shape and influence policy and politics
Equip social workers and social work students with the skills to impact political action and subsequent policy, with a detailed real-world framework for turning ideas into concrete goals and strategies for effecting change

Project Achievements:

As we at the School of Social Work continue developing the curriculum for our upcoming Policy & Political Social Work Pathway, which will be a new major for our student to select, hosting this event for Dr. Lane generated even more excitement among students, staff, and faculty. As a world leader and alumna of our program, Dr. Lane’s event was successful in getting attendees to see the value of social workers engaging in policy and political work while providing concrete tools for people to use.

Continuation:

We recorded Dr. Lane’s lecture for future use in our policy and political focused courses. Additionally, students will have numerous opportunities over the coming months to engage in this kind of work as I will be leading our school’s voter registration efforts through the Big 10 Voting Challenge and the presidential debate activities.

Dissemination:

The project was advertised heavily within the School of Social Work through the electronic signs in our building, emails to the listserv, and inclusion in our dean’s newsletter. I also had the event recorded and uploaded to our school’s YouTube channel. Additionally, we had information and invitations sent to several other schools on campus.

Advice to your Colleagues:

-Having the support of our communications department was integral in successfully disseminating information about the event.
-Having our videographer/photographer record the event and take photos has already proven to be very helpful as I’ve been able to share that content with people that were unable to attend.
-For future events, I would make sure that we advertise earlier in an effort to recruit more attendees.

PRINTER VERSION

SEND BY EMAIL