A New Home Building Community in Chicago’S New Mixed- Income Public Housing

T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C h i ca g o

SA p u b l i c a tionSA of the School of Soci a l Service Adminimagazines t r a t i o n V o l u m e 1 6 n i S S u e 1 n S p r i n g 2 0 0 9 A New Home Building Community in Chicago’s New Mixed- Income Public Housing

Also inside: n Women and Substance Abuse Treatment n A Social Work Perspective in Darfur

n Running From Foster Care

n Social Work for the Aging Baby Boom SSAmagazine magazine Volume 16 | I ss u e 1

v o l u m e 1 4 6 | i ss u e 1 | s p r i n g 2 0 0 97 D e an SSA Jeanne C. Marsh e D I t o r ia l B o a r d Tina Rzepnicki, Chair William Borden Robert Fairbanks II Colleen M. Grogan Heather Hill Dodie Norton masthead Robert Chaskin (ex officio) Maureen Stimming (ex officio)

D i r e c t o r o f C o m m u nica t i o ns Julie Jung 12 18 24 e D I t o r Carl Vogel features 12 > In Treatment w r i t e r researchers are learning how to help women who need substance abuse Samuel Barrett treatment, but the reality is, the best options aren’t always available D e sign Anne Boyle, Boyle Design Associates 18 > Cover Story: P h o t o g r aph y A Community Under Construction Lloyd DeGrane the success of the Chicago Housing Authority’s big bet on mixed- Joan Hackett income housing arguably will hinge on whether the developments Cynthia Howe can become true communities Peter Kiar 24 > Elder Statesmen Bill Petros Social work education is exploring how to prepare for the complex Marc PoKempner needs of an aging population J. Sid Ulevicius Jonathan Wildt Erie Neighborhood House departments 2 > viewpoint: from the dean Yesterday and Today National Public Housing Museum 4 > conversation On the Run iStock Photography ShutterStock 6 > ideas Giving in Hard Times In this terrible economy, there’s more need On the cover: Ms. Tirzah Brooks and for help but less money to give. How will philanthropy react? her children Kyonte and Shantia Carlvin Get Well Soon Exploring the link between parents’ low-wage work walk to a local playground near their and children’s health home in the new mixed-income Park Add the Dad Fatherhood initiatives are exploring how to bring Boulevard development. more men into family social services SSA Magazine is published twice a year 8 > inside social service review for alumni and friends of the University Do No Harm The role of social workers in Japanese internment of Chicago School of Social Service camps in the U.S. raises ethical questions about the profession Administration. Articles may Welcome to the Neighborhood Acceptance of a community- be reprinted in full or in part with based group home can hinge on communication written permission of the editor. Work, Welfare, and Depression How women on welfare are We welcome your comments. pushed into the workforce can impact their mental health Please send letters to the Director of Communications, Julie Jung, at 9 > a voice from the field [email protected]. A Person in Context The School of Social Service 36 > behind the numbers Weaving a Better Net Administration local social service delivery is the real safety net for low-income families The University of Chicago 969 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637 school news 28 > memoranda P 773.702.1168 32 > the alumni community F 773.702.7222 34 > faculty notes www.ssa.uchicago.edu 35 > in memoriam ©2009 The University of Chicago, SSA

2 | SSA Magazine Spring 2007 welcome

e have all grown accustomed to reading about the causes of today’s economic crash—the interrelated nexus that includes failing banks, soaring Wunemployment, and the pop of the real estate bubble. More recently, we have begun to hear about the effects on distressed communities, families, and individuals. As we sort through how to cope with this dreadful fallout, those who can plan, manage, and provide social welfare services are invaluable. To be ready to effectively deal with the current crises, there are many roles that need to be played. At SSA, the students continue to work hard to prepare. The alumni are already in the field and lend a hand to support the next generation. The faculty research what is needed and what solutions work best and pass along their knowledge, and the staff keep it all running. Then there’s the role of support. I’m pleased to be the co-chair for SSA’s Centennial Gala this June with fellow member of the School’s Visiting Committee Brian Simmons and John Rogers, president of Ariel Capital. I know I speak for all three of us when I say that I’m doubly happy that at this event we will honor Frank M. Clark, the Chairman and CEO of ComEd. frank has been a driving force in the growth of the School’s public collaborations, as well as a resource for so many other important Chicago institutions. Our role in the Visiting Committee is to provide SSA with resources it needs to do the best job it can, and Frank exemplifies this work. At the Gala, Ron Huberman, the new CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and himself an SSA graduate, will present Frank with the inaugural Julius Rosenwald Award for Distinguished Civic Leadership, which is absolutely appropriate. The role of support has been crucial since the School began, and Rosenwald, one of the School’s founding trustees, ensured that SSA lived beyond its infancy with his vision and his fiscal support. Like Frank, he was a businessman (he built Sears Roebuck and Company into the retail powerhouse of his day) who was passionate about social justice. The Gala is the capstone of a wonderful Centennial Year for SSA. A large part of the celebration has centered around the School’s plans for the future and new horizons for research and action around social welfare issues. We hope that you remain involved with the School as it tackles these important issues in its second century. The role of financial support can’t be underestimated; it allows all the other important tasks to be addressed. And so, as we thank Frank, let me also thank you in advance for the support that you can provide.

Sincerely,

David Vitale Chair of SSA’s Visiting Committee

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 1 viewpoint from the dean

Yesterday and Today

s I reflect on SSA’s Centennial, it is striking that the work of today’s School, faculty, students, and alumni A address the same issues that were salient 100 years ago. We have made progress, but we are still re-examining and grap- pling with significant issues fundamental to creating a more just and humane society. it is the responsibility of the researcher and the practitioner to uncover the truth, to improve public programs, and to advocate for more effective public policy. Decades ago, Charlotte Towle fought against censorship and illuminated the connection between understanding human behavior and administering social welfare programs. Today, we work to reduce the stigma of mental illness and treatment—and to make treatment more accessible. grace Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge insisted that a well- functioning democracy care for its weakest members and helped to lay the groundwork for public welfare programs such as Social Security. Today, SSA is expanding its Older Adults Studies Program to train a new generation of social workers who will be faced with the care of one of the largest populations of older citizens this country has ever seen. At the beginning of the last century, Edith Abbott, with Breckinridge, conducted one of the largest housing studies in Chicago and reported the vast inequities across many Chicago neighborhoods. Today, Associate Professor Robert Chaskin studies the outcomes of mixed-income programs to help shape improvements in housing policy. SSA has retained its long and ground-breaking tradition of mixing research with work in the field. one hundred years ago, William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, said, “Democracy has scarcely begun to understand itself. It is for the University—as a center of thought— to maintain and advance the ideas and ideals so essential for the success of democracy.” Harper understood that the dynamic exchange between the University and the world beyond campus was critical to the development of knowledge in all areas, including the growing field of social welfare. SSA’s commitment to this exchange inspired the faculty to organize 10 public symposia, a conference, and lectures across the country in honor of our Centennial. I was happy to see so many of you in attendance. I was consistently impressed by colleagues, peers, and alumni and learned so much at each symposium. I want to thank Professor Dodie Norton, the chair of our Centennial, (and resident

2 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Yesterday and Today

historian), for her tireless efforts in SSA has Professors Julia Henly and Susan Lambert the planning and execution of the retained its for a symposium that addressed how Centennial events. And I also want research can be “put to work” to support to thank Professor Sydney Hans and long and and advocate for vulnerable workers through Associate Professor Julia Henly, our co- ground- effective public policy and legislation. chairs, for their efforts in the develop- Associate Professors Colleen Grogan ment of the symposia. breaking and Harold Pollack held a symposium in our students did a wonderful tradition of April about America’s health safety-net that job kicking off our Centennial last examined the role of various health care May with a symposium, “A Diverse mixing research reform approaches—what they are and Profession: Social Work in the Twenty- with work in ought to be—for vulnerable populations. First Century,” which examined the Jeanne C. Marsh Their symposium also highlighted the many ways that social workers and the the field. history of SSA’s involvement with health social work profession enhance peoples’ care issues through the Center for Health lives and promote the principles of social justice worldwide. Administration Studies (CHAS). dexter Voisin and Susan Knight began the academic year with echoing Sophonisba Breckinridge’s trip to Paris to attend the their symposium for our field instructors, highlighting SSA’s heritage First International Conference of Social Work in 1928, SSA and as a leader in social work education. Their panelists presented inno- Assistant Professor Robert Fairbanks held an international symposium vative approaches to teaching practice competencies in the classroom at the University’s Paris Center to examine a comparative analysis of and in the field, and spoke of field education— the signature peda- the historical shifts in welfare states and the consequences for social gogy of social work education—and its importance in our efforts policy and practice across a range of national contexts. to train the next generation of social workers, administrators, and As I write this, Associate Professors Robert Chaskin and Evelyn policy experts. Brodkin, Professor Tina Rzepnicki and Senior Lecturer Stan McCracken we celebrated the official start of the Centennial year in are preparing for the last three symposia. And the staff is preparing for November with a party attended by University of Chicago President SSA’s closing Gala celebration, where we will present the first Julius Robert J. Zimmer and many friends and alumni, who enjoyed a Rosenwald Award to Frank Clark, Chairman and CEO of ComEd and special performance by the Court Theatre. The weekend continued a devoted Visiting Committee member. He is tireless in his work as a with a symposium given by Professors Charles Payne and Melissa philanthropist and we are indebted to his support, kindness, and wisdom. Roderick, and Assistant Professor Michael Woolley that framed Frank’s support is inspiring as it allows SSA to continue to be at the cut- the School’s work and accomplishments over its first 100 years in ting edge—as evidenced by each of the symposia. Chicago-area and urban school improvement efforts. Sophonisba frank and all of our supporters enable SSA to experiment, push, Breckinridge once said, “To the social worker, the school appears and grapple with the fundamental issues of how we can continue our as an instrument of almost unlimited possibilities.” Today, our mission of helping individuals, families, and communities achieve a Community Schools program works with many of the more than better quality of life. I hope that his example will inspire you to con- 100 Chicago Public Community Schools, allowing thousands of stu- tinue to support SSA both now and into the next century. dents to explore unlimited possibilities of their own. we joined many of our friends and alumni from academia at Jeanne C. Marsh, Ph.D., is the Dean and George Herbert Jones Professor the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) conference in New of the School of Social Service Administration. Orleans in January and examined whether methods and perspectives drawn from psychotherapy can adequately address issues that arise We welcome letters to the editor. Please send your submissions to in social work. We returned to Chicago in March to join Associate [email protected].

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 3 conversation

On the Run

Rilya Wilson probably wasn’t a runaway. estingly enough, they are saying, “We makes do stuff. They’re the drug car- need more stabilization centers in the riers, the drug sellers and that sort of Just four years old when she disappeared from a downstate communities. You need to thing. foster care home in Miami in 2001, she was never re-establish a stabilization center for the girls in Cook County.” Samuels: They’re the ones who end found, and her caretaker was later charged with her up in trouble and paying for that. Samuels: In the qualitative part of murder. The case made national headlines, however, our study we also challenged what McEwen: Exactly. As I’ve read more bringing attention to the issue of youth who run the average person thinks of as a about this population, I don’t believe runaway—the kid who takes off for a we have the right approach, particularly away from child protective services, estimated to be month or a year and they’re living on addressing the needs of young girls from a quarter to three-quarters of the adolescents in foster care. to better understand runaway patterns and why youth in care run, SSA Assistant Professor Gina Miranda Samuels was part of a team that authored an influential 2005 working paper from Chapin Hall on the topic. In this issue’s wide-ranging Conversation, Samuels talks with Erwin McEwen, the director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and an SSA alum, about how child protective services can best keep kids from running away, the emotional needs of foster care youth, changing the system, and more.

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Samuels: After our study, I was aware workers, knowing exactly of some programs that resulted from when their 14-day bed hold the findings. I know you had a lot to [to keep their spot at the do with that and were part of the DCFS DCFS placement] was up initiative looking at issues of running and would come back on away. I’m interested in how your team that 13th day. The fact is that the children who are going to run are our most vulnerable children. They’re really open to exploitation. is thinking about runaways at this point. McEwen: And so our challenge is the street. That sort of prototype was who have been involved in the sex trying to figure out what are they run- McEwen: I think in Illinois we have the smallest group represented. They exploitation trades. There’s an organiza- ning from or what are they running to. “ a real strong system of tracking our were mostly girls, and they were often tion called GEMS in New York, they use We started four intensive stabilization children. The biggest change is the running away with older guys. But more a model similar to drug addiction treat- centers that were for children who creation of our child location unit. They often, kids were running to friends ment. When you hear about sex exploi- have had a number of entries and take all the information [from where because they didn’t have family, hanging tation, we think of this violent, forced, exits at our emergency shelter. They the child is living] if the youth is a run- out with peers from the neighborhood. coerced activity. But many of these made up over 60 percent of the place- away, and they have a policy to contact Are the models that we’re using flexible girls actually have strong feelings for ment events at the shelter, but only the National Center for Exploited and enough to bend and twist around these these guys and what they feel are real 20 percent of the children served. The Missing Children, notify the local police, different types of kids? substantive, emotional relationships. [stabilization] centers track the kids no and make sure that all the I’s are dotted And I don’t think we have programs to matter where they went. So if they ran McEwen: That’s the area we struggle and all the T’s are crossed. From that, address that in Illinois today. to mom’s house, then you need to talk with. What we saw with the girls’ sta- we started to see more about the kids with the mom, establish rapport. That bilization center is that, unlike the boys, Samuels: To me, it seems somewhat who leave care and come back. represented a shift in thinking for the they didn’t cycle. For the younger girls, connected to what I’ve written about Samuels: In our study, the more typi- child welfare community. The centers it’s really dangerous. The fact is that the on ambiguous loss among youth in the cal pattern of runaways is what you’re were really targeted toward older ado- children who are going to run are our system. It doesn’t start when they run describing. They’re cycling in and out; lescents, 16 to 20. They cost a lot, and most vulnerable children. They’re really away. For some kids, there are relational they’re running back to families, run- they impacted the rules. open to exploitation, sexual exploitation, experiences that create such a need ning home to mom, there’s a birthday We opened four centers, and only gang exploitation. Sometimes people that they’re willing to be involved in party going on this weekend they don’t two remain. In the beginning, staff think of kids in gangs as these menac- dangerous behaviors for an emotional want to miss, that sort of thing. Some responsible for placing children would ing figures. But our kids in gangs, a lot connection. Some access it by going young people would call in to case- not do these referrals, but now, inter- of times they’re the kid that the gang home to a biological family, and some

4 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 by running to friends or hanging out to be their permanent relationship. As Samuels: Not necessarily that they’re standing of why they left their family with people where they feel they’re you read the literature, you find out going to go back and live with that never gets shaped. Then when they get accepted, even when it’s someone that even adult females who are cur- family. But there are a lot of roles that to be 15, 16, it’s so clear that nobody exploiting them. rently engaged in the sex trade, a lot same family can play. has checked in with them about that of them were introduced at 13 and 14 since they were five. Or they’ve gotten McEwen: When I read your article, I McEwen: It’s about family reconnec- years old. really started to think about the implica- tion, family navigation. Sometimes the little pieces here and there, little gran- ules of truth and half-truth or conflict- tions and whether you can find some- Samuels: This is the future that it caseworker would look the other way thing remotely close to it in our practice seems like they’re heading toward. when they know the kid went home ing pieces of information, and you can paradigm. And it’s not there. Say a and they know he’ll be back. But tell they’re trying to sort through that. youth is in foster care and runs away. McEwen: And that’s a real challeng- when parental rights are terminated, And that’s a horrible way to

The fact is that the children who are going to run are our most vulnerable children. They’re really open to exploitation.

And then finally somehow we get her ing cycle for the child welfare com- we have a policy that prevents us from launch the rest of your life, from this back and we send her to a residential munity to start to try to break. How allowing the family from doing that.”very disjointed experience about why placement. And that makes things do we start to develop a program? We’re interested in finding a type you left this family of origin, who they rough, so she gets placed again some- of policy or legislation where we can are, who you are, who you are to place else. The one relationship that Samuels: And what do we do with say, this kid is seeing his family, and we them. How do you build a family that’s will sustain itself across all these system these other kids, the cyclers? How checked out mom and we’ve checked different, better? They don’t have this boundaries is with these guys who are do we deal with the family context out the safety issues and so we don’t solid sense of even what happened in exploiting them. they’re growing up in and different have to look away. We can help a kid their own families of origin. problems they encounter? learn to navigate and negotiate their McEwen: And the separation from Samuels: Right. That relationship is family and the loss and understand why their families of origin is usually the not contingent on their [DCFS] family McEwen: I think that’s the group he came into the system. placement. that we can most help. And there are most traumatic event cited by these some policy barriers that we’re start- Samuels: That’s really exciting that kids. They don’t cite the abuse or the McEwen: That’s right. A lot of these ing to address. We’ve been working you say that. A lot of what I keep on neglect as the most traumatic event. relationships they have with these guys with a group of attorneys and legisla- arguing in my papers is that we really It’s the separation. are three, four, five years old. So as we tors around developing legislation need a multi-family model, that even when children don’t live with somebody in the system were trying to figure out that will restore parental rights. So For more of this Conversation, it doesn’t mean that they don’t think legal permanencies and adoptive homes that if a kid turns 13, 14, 15 years including a discussion of a new about them or that we as system can’t and guardianship homes and relative old in the system and the parental model of family services and the figure out how they can have a rela- placements, a lot of times that relation- rights have been terminated, we role of social workers in foster tionship with those family members. ship with that guy was their perma- need to go back and review whether care, visit ssa.uchicago.edu/publi- Oftentimes when kids come into the nency. And the sad part is that for a lot there is anything those parents can cations.ssamag.shtml. of these young women, that is going offer these children. system at five, six years old, their under-

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 5 ideas

Giving in Hard Times

s rickety investment In this terrible economy, there’s Quinlan, chief development officer at banks and multinationals more need for help but less money to give. the University of Chicago Medical have been faltering, the Center and an SSA graduate. In her nonprofit field has How will philanthropy react? contacts with individual donors she has Awatched and wondered: What does this found the downturn has “made people mean for funding? Foundations base 2009 data in the Chronicle of porate relations at the University of think more analytically about the their grantmaking on the value of their Philanthropy survey, only 22 planned to Chicago, points out that after Hurricane impact of what they are doing philan- endowment, and endowments shrank stay the course; more than half antici- Katrina, many corporate donors and thropically.” For now, Quinlan says she by an average of 29 percent between pated giving less than in 2008. some foundations instituted a “tempo- is focused on relationships and on the 2007 and 2008, according to a recent Individual donors and association rary redirection” in grantmaking. horizon: Donors may not be able to Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of 57 charities are already feeling the effect In this economy, donors may ramp make the gift they ultimately aspire to foundations. of the economy—and passing it on. A up funding for emergency programs make today, but the picture will Given the size and scope of the recent report from the Center on such as food assistance, heating aid, change in the future. economic downturn and the federal Philanthropy at Indiana University found and homelessness prevention. As of Historical experience suggests response, it’s hard to predict trends in a one-third decline in charitable gifts of January 2009, foundations and corpo- that philanthropy can recover quickly— philanthropic funding during the next $1 million or more by individuals in the rate donors had already committed well before the economy as a whole is year, says Jennifer Mosley, an assistant second half of 2008. Some charitable more than $100 million toward eco- back on its feet. In the Spring of 2003 professor at SSA who studies nonprofit associations have already cut back: the nomic relief. More than half of this cash the stock market began to pick up, but organizations, including philanthropic Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is targeted toward housing. For exam- unemployment was still high, so few foundations. Based on previous reces- for example, announced in late ple, the John D. and Catherine T. realized that a recovery was underway. sions, an educated guess would be that December that it was withdrawing MacArthur Foundation pledged $68 At the time, Mosley was meeting with foundation-based grantmaking will funding opportunities for many fiscal- million for foreclosure prevention, bor- nonprofit leaders in focus groups in almost certainly decline in 2010 if the year 2009 projects. rower counseling, and legal assistance California, many of whom reported stock market does not pick up soon. “Nonprofits haven’t actually felt for homeowners. they’d temporarily given up appealing That said, some large foundations will the full impact yet,” Mosley says. “Because this economic crisis to funders. Meanwhile, grantmakers find ways to maintain their giving in a “Large scale funding generally comes seems bigger, there is a lot more con- said they now had plenty of money to time of need, and when the stock mar- for a year or more at a time, so budgets cern about what the impact will be,” give—but fewer applicants. ket rebounds, funding may also be remain stable at first.” Regardless, non- notes Mosley. “A lot of foundations are Predicting what will happen a quick to bounce back. profits are anticipating the squeeze. saying this is exactly when we need to year from now “is like reading a crystal the severity of this recession is dis- More than 60 percent of nonprofits step up to the plate.” The Ford ball,” cautions Nelms. “It’s a question torting typical responses to economic nationwide expected foundation fund- Foundation has pledged to dip deeper of how long before there’s a rebound.” downturns. During previous recessions, ing to decrease, according to a survey into its endowment to increase its pay- So far, the prospects for the near term overall grantmaking usually stabilized by the Nonprofit Finance Fund this out rate in 2009 and 2010, for aren’t so bad; she anticipates that rather than shrinking outright. (The spring. instance, and 12 of the 57 foundations grantmaking to the University will flat- notable exception was 2001-2003, the enormous impact of this in the Chronicle survey said they ten out rather than steeply decline. when inflation-adjusted giving by U.S. recession may also cause grantmakers planned to increase giving in 2009. Says Nelms: “Everyone recognizes that foundations declined by 4.4 percent.) to rethink their priorities. Brenda Nelms, Donors may adopt a “back to the you just have to run a little faster.” Of the 73 foundations that provided senior director of foundation and cor- basics” approach, suggests Jean — Kathleen McGowan

6 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Get Well Soon Add the Dad Does parents’ low-wage work impact children’s health? Fatherhood initiatives are exploring how to bring more men into family social services aced with a morning surprise of a child with alk into the waiting room of a family or child a fever, working parents development social service agency and you’re likely to everywhere have a handful see a lot more women than men. Mostly that’s because F there are more single moms trying to raise their kids of furtive choices: take sick time, flex the work day, extend lunch hours, or, Walone. But in some cases, it can also be because men feel uncomfortable admittedly, dose the kid with Tylenol in the environment. and hope he makes it through the day. But SSA Assistant Professor Jennifer Bellamy says efforts begun A single mother in a low-income job more than a decade ago to support employment and help ensure men may not even have all these options, pay child support are blossoming into a variety of programs that involve and also faces issues that can range fathers and other male father figures in children’s lives. “Somewhere in from a lack of health insurance to the mid- to late-1990s, we saw a little bit of a surge in these programs simply managing the logistics of specifically being developed to support fathers,” she says. multiple work schedules and doctors’ After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Bellamy pro- office hours. vided evaluation and technical support to practitioners involved with the How parental work impacts Texas Fragile Families Initiative, one of 11 statewide programs supported children is well-studied—but largely by multiple national and local funders, including the Ford Foundation, to from the perspective of children’s socio- help support male caregivers across the state. “Finding a concrete inter- emotional and cognitive development. vention is a good way to get dads involved,” she says. Job-search sup- Heather D. Hill, an assistant professor port, for example, can help fathers and other male caregivers who want at the School, is asking a fundamentally to fulfill a “breadwinner” role. Some successful programs include incen- different set of questions about parental Some jobs may tives to fathers, such as the ability to bring home diapers as a reward for work and children’s health, particularly participation. Another approach is to provide pragmatic activities— for in low-income families. make it hard to example, practicing how to change a diaper on a football. “I want to look at the context of maintain “It’s not that dads don’t want to be involved in caring for their employment and the characteristics of children,” says Gardner Wiseheart, director of programs and services at low-wage work: hours, access to paid regular eating Healthy Families San Angelo, one of the programs Bellamy worked with. sick leave and paid vacation, what’s and sleeping “But they don’t often barge in to an agency, and we don’t often ask them in.” required of workers on the job,” Hill schedules, for explains. “These may affect family the benefits of fatherhood involvement accrue to both the male schedules and routines, how much time example. caregiver and the family. For example, getting involved in a family pro- parents have with kids, how stressed gram may not be many young dads’ first impulse when they learn a out they are. It may be that some jobs partner is pregnant, Bellamy says, “but when they are pulled into these make it hard to maintain regular eating coverage, the negatives could outweigh programs it can help them to shift their point of view. Finding ways to and sleeping schedules, for example.” the positives. “It may be that a lot of feel as though they are making a positive contribution to their families Hill’s interest stems from her parents are quite good at managing and the child is an encouraging and stabilizing force in their lives.” recent doctoral work at Northwestern work, so it doesn’t affect children’s the Centers for Disease Control recently issued a call for new University, where her research on wel- health,” she says. “But there are lots of research documenting the rigor and value of fatherhood involvement. fare reform programs suggested that questions about how parents negotiate “Ten years from now I think this will be more common,” Wiseheart says. increased employment had only small these demands on their time and health “We’ve learned a lot about the barriers to working with fathers and and age-specific effects on young chil- behaviors at home.” we’ve also learned some good things about how to work with them dren in terms of their later behavior and As the economic crisis worsens, more successfully.” — Gordon Mayer academic achievement. She now wants Hill’s questions become more perti- to take data on parents’ work lives and nent. Policy discussions already under- combine it with data about children’s way—including proposed changes to health insurance coverage, preventative the Earned Income Tax Credit and state health care, and health outcomes, such Unemployment Insurance programs, as illness, accidents, and obesity. as well as efforts to pass legislation Hill points out that the potential that would mandate paid sick leave for benefits of parental employment for employees of private companies—may children’s health come from earnings take on a new light when long-term and health insurance coverage. If jobs children’s health is also part of the pay low wages and offer no health equation. — Patti Wolter

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 7 inside social service review B y R i c h a r d M e r t e n s

Welcome to the Neighborhood Acceptance of a community-based group home often hinges on communication

Founded in 1927, Social For decades, policy makers or property values. and social service agencies Social service agencies generally Service Review is devoted to have believed that people use one of two strategies when starting thought-provoking, original with serious mental illness are a group home for people with mental Fbest served in community settings and illnesses. Most give neighbors little or no research on social welfare not in the isolation of the huge institu- advance notice, believing that notification policy, organization, and tions. The problem is that communities violates the civil rights and privacy of resi- often seem not to want them. dents and may actually provoke opposi- practice. Articles analyze recent research from Rutgers tion, while others tell neighbors ahead of issues from the points of view University of community resistance to time to try to allay fears. group homes provides some insight into In “Neighbors’ Perceptions of of various disciplines, theories, and how community relations often play Community-Based Psychiatric Housing” methodological traditions, view critical problems out. First, even though press accounts in the September 2008 Social Service can make the opposition seem huge, Review, authors Allison Zippay and Sung in context, and carefully consider long-range relatively few neighbors oppose a group Kyong Lee studied the perception of solutions. The Review is edited by SSA’s Emily home in the neighborhood. Second, group homes in 66 communities in seven opposition usually fades over time. And states by interviewing administrators and Klein Gidwitz Professor Michael R. Sosin and third, neighbors who come to accept 1,425 local residents. They found that the faculty of SSA. group homes often do so for public- about half of group homes met with ini- spirited reasons, not simply because tial opposition—but also that the homes they cease to worry about their safety that are opposed are eventually accepted

Do No Harm The role of social workers in Japanese internment camps in the U.S. raises ethical questions about the profession

uring World War in the World War II Internment II, nearly all of the of Japanese Americans” in the 110,000 or so Japanese September issue of Social Service Americans in the Review. In the article, she asks DUnited States were removed from whether “this well intended profes- their homes and placed in intern- sion, doing its conscious best to do ment camps. Few realize, though, good, may be continuing to do harm A sentry post today at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, one of that social workers played an impor- through its very efforts to do good.” ten camps where Japanese Americans were interned during World War II. tant part in both the formation and While some lawyers, private Social workers working for govern- and helping inmates obtain medical care. execution of the internment policy. citizens, and even government ment offices interviewed families before They also registered interned Japanese During research in the California officials opposed internment on their removal and often interpreted the Americans for the draft and sat on boards state archives, Yoosun Park found civil liberties grounds, the American internment policies for them. In some that determined whether inmates were evidence of what she calls “social Association of Social Workers told cases they arranged to send family mem- eligible to leave the camps for work or work’s equivocal role as both the Congress that, despite its misgivings, bers to institutions, such as county hospi- education—judging an inmate’s “loyalty protector of [Japanese Americans] it would defer to the military. At the tals and sanatoriums, that were hostile to or willingness to abide by laws”—and and instrument of their delivery into National Conference of Social Work Japanese Americans and that the families participated in a “family counseling” pro- incarceration.” in 1942, an official suggested that had little hope of visiting. gram aimed at overcoming the resistance Park, an assistant professor social workers could “minimize hard- each internment camp had a social of Japanese Americans to resettlement. of social work at Smith College, is ship and perhaps help to make loyal work unit. Social workers provided Park argues that social workers, rather the author of “Facilitating Injustice: Americans appreciative of democratic clearly helpful services, such as procuring than simply working on behalf of the Tracing the Role of Social Workers ideas.” marriage licenses, arranging funerals, interned Japanese, were “vital cogs in the

8 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Welcome to the Neighborhood Work, Welfare, and Acceptance of a community-based group home often hinges on communication Depression

as readily as group homes that had no Of the people who felt the group How women on welfare are pushed into opposition. homes exerted a positive influence the workforce can impact their mental health the real difference is that initial on the neighborhood, three-quarters opposition in neighborhoods that emphasized themes of social responsi- received advance notice and other bility. Responses included, “This shows As many as a third of all welfare recipients may suffer from outreach was at 58 percent, compared humanity at its best,” and, “We need depression. Among young mothers, the number rises to almost to 40 percent in neighborhoods that to take care of people in need.” half. Depression has long been recognized as an obstacle to received no notice. But over time, 51 With these findings in mind, employment, and before the 1996 welfare reform act, mothers Awith depression were usually excused from work requirements. Welfare reform percent of people in neighborhoods Zippay, a professor of social work at that received notice expressed favorable Rutgers’ School of Social Work, says changed all this. In the effort to push women into employment, depression was views of the local group home, whereas that organizations planning a group no longer a reason not to work. only 39 percent of people did in neigh- home “might be more confident in Welfare reform has allowed states to vary their approach to the move to borhoods that received no notice. The talking about themes of social respon- work, and some policies seem to increase depression, others to decrease it. reason may not have been the advance sibility when talking to neighbors At the same time, policies such as those that try to lift women out of poverty notice alone; agencies in these neigh- about programs and understand the rather than simply to put them to work seem to reduce depression in some cir- borhoods were also likely to continue degree to which citizens uphold the cumstances but not in others. outreach efforts after the home opened, core values of collective care.” to try to untangle this puzzle, Pamela Morris, a researcher at MDRC in believing that they could in this way New York, looked not at the policies themselves but at how welfare agencies reduce prejudice and promote good will. Allison Zippay and Sung Kyong Lee. 2008. enact them. Welfare agencies use two basic approaches to get welfare recipi- “Neighbors’ Perceptions of Community-Based ents into the work force. Some emphasize finding a job quickly; others allow Perhaps the study’s most striking Psychiatric Housing.” Social Service Review 82 (3): finding came in open-ended questions. 394-417. welfare recipients to wait for the best and most satisfying job. Programs also differ by how much personal attention they give welfare recipients. morris’s article in the December 2008 Social Service Review, “Welfare Program Implementation and Parents’ Depression,” reports that where welfare agencies push welfare recipients into the workforce, women with young chil- machinery of the camps, functioning as reports contain evidence of mixed dren earn more yet suffer a higher rate of depression than women in programs an arm of the government by carrying feelings. One supervisor wrote, “It is that allow them to wait for the best job. And yet for women without young out tasks of questionable value to the a tragic thing to see the machinery children the choice of strategy has no effect on depression. inmates.” of freedom in reverse, and to have a morris speculates that the pressure of caring for young children makes Park notes that patriotic fervor part in the deprivation of any group women more vulnerable to depression. But the crucial factor may be the quality made it hard to dissent, but not impos- of American citizens or of foreign of the jobs. Jobs taken quickly may be worse jobs and they may be lost quickly, sible. “Other people were doing it, born of the liberty America has always increasing job instability. Personal attention doesn’t seem to influence mental and social workers were not. And you stood for—but it is part of the bitter health one way or the other, probably because case workers can give personal would expect social workers to be necessities of war.” attention without conveying a sense of support. at the forefront,” she says. “[Social But Park is concerned only in morris draws at least two implications from her research. First, the prob- worker’s actions] enacted and thus part with history. She worries about lem of depression among mothers with young children suggests that case work- legitimized the bigoted policies of racial social work’s ongoing capacity for ers need to be sensitive to mothers’ responsibilities at home. In a broader sense, profiling en masse.” self-reflection and self-criticism around she says, her study and other research continue to point to the importance of Social work publications during contemporary issues such as immigra- “front-line staff/client interactions” in the execution of the new welfare policies. the war paid scant attention either to tion and welfare reform. She says Morris, Pamela A. 2008. “Welfare Program Implementation and Parents’ Depression.” Social Service the needs of Japanese Americans or she does not seek ethical purity and Review 82 (4). to the responsibilities of social workers rejects the “false dichotomy between taking part in the internment. Park says social service and social control,” but the internment raised difficult questions believes both are woven into social that social work’s leaders never faced. work’s inevitable complexity. “It’s the “What is our role as social workers? central problem of social work. It And what is the role of the profession? can’t be escaped. You can’t get out of How do we react to these times of the dynamic of power. If you’re con- crisis?” she says. “I didn’t see anything stantly denying it, you get nowhere,” that even came even remotely close to she says. “We’re in a messy field.” this kind of discussion.” much remains hidden in what Yoosun Park. 2008. “Facilitating Injustice: Tracing the Role of Social Workers in the World War Park calls the “official narratives” of II Internment of Japanese Americans.” Social the internment, although even official Service Review 82 (3): 447-83.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 9 a voice from the field

Darfur. Although the civil war has grades 1 through 3. It’s proven to be very ended, the fighting continues sporadi- popular and enrollment has grown to cally throughout the country. Yet the 270, with an ultimate goal to serve stu- Sudanese are trying to find a sense of dents through the 8th grade. Wildt says normalcy, and building institutions for a the hope is that they’ll get additional functioning civil society is a priority. funding to offer scholarships so that the After returning to the States, children will continue on to a city school. A Person In Context Wildt had a clearer picture of what the school also houses a com- he wanted to do with his career. He munity center—which has raised some As Jonathan Wildt finds his place opted for a second-year placement eyebrows with local security forces who in the world of international aid, he provides with the Marjorie Kovler Center for the are edgy about any kind of public gath- Treatment of Survivors of Torture, where ering for fear of organized rebellion. a social work perspective in Darfur he did grant-writing and fundraising. He Trust also took a while to build with the also submitted a proposal to the newly Ministry of Education, but Wildt says that b y J u l i e J u ng established University of Chicago Darfur now it is supportive of the new school.

1 2 2

t is 34 degrees in Chicago, and > > > . < < < Action and Education Fund, which sup- Currently the school primarily uses the Jonathan Wildt looks out the win- ports understanding of the conflict in ministry’s curriculum, for instance, but dows of SSA’s Mies building as the Wildt started at SSA in the clinical Sudan and creative and entrepreneurial they have been reviewing a curriculum snow softly floats down, “It’s so track, with an interest in healthcare solutions by faculty and students. that Jonathan and his colleagues devel- Icold here,” he says, “it was 110 degrees and international aid work. But by the the University awarded Wildt oped for the school based on a Swedish in Khartoum.” Wildt is back in town end of his first year, he became increas- a grant for his proposal: the Darfur model. from his work in Sudan for a few days ingly interested in health policy and Education and Community Participation In the spirit of community schooling, to meet with students, thank donors, switched to the administrative track Project, a collaboration between EDOOS EDOOS does more than simply concen- and catch up with friends and family. and the Graduate Program in Health and Sudan’s Ministry of Education to trate on education. Part of their success is He’s relaxing before giving a talk to Administration and Policy. While there, build and open a community school in dependent on having children who are SSA’s International Social Welfare Group, he was fortunate to network with a the Dereig Displacement Camp near healthy enough to attend school. Wildt a student group that he was involved missionary who was working in Africa Nyala, which would be operated by has received a second round of funding with when he attended the School and who put him in touch with the EDOOS. After graduation, Wildt quickly from the Darfur Action and Education before graduation in 2007. Educational Development Organization left for Sudan to launch the project. Fund to build 300 water bio-sand filters As SSA students settle into the of Sudan (EDOOS), a non-government He has served as an advisor to EDOOS, over the next year to supply cleaner water classroom, Wildt gives everyone a organization entirely managed by helping to set goals, find consensus, to 8,000 local residents. EDOOS will train friendly welcome. Some of the students Sudanese that was launched in 2005 to and keep the project moving forward. 15 men and give them the equipment to seem a bit shy, yet as Wildt tells his bring education to the country’s poor For example, when community leaders build and sell the filters. story of how he has spent the last two and marginalized. were unhappy with a choice of brick Wildt strongly believes in this years working on and off in the province eDOOS offered Wildt a sum- for the building, he worked with all empowerment-based approach, training of Darfur, Sudan, and in the capital, mer position; and for six weeks he involved to find a way to simultaneously locals to build and sustain services for Khartoum, they move forward in their did administrative work in Khartoum, keep to a budget, incorporate the input, their communities. Not only do these seats. At the end, they are eager to where about half of the 11 million and stay on a timetable. “ground-up” techniques allow the com- ask questions about how he found his residents are displaced from the provi- the school opened in 2007, munity to take ownership of the projects, career path in international aid. dences of Equatoria and, more recently, initially serving about 100 children in in an environment where aid workers

10 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 are sometimes accused of siding with organizing approach, allowing change with a new visa sponsored by a larger with his work” and maintains his rebels, they’re also practical. “Locals to develop organically, and communicat- organization, International Aid Services strength through his faith and through are more effective at moving filters into ing through traditional Sudanese chan- (IAS), he now knows that he can stay the positive energy of the people the marketplace than NGOs, who are nels. and work until 2010. around him. And his perception and often not allowed to move supplies, “Because there is such wide-scale understanding of the country and situ- fuel, or any type of resource that could need here, perhaps some [NGOs] don’t > > > . < < < ation has evolved. As he describes it, be taken by rebels and used against the have the time and resources to use a many Westerners have an image of government,” he says. bottom-up approach. In many cases, Wildt says he has enjoyed his time Sudan as a country rocked by genocide however, I think that very few actu- in Sudan and has relied on his faith to due to ethnic conflict, and though that > > > . < < < ally have that [social work] perspective get him through some of the tougher has been and too often still is true, the embedded in their intervention method- moments. And he says that he’s been country is also now trying to move for- Wildt believes that the success of ology. Donor-driven interventions domi- lucky—by initially signing on with ward and people are concentrating on international aid requires a combination nate,” Wildt says. a smaller organization, he’s had the their daily lives. of empowerment-based approaches Wildt has not met any other social chance to “be his own boss” and learn Although his job is in an admin- and the top-down methods often used workers in Sudan and he says he isn’t about international development at a istrative capacity, Wildt works in the

1 : Children in the Dereig Displacement Camp.

2 : Jonathan Wildt (second from right) with colleagues from the NGO where he works, the Educational Development Organization of Sudan.

3 : Wildt and local residents drill a new well for fresh water.

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by large aid organizations. The large aware of any social work training in the very quick pace. He says that the overall camps and often finds himself in NGOs are important to provide econo- country’s universities. He remains the experience of being at SSA helped— what would be described as clinical mies of scale for service provision and only Westerner working for EDOOS, pro- he cites “Financial Management for situations. His Sudanese colleagues supplies, and they can often exert influ- viding sorely needed English language, Nonprofit Organizations” as the most have all been affected by displace- ence on diplomats and governments. finance, and nonprofit management valuable class that he took at the ment, and their resilience has made a But he has also found that they can skills. “It’s unusual for an expatriate to School—but that nothing can prepare a huge impression on him. He speaks of overlook the micro dimensions of the work in a Sudanese-led organization,” student for encounters with humanitar- friends who have witnessed and expe- problems facing distressed communi- he says. “Many NGOs and nonprofits ian crisis and mass economic upheaval. rienced horrible atrocities, but who ties. “Sometimes they do not under- are managed by people and entities that Wildt is modest, giving most of the are in school and are planning for a stand the importance of involving the are not Sudanese or are organized out- credit for the successes to his Sudanese brighter future for their country. community,” Wildt says. side of the country.” colleagues and those that have financed “Sudan simply doesn’t have this is where Wildt’s social work Aside from being a lone social the work, including the University of the capacity to deal with some of its training comes heavily into play. He worker, Wildt has faced other challeng- Chicago and smaller groups such as the largest needs, and laws are still made gives an example of how a large NGO es, including learning Arabic. After a six- Black Student Association (BSA) at the in the streets,” Wildt says. “But I’m tried to introduce soap to a community week crash course in Cairo, he returned University of Chicago Lab Schools, which optimistic, and I like to think the work without first consulting the elders. to Sudan realizing that it would take a raised almost $3,000 for the water fil- I do is part of a better future. At one The elders were not convinced, and much longer time to become conversa- tration project. It gives him enormous time Darfurians who had no access to so the community members weren’t tional, let alone fluent. “My Sudanese satisfaction to be able to spend a week education, now do.” convinced, and the intervention was a friends laughed at my ‘funny Egyptian in Chicago with Lab students and then failure. He points out that a social work accent,’” he says, “but they have been the next with the very people in Sudan For more information about strategy would be to try to understand gracious and happy to help me learn who will benefit. “I can see a direct the University of Chicago Darfur the person in context and recognize their language and local dialect.” He correlation between the givers and the Action and Education Fund, and respect the culture and community also has had to leave the country twice beneficiaries,” he says. please contact Keith Madderom dynamics. He says EDOOS has been due to insufficient documentation over Wildt admits he sometimes misses at: [email protected]. successful by utilizing a community the course of the last two years. But home, but he says he is “very happy

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 11 Targeted services keep “women in treatment and when they stay in treatment, it increases their chances of success.” 12 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 In Treatment Researchers are learning more and more about how to help women who need substance abuse treatment, but the reality is, the best options aren’t always available.

b y c A r l V o g e l

women and men are not exactly The idea of comprehensive or “wrap-round” the same. services has become increasingly accepted as a key for more than two decades, the profound component of substance abuse treatment for any implications of that simple truth have begun to population. For the past several years, Marsh has permeate how substance abuse treatment pro- led a team of researchers to explore the impact wgrams approach their work. Gender differences are of comprehensive services on the effectiveness of expressed in many different ways. However, there treatment, breaking down the impact by gender are no easy answers when it comes to addiction, and by racial/ethnic groups. and researchers and policymakers are still exploring “Jeanne’s research finds, and this is replicated the complicated mix of what works best for women by other research, that targeted services do keep who want to end a dependence on drugs or alcohol. women in treatment and when they stay in treat- “Typically, women go into substance abuse ment, it increases their chances of success,” says programs with more problems—often with more Dionne Jones, the deputy chief of the Services family issues, the demands of being a single mother, Research Branch of the National Institute on Drug a history of domestic violence. Sometimes, these Abuse’s Division of Epidemiology, Services and problems make it more difficult to get into a pro- Prevention Research, which is the major funder of gram at all. Then, once women are in a program, Marsh’s studies. how it is structured and what it offers can impact “Researchers are examining the issue of how well it serves female clients,” says Jeanne women and substance abuse from a number of Marsh, the dean of SSA and the School’s George perspectives, and the research findings are having Herbert Jones Distinguished Service Professor. an impact on the field,” Jones says. “Over the past marsh has been interested in the issue of 20 years or so, researchers have become very inter- women and substance abuse for nearly 25 years, ested in gender-sensitive treatment and services. since she herself was in graduate school, when Today, we’re exploring the details of what that she studied one of the first treatment programs in means. The next step for this program of research the country just for women. A major part of its is to transform the research to everyday practice.” approach was to provide participants with health care, legal services, childcare, and other supports to > > > . < < < help clients return to a life that had more opportunities—and therefore help the women stay away Different approaches to treatment for women work from alcohol and drugs. in part because women tend to arrive at a treat-

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 13 ment facility with a different set of life circumstances simply because she doesn’t know who’ll watch her then men. Studies have shown that they have more children,” says Sydney Hans, a professor at SSA health and psychological issues, family and employ- whose own research has included studies of ways to ment problems, and are more likely to report past mitigate the demands of motherhood on substance and current physical and sexual abuse. abuse treatment. in an article in the Journal of Family Violence gender differences are often not a case of from last April, SSA Assistant Professor Malitta whether men or women do better or worse in treat- Engstrom and co-authors drew upon interviews with ment. Both women and men benefit from substance more than 400 women in methadone treatment. abuse treatment overall. But more men enter sub- They found that 58 percent had experienced child- stance abuse treatment through the criminal justice

Jeanne Marsh meets hood sexual abuse, 90 percent had experienced inti- system, for example, and more women through the weekly with a team of doctoral students mate partner violence (78 percent within the past six child welfare system. Researchers are studying how and partners from the months), and 29 percent met diagnostic criteria for the factors that lead to a successful treatment out- University to discuss progress on their post-traumatic stress disorder. come—including the characteristics of the organiza- research. “There is a complicated relationship between tion’s therapeutic approach and specific services that trauma and substance abuse, including heightened are available—may differ for women and men. risks for continued substance use during treat- Women in ment and quicker return to substance use following > > > . < < < treatment are treatment among women with co-occurring post- traumatic stress disorder. When so many women in A decade ago, there was a debate in more likely to treatment have a history of intimate partner violence drug-treatment policy circles: Did have childcare or childhood sexual abuse, it means that services services connected to treatment dilute the impact should be trauma-informed and should include inte- of treatment, or were they a useful scaffold to allow needs and grated treatment to address both substance use and the client to build a more successful life? By early in employment trauma-related concerns,” Engstrom says. this decade, findings were accumulating that com- Joan Blakey, a doctoral candidate at SSA who isa prehensive supports are essential in substance abuse troubles, studying the intersection of the child welfare system treatment, particularly when they are “tailored” to including a lack and substance abuse treatment, says that she was sur- the client’s specific needs. w prised at how many of the women she interviewed in 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and of financial at a women-only treatment center in Chicago Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental independence. reported various forms of abuse. “The rates of sexual Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) abuse and rape were really high, as well as domestic launched one of the biggest boosts for comprehen- violence. Many of the women also had a history of sive services in the form of the Access to Recovery prostitution. It was very troubling to me, and I’m (ATR) program, which has provided approximately still mulling over the impact that this abuse has on $300 million to states for vouchers for clinical sub- their treatment,” Blakey says. stance abuse treatment and recovery support servic- women in treatment are also more likely to es. The program has provided treatment and support have childcare needs and employment troubles, to an estimated 160,000 individuals and is now in including a lack of financial independence. “I think its second round of funding. that it’s very important for the programs to recognize “Through Access to Recovery, for the first time the role of parenting in the lives of many women in the federal government has been paying for these treatment. Often a mother can’t go into treatment recovery support services,” says Charles Curie, a

14 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 graduate of the School, former head of SAMHSA, and now the principal of the Curie Group, a substance abuse and health policy consulting firm. “The vouchers give individuals an opportunity for choice and it captures the uniqueness and individuality of recovery.” in Illinois, Access to Recovery has funded vocational, educational, and other services through more than 40 community-based organizations. “We have been able to provide $12 million annually to help Targeted Treatment

esearchers and policymakers are exploring the intricacy of substance abuse and its treatment for many populations, not just for women. For example, for more than a decade, the Integrated R Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) process has been promoted by leading federal and state agencies to help individuals with both substance-use issues and severe and persistent mental illness. the mix of therapeutic, organizational, and fiscal complexity of providing treatment for both issues at once, however, has kept the program from reaching as far as its architects and advocates would like. “It’s the state of the art for people with co-occurring disorders, but there are so many moving parts. And there are issues about cost and even just keeping it running,” says Stan McCracken, a people who have received treatment keep engaged senior lecturer at SSA who has worked with many agencies throughout Illinois to with services that may not necessarily be available at institute IDDT. the treatment program. We’ve done a lot of evalua- on the other hand, not every subgroup has as robust a system for iden- tion, and there are good indications that people do tifying and attending to its needs. At-risk youth who have been exposed to community violence, for instance, are twice as likely to have used marijuana well in recovery with these services,” says Maria or alcohol than at-risk peers who have not, according to research published by Bruni, the department’s research director and an Dexter Voisin, an associate professor at SSA, and co-authors in a 2007 article in alumae of the School. the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. By understanding the common effects what has not been as clear was who benefited of first-hand experience with violence outside the home, Voisin says practitioners the most from these services and how. “We know can have a better grip on how to help. that comprehensive services are useful, but we don’t “We did not find a notable increase in the use of crack, ecstasy, or amphet- have a thorough understanding of the complexity amines. That suggests that these young people are seeking a soothing effect, of how they work. It’s a bit of a black box in the rather than a stimulant,” points out Voisin, who teaches a doctoral course on models of prevention at the School. “If exposure to community violence was on theory—go through and it helps, but we’re still the radar screen of more social workers who work with youth, that could be very figuring out the details. Knowing that will allow us useful information to help find appropriate treatment.” to create treatment programs that do a better job of providing help to women, men, people with HIV/ AIDS, the homeless, members of different racial/ ethnic groups—you name it,” Marsh says. in 2004, Marsh and co-authors provided the first glimpse into gender differences in comprehensive services for substance abuse treatment in a paper in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. Their analysis of data about more than 3,000 clients from 59 treatment facilities from the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) showed that both women and men benefit from comprehensive services. But it also showed some notable differences. More women received comprehensive services and, when used them, had greater reductions in their post-treatment substance use than men. At the same time, women and men differed in how they reacted

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 15 Moral Hazard

here’s an element of morality laced throughout drug policy when it comes T to women, attitudes and assumptions about motherhood, femi- ninity, responsibility, and decorum. At times, these judgments run counter to policies and programs strictly built on research and logic. “During the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s, there was a wave of concern whether a pregnant woman using crack was damag- ing the baby, and there was a lot of funding for research and programs to the organization’s characteristics: The avail- quirk in the data that may be a marker for how site- for prenatal interventions,” says SSA ability of on-site services and more frequent level details can impact whether treatment is fully Professor Sydney Hans. “But the data counseling sessions resulted in reduced post- successful: Matched services were found to be effec- have shown that when a woman uses cocaine or heroin, much of the risk treatment drug use for men but not for women. tive in treatment for whites and African Americans, to the child comes once he or she is marsh has continued to use the NTIES but not Latinos. “We found in our data that when born. The issue of how to help parents to dig deeper into what makes comprehensive Latinos receive matched services, they stay in treat- with children in the home hasn’t got- services work. Her most recent research looks ment longer, but their post-treatment drug use does ten nearly the same attention.” into the next logical question: If tailored services not go down,” says SSA doctoral candidate Erick During welfare reform, legislators on the left and right were concerned are a benefit to participants, then how often are Guerrero, who, with doctoral students Christina that many women would be unable clients able to access them? Andrews and Melissa Hardesty, has worked for the to comply with work rules due to “There was a natural progression from what last several years as a research assistant with Marsh. substance abuse problems, and they clients said they needed in health and social The study also found that compared with built a system that allowed states to services to whether these services were available. whites, Latinos on average are younger, less expe- do broad-based drug testing of welfare recipients. However, research by We found a real service gap,” Marsh says. In rienced in treatment, and are generally serviced by Associate Professor Harold Pollack and fact, in a paper that has been accepted in Social smaller organizations, with less services and thinner colleagues has shown that only about Work Research, Marsh’s research team shows a schedules. In his dissertation, Guerrero is explor- 20 percent of welfare recipients report substantial number of clients of both genders ing how these smaller organizations can be better any illicit drug use in the past year, who are not able to access health and social equipped to improve Latinos’ treatment experience. with the majority of these drug users services they need during treatment, including “High-resourced programs with culturally sensi- engaged in casual marijuana use. largely forgotten in the rush to fewer than a third who receive vocational, hous- tive managers are more likely to have bilingual and identify millions of drug-using welfare ing, and financial services (see “Mind the Gap”). culturally competent counselors for Latinos. By mothers that simply didn’t exist were structuring organizations in ways that reflect cultural serious questions about providing suf- > > > . < < < inclusion and understanding, treatment programs ficient funding for substance abuse have the potential to make a significant impact on treatment and how to provide real support that can help women become Marsh’s research into the service Latinos post-treatment drug use,” Guerrero says. ready for employment. gap illustrates how substance abuse treatment even when a program is explicitly created for “Substance abuse might not for women can get derailed by fiscal and pro- women, real-world demands and details can affect its be a highly prevalent problem for a grammatic realities. A 2008 study of gender success. E. Summerson Carr, an assistant professor lot of women on welfare. But it can differences within racial/ethnic subgroups that at the School, spent more than three years observing be an indication that something else is not right. If you’re a 34-year-old she co-authored revealed another gap: They the operations of a substance abuse treatment center mom who’s smoking marijuana inm the found that African Americans and Latinos who created for homeless women in a Midwestern town, afternoon, that’s often a warning sign. are in treatment receive fewer and lower quality starting from the program’s inception. She found in We’ve done research that shows a cor- services than whites, and African Americans and her day-to-day ethnographic research that despite relation with that behavior and other Latinos were also less likely to receive the ser- the best of intentions, many of the program’s fea- mental health issues,” Pollack says. “We should be more concerned and vices they needed. tures did not work as planned. more careful and competent about The paper, now in press for the Journal of over and over again, program administrators helping women with those issues.” Evaluation and Program Planning, also has a would say, ‘We’re a feminist program. We’re cul-

16 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Mind the Gap Gap Between the Need for Services in Substance Abuse Treatment and Delivery

Service Category Women Needing Women Needing and Men Needing Men Needing and Service Receiving Service Service Receiving Service

Substance and alcohol 98% 97% 97% 97% abuse counseling

Medical service 65% 65% 60% 63%

Mental health service 71% 32% 63% 32%

Family service 84% 62% 79% 48%

Vocational service 64% 29% 63% 27%

Housing service 71% 29% 61% 16%

Financial service 72% 24% 70% 20%

Source: “Closing the Need-service Gap: Gender Differences in Matching Services to Client Needs in Comprehensive Substance Abuse Treatment” Social Work Research turally appropriate.’ But it was hard to see that in either, pointing out that some clients who did not practice in the therapy room. People’s jobs were so enter of their own volition, genuinely wanted to demanding—there were so many crises, and cli- stop using once they had begun to get the drugs out ents were coming in and out of the program—that of their system. People’s maintaining a philosophical base became a real chal- jobs were so lenge,” says Carr, who is using her case study of the > > > . < < < program as the basis of a book to be published in “demanding— 2010, Scripting Addiction: The Politics of Therapeutic When it comes to problems in how there were so Talk and American Sobriety. substance abuse treatment serves women, the big- The clients in the program Carr studied were gest issue is not culturally insensitive programs or many crises, recommended by one of several local housing pro- programs that don’t supply sufficient services. It’s a and clients grams, which meant that the women typically had shortage of any kind of program at all. many services already in place, and the program in 2006, 314,000 people nationwide knew were coming in itself provided transportation to the facility and wthey needed substance abuse treatment, but were and out of the childcare during therapy sessions. These services unable to find care, according to SAMHSA, and a program—that were well-run and certainly made a difference in whopping 21.1 million total needed treatment but how well the treatment worked, notes Carr, who did not receive it— a mix of those who did not maintaining a teaches “Drugs, Culture, and Context” in the consider themselves as having a problem and those philosophical School’s master’s program. who did not have enough information to identify At the same time, however, many of the women the problem. base became a were mandated to attend treatment as a condition “We have significant access problems for sub- real challenge. of remaining in transitional housing. In practice, stance abuse treatment in this country because we’re that meant that many of the clients in treatment doing a poor job of financing the system. Today were not self-motivated to end their substance use. we’re below even where we were seven years ago in Blakey has observed the same dynamic in her study that funding for SAMSHA, when you take inflation ” of a Chicago substance abuse treatment program for into account,” says Harold Pollack, an associate pro- women. fessor at SSA and the faculty chair at the Center for “For my research, I was studying women who Health Administration Studies. had been told by the child welfare system that they “We now know so much more about how needed to get treatment in order to keep their chil- to provide effective services, but due to budgets, dren or to get them back. There really is the ques- we’re declining to offer these services,” Marsh says. tion of motivation. Do these women really want to “There is widespread concern that our substance quit? Yes, a court order will get them into the pro- abuse treatment system is in decline due to reduc- gram, but unless their point of view shifts and they tions in funding for services and research. The next say, ‘I want to be here; I want to make that change,’ wave of research is likely to focus on issues of cost it will not last,” Blakey says. And yet, she is far from effectiveness as well, so that we learn how to serve sure that mandating treatment is a recipe for failure, clients most effectively and efficiently.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 17 A Community Under Construction The success of the Chicago Housing Authority’s big bet on mixed-income housing arguably will hinge on whether the developments can become true communities

B y e D F ink e l

Oakwood its 94-acre parcel, a third of which will Shores’ cen- be for CHA residents. The development tral leasing opened in 2004 as a public/private sec- office and sur- tor partnership led by national nonprofit rounding townhouses urban housing developer The Community at Pershing and Vincennes on Chicago’s Builders and Granite Development onear South Side have the look and feel Corp., which is developing the for-sale of any other newly constructed housing properties. Lee Pratter, The Community development that’s marketing its units— Builders’ senior project manager for the and that’s precisely the point. development, says the partners are work- The development is a mix of single- ing hard to make the development look family homes and apartments, as well as “organic,” so no one can tell who leases a three-bedroom, two-bath townhouses, market rate unit and who is a CHA resi- which currently rent for $1,433 a month. dent. Interspersed with market-rate rentals, Seamless architecture doesn’t guar- however, are tax-subsidized affordable antee, however, that everyone who lives units, as well as apartments that house in Oakwood Shores will become, well, residents who formerly lived in public neighbors—in the deeper sense of housing. These units are subsidized by knowing one another and interacting in the Chicago Housing Authority as part of mutually beneficial ways. Yet for many, its Plan for Transformation, the massive some version of “building community” program to remake public housing in the is a major part of what mixed-income city, including replacing the city’s most development is supposed to be all about, devastated public housing projects—in at least as a benefit for public housing this case, Ida B. Wells, Clarence Darrow, residents. Can the new developments fos- and Madden Park—with mixed-income ter social interaction among the different developments. residents, break down prejudice, improve when completed, Oakwood Shores neighborhoods, and provide new oppor- is projected to consist of 3,000 units on tunities for low-income residents?

18 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Researchers Robert Chaskin (left) and Mark Joseph talk with local resident and activist Shirley Newsome near Oakwood Shores, one of the mixed-income developments that have attracted national attention. www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 19 “The bricks and mortar of a urban dwellers in general—are successful development like this in comfortable with that,” Chaskin this economic climate are incred- says. ibly tough,” Pratter says. “The “It’s nice to say we’re going harder part is building a commu- to have a night out to see Alvin nity and helping the residents take Ailey—but at $40 a pop, what advantage of the opportunities.” does that do to your public “All communities, at some housing families?” says long- level, are contested ground,” notes time local resident and activist Robert Chaskin, an associate pro- Shirley Newsome, who lives near fessor at SSA and deputy dean for Oakwood Shores and served as a strategic initiatives. “People from community representative during different backgrounds care about the CHA’s transformation process. different things and have different “And a picnic on the grounds or expectations and priorities. This is a street party—for your market raised to a pitch by the relatively rate residents, that’s a mundane extreme diversity, at least in terms activity that they don’t generally of income, that’s being intention- participate in. It ends up being a ally promoted in these develop- public housing family picnic.” ments.” “It’s early, so arguably one Chaskin and Mark Joseph, a can imagine these kinds of inter- former SSA post-doctoral scholar actions happening over time,” and now an assistant professor Chaskin says. “There’s also reason at the Mandel School of Applied to be skeptical, given differences Social Sciences at Case Western in education, income, and life Reserve University in Cleveland, experiences.” are the co-principal investigators of a multifaceted study, “Building > > > . < < < Mixed-Income Communities: Documenting the Experience in he $1.5 billion Chicago,” funded by the John Plan for Transforma- D. and Catherine T. MacArthur tion is the nation’s Foundation. They’re finishing a most ambitious and three-year phase of an ongoing largest proposal to investigation of how CHA’s new close “the projects” mixed-income communities are that dot cities across playing out, how residents are tthe country and start a new and experiencing them, and what the better chapter in the lives of their policy and practical implications residents. As such, critics, plan- are. ners, and scholars are watching The answers that are emerg- closely to monitor its performance ing are complicated. The research on factors from the support for to date generally shows little residents undergoing relocation to interaction among people of dif- whether sufficient new housing is ferent races and classes beyond available to replace the thousands very brief, informal, “Hi, how’re of units that have been demol- you doing?” types of exchanges. ished. “There’s a certain amount of wari- when the CHA drew up ness. There’s not a huge yearning the blueprint for the plan at the for people in these places to get end of the 1990s, mixed-income involved in one another’s business. developments figured prominent- And most of them—in fact, most ly. The CHA anticipates building

20 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Welcome to the Neighborhood

ifteen years ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched Moving to Opportunity (MTO), a demonstration project in Chicago and four other cities that provided housing vouchers and relocation counseling to very low-income public housing households to assist a F move to less economically distressed areas. The program was a randomized housing-mobility experiment designed to track the neighborhood effects on the life chances of low-income families. Now that the 10-year experiment is over, the question is, how did the families and children fare when moving to a more wealthy community? Jens Ludwig says that the answers were much more complicated than the program’s architects probably expected. ludwig, the School’s McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service, Law, and Public Policy, and several colleagues researched MTO’s effect both in broad terms and, in a separate paper, specific to the question of youth crime. They found little impact on adult economic self-sufficiency but positive (and quite large) impacts on adult mental health and the rate at which youth are involved with violent crime. Female youth also saw a drop in crime in general, but male youth were if anything more likely than those who stayed behind in public housing to be arrested for property crime. ludwig says it’s not well understood why the economic impacts are not more dramatic and why the impacts on crime seem so different by gender. “We have a lot of after-the-fact theorizing now that we’ve seen the results, but these findings were not what most people were predicting,” he says. “My experiences working on MTO make me somewhat unsure about the relative value of people- versus place-based social policies. I’d like to see more research on what a successful place-based social policy would look like in practice.” or rehabilitating approximately sarily think that neighbors will maintained neighborhoods with 25,000 units of housing, which socialize in her community. “I less crime and fewer anti-social would match the number of think it’s an unreasonable expecta- activities. “We are presenting our CHA leaseholders when the plan tion that people will automati- children with a much healthier began. More than 7,500 public cally come together as one big environment to grow up in,” he housing units are planned in happy family,” she says. Richard says. mixed-income developments that Sciortino, president of Brinshore for Joseph, that twinned will replace more than 10 former Development, a partner in several question—whether building CHA sites. To date, about 2,800 of the mixed-income develop- community is necessary and then of these units have been built in ments, agrees, and furthermore, whether it’s possible—is the core mixed-income developments, says that the success of the pro- of their research agenda. “To what which are typically one-third pub- gram shouldn’t be measured by extent does the sustainability and lic housing, one-third affordable that metric. ultimate success of these develop- use of public space in ways that housing, and one-third market “Neighborhood interaction ments depend on some level of some newcomers, homeowners, rate housing. is not a prerequisite for a high community and constructive, and higher-income people feel is The notion that integrat- healthy neighboring?” he asks. inappropriate.” ing formerly segregated people in addition to Oakwood Chaskin and Joseph are of different economic classes can Shores, Chaskin, Joseph, and their also investigating whether the have positive social benefits has team are investigating two other mixed-income developments lead been growing since the publica- developments: Westhaven Park to better amenities and services tion of former University of on the city’s West Side, and Park for the public housing residents, Chicago sociologist William Julius Boulevard, in the city’s historic as well as the extent to which Wilson’s 1987 book, The Truly Bronzeville neighborhood. The mixed-income development is an Disadvantaged, which put forth an Westhaven Park development, effective response to the isolation argument about the particularly which has a larger proportion of of public housing populations pernicious effects of concentrated public housing tenants than the from resources and opportunities. poverty on those who live in it. other two, has probably experi- “There’s reason to believe that Deconcentrating poverty has functioning neighborhood, nor is enced greater day-to-day interac- social networks matter,” Chaskin become an increasing focus of it necessary to improve the lives tion but also greater conflicts, says. “We know, for example, that federal housing policy, in part of the people living there,” says Chaskin says, typically centering people find employment that way. with the passage of the HOPE VI Sciortino, who argues that the around “disjunction between dif- But we’ve seen very little evidence program in 1993. CHA, development teams, ser- ferent normative expectations and so far of the kind of interaction But Newsome notes that in vice providers, and other partners views about appropriate behavior, [in the mixed-income develop- the long-run, she doesn’t neces- are responsible to provide well- including the appropriation and ments] that would lead to that

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 21 kind of exchange of information highlighting both positive out- those community ties were the of poor, predominantly African- between people of different back- comes and ongoing challenges wrong kind of community ties,” American Chicagoans.” But grounds.” that the CHA and its partners are he says. “That can be subject to he contends that the privatized Joseph echoes Chaskin’s working to address,” says Kellie rigorous criticism.” nature of mixed-income commu- caveat about how early it remains O’Connell-Miller, a CHA spokes- fairbanks, whose courses nities, combined with the intense in the life of these mixed-income person. at the School include classes on screening methods that CHA communities. “Residents with the political economy of urban requires of its residents for the whom we’ve spoken have been > > > . < < < development and the history developments, has led to consider- living there, in many cases, one to and philosophy of the welfare able displacement. two years,” he says. “They’re really n a 2007 paper by state, acknowledges that pub- “The screening of criminal still just getting settled in these Joseph, Chaskin, lic housing prior to the Plan records, work requirements, drug developments. The other point is, and Henry Webber for Transformation “effectively [testing], is a way of weeding out none of these developments are published in Urban segregated and isolated a group the worthy poor from the unwor- completed yet. The ultimate com- Affairs Review, the authors munity that is going to be in place point to another reason is still far from realized.” for building new mixed- To date, the first papers have income developments, The Museum of Public Housing focused on issues such as resident one less interested in the benefits he final building left standing from the Chicago Housing perceptions of their new environ- ito public housing residents. This Authority’s Jane Addams Homes development, at 1322 W. Taylor St., ments, social interaction, and school of thought sees a strategy will be rehabilitated and reborn as the National Public Housing resident decisions about whether to redevelop vacant or underused, T Museum if a group including activists, community developers, CHA to return to a mixed-income centrally located land in an eco- resident leaders, preservationists, funders, and architects succeeds in raising the necessary remaining funds. nomically lucrative, politically “This started when the big developments were being torn down. There viable way. were generations of people from all backgrounds who had lived in those “There are real tensions developments,” says Donna Barrows, board chair at the Spertus Institute of between some very different goals Jewish Studies, one of the museum’s supporters. “While nobody was mourn- at play here,” Chaskin points out, ing the bad parts of public housing, there’s always been this tension: It’s one “the social goals of re-creating and thing to tear down buildings, it’s another thing to obliterate community.” modeled on the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York, the building new, well-functioning museum, which has been incorporated as a stand-alone 501(c)3 nonprofit, neighborhoods on the footprint of has recently hired an executive director and has in hand preliminary drawings the most difficult public housing of the rehabbed building, plans for programming, and a web site about the developments in ways that will project (publichousingmuseum.org). The effort just received a $40,000 plan- benefit the very poor, on the one ning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create an extensive oral history program. hand, and market-driven goals “The museum and its education center will challenge the myths and the development. Upcoming studies of making a profit and attracting stereotypes,” says Sunny Fischer, executive director of the Richard H. Driehaus will include qualitative and quan- investors on the other. Critics see Foundation, which has taken a lead role, and, like Barrows, is a member of titative research on topics that [the Plan for Transformation] as SSA’s Visiting Committee. “We will develop a curriculum for the Chicago include social norms, governance, a return to Urban Renewal, the Public Schools based on the oral histories we collect. We envision the museum, along with its permanent exhibits, being the basis for conversations interorganizational collaboration, playing out of a revanchist agenda about poverty and race, and many other social issues raised by the history of and racial dynamics. that’s about reappropriating pub- public housing.” even as their research con- lic housing lands in the city for tinues, Chaskin and Joseph are the benefit of the more affluent producing briefs on their findings classes.” to provide information directly to SSA Assistant Professor the CHA, developers, residents, Robert Fairbanks argues that and other interested parties to the Plan for Transformation has help shape the communities as accelerated gentrification in the they are being formed, in addi- areas around Chicago’s downtown tion to academic publication. Loop, while dismantling exist- “Their findings provide important ing communities of low-income insights about the dynamics in residents in public housing. “The these new communities while public policy assumption is that

22 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 thy,” Fairbanks says. “I see this as cating them. There hasn’t been an aggressive use of state power a whole lot of attention paid to to offload a number of very vul- some intentional ways to build nerable folks from what meager community.” provisions they were receiving. Before the Plan for The Plan for Transformation, as a Transformation, public hous- whole, must be considered against ing residents have typically had a backdrop of late 20th century tenant advisory councils. “The welfare state transformation and tenant groups are really impor- urban restructure.” tant in terms of having a process o’Connell-Miller argues that for residents to give feedback to the CHA valued residents’ social decision-making bodies,” says networks and communities in the SSA Assistant Professor Jennifer former developments and contin- Mosley, whose research centers ues to do so in the new mixed- around how citizens’ groups and income communities. “The Plan’s other interest groups interact goal is to give families choices— with government agencies. “But between mixed-income and tra- they’re also important for build- ditional sites, between geographic ing trust between different kinds locations, and more—while also of residents, finding areas of providing them with the services, agreement, and building social resources, and opportunities capital. Those are the ways in they need to maintain economic which civic engagement hap- stability and meet the screening pens.” requirements for their housing of The CHA tenant councils choice,” she says. for residents in mixed-income communities are in the process > > > . < < < of being dismantled, however, now that their large-scale devel- uilding opments are razed. And the kinds of residents,” he says. “It’s example in facilitating owner- a com- condominium and homeowner difficult to organize participatory tenant interactions. “That’s fortable, associations that are emerging structures that fully incorporate definitely needed to bring owners functioning in the developments, by defini- highly diverse populations.” and tenants together, under one community tion, only include buyers. Some At Oakwood Shores, fledg- umbrella,” she says, adding that isn’t just a of these associations are open to ling efforts have begun under the without such assistance, misper- potential ben- renters and CHA residents, but aegis of the Bronzeville Oakland ceptions persist. “We’re all a com- efit to pub- only owners can vote. Neighborhood Association munity. Most people think the lic housing residents, however. Chaskin says other attempts (BONA). Renters meet with CHA residents will bring down bJoseph wonders how well even the homeowners “a couple times their property values and make to bring together residents into market-rate side of these devel- a common forum to talk about a month” to discuss any issues the neighborhood worse than opments will continue to fare if community issues have not been and concerns and to build trust, what it is, and that’s really not community building doesn’t work. “particularly successful so far, explains Rosalie McCormick, a true.” “Without an intentional from the perspective of build- renter and secretary for BONA. Ultimately, Joseph believes it means of breaking through [racial ing community and reconcil- “We’re just getting started. We’re will become necessary to promote and class] barriers, people tend to ing tensions.” Some developers getting our feet wet,” she says. a degree of what he calls “produc- retain the assumptions they had have made attempts to promote “I’m not a bad person as a renter. tive neighboring.” “Surely, not going in,” Joseph says. “So much integration through social You’re not a bad person as a hom- everybody has to become friends. of the attention and energy and and recreational activities, for eowner.” But people need a way to voice resources around these develop- example, but people have tended deborah Thigpen, presi- issues and concerns,” he says. “To ments have to go into the basics: to self-select into or out of such dent of BONA, says that other this point it’s not clear how that demolishing old sites, building activities. “People assume certain management companies need to will happen or who has responsi- new sites, recruiting people, relo- kinds of activities are for certain follow The Community Builders’ bility for facilitating that.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 23 Elder SocialStatesmen work education is ex ploring how to prepare for the complex needs of an aging population

As a first-year student at SSA three years ago, Cynthia Phon was thrilled when she received her field aplacement at the Council for Jewish Elderly on the North Side of Chicago. Phon, a career-changer who’d worked in communication consulting for 17 years before entering graduate school for her master’s degree, enrolled in SSA because she liked its older adult program. “I came to social work specifically wanting to work with older adults,” she says. That interest was a pleasant surprise to her supervisor at the agency, which has since changed its name to CJE SeniorLife. “They were used to getting students who would say, ‘I want to work with pre-schoolers or I want to work in an elementary school.’ So my supervisor said it was amazing to have someone come in and say ‘I want to work with older adults,’” recalls Phon, who has worked as a case manager at the North Shore Senior Center in Northfield, Ill. since graduating in 2007. Phon’s enthusiasm for working with the elderly is rare among those entering social work. “Many of our students are of an age where, unless they’ve had someone in their family or in their personal lives who is older and dealing with those issues, they just don’t tend to think much about the later phase of life,” says Karen Teigiser, SSA senior lecturer and the School’s deputy dean for curriculum. yet the need for social workers who focus on older adults is ballooning, particularly because we’re approaching what some have dubbed a “senior tsunami” with the graying of the voluminous Baby Boom generation. The Brookings Institution esti- mates that by 2011 more than 10,000 Americans

24 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 Elder SocialStatesmen work education is ex ploring how to prepare for the complex needs of an aging population

will turn 65 every day for the next 20 years. By says SSA Associate 2030, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population Professor Colleen will be 65 or over. Grogan, director of the The sheer size of the aging Baby Boom gen- University’s Graduate eration and their longer life expectancies will have Program in Health far-reaching implications. Older adults have dif- Policy and Education. ferent needs in terms of health care, family issues, “What does it look community dynamics, and more. Not only will like? How do we make a generation need support adjusting to these new it affordable?” realities in their own lives, but their impact will be There are many felt throughout society. The field of social work is facets to gerontologi- gearing up to address the repercussions. cal medical issues that “Whatever you do in the field, you will be go far beyond dealing likely to be working with the elderly,” says Phyllis with death and the end Mitzen, coordinator of SSA’s Older Adult Studies of life, even though Malitta Engstrom Program. “If you’re working in a hospital, you’re that might be the first working with the elderly. If you’re working with thought when it comes to geriatric care. For example, Older adults have families, you’re working with the elderly. If you’re one out of every two people over the age of 85 is doing community work, you’re working with the projected to suffer from some progressive cognitive different needs in elderly. So you’ll use the strengths and insights that impairment that will require care. Malitta Engstrom, terms of health you get from working with this population over an assistant professor and Hartford Faculty Scholar at care, family and over again.” SSA, points out that nearly one in four people living for example, more and more family caregiv- with HIV/AIDS is over the age of 50. issues, community ers—usually women—are caught in the squeeze “Research with older adults who use drugs sug- dynamics, and of looking after children and older parents. “What gests that their HIV sexual risk behaviors are com- happens to a woman,” Mitzen asks, “who has a gap parable to their younger counterparts and that they more—their in her career because she raised children, then at underestimate their risks. There is a great need to impact will be felt age 50 has to stop work to take care of her mom? recognize that older adults are at risk for HIV and to So many women are financially unprepared for provide HIV prevention and intervention strategies throughout society. their old age due to taking on the caregiving roles that are created with older adults in mind,” Engstrom that society expects of them.” argues. The cost of establishing and maintaining a geriatric researchers and clinicians also warn quality lifestyle for the elderly is also a growing about the increasing number of primarily low-income concern. “Most of us would say that we don’t want individuals who have battled chronic illnesses like intensive curative services at the end of life, but we diabetes and asthma over the course of their lifetimes. know that we do need some kind of medicalized The result could be an explosion of younger “old environment. It’s a huge challenge for us to figure people.” An individual who has diabetes and not out what kind of medicalized environment will had access to good medical care, for example, could keep frail, elderly people comfortable and safe,” find herself impaired by the time she reaches 40 and

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 25 Senior Researcher

ewly arrived SSA Assistant Professor Jung-Hwa Ha is one of N a new generation of scholars who are carving out paths in gerontology research. She says the enthusiasm she sees at gerontological conferences demonstrates that the future of geriatric research and clinical practice is bright. ha, a native of Korea, says her introduc- tion to gerontology was somewhat accidental. Following college in Korea, she volunteered at an international conference on gerontology. From then on, she was hooked. “I found it fascinating,” she says. “There were so many experiences that were personally related to mine. My parents are

Jung-Hwa Ha

might need to be institutionalized by the time converts. She emphasized the growing role the in their education. “What’s clear is that when she reaches age 60. elderly play in modern intergenerational fami- they have the opportunity to think about “These chronic illnesses could be one of lies, the strength that many people display as and connect with issues facing older adults— our more difficult policy, social work, and they age, and the many ways in which social whether it’s in the classroom or in a field medical challenges,” Grogan says. “We really workers help older people lead meaningful experience—that makes the difference. Once need to be looking at what we should be doing lives, even as they cope with chronic illness. we expose them to the challenges and issues of to ensure that there is a public health infra- “Many of the students remarked that working with this population they tend to be structure to help people live and age better.” they felt that the course should be required of committed,” she says. And who better to explore these issues everyone,” Morhardt recalls. “They may not go Teigiser has helped facilitate that exposure than social workers? “A lot of chronic disease into quote unquote aging, but they now have at SSA by making structural changes to the management is not high-technology medi- a sensitivity to the issues and a more holistic curriculum that introduce aging issues to stu- cine,” Grogan points out. “I think social work- perspective.” dents earlier in their course work. The class on ers can be the key people to help individuals morhardt’s class is part of a systemic effort working with older adults is now available in with chronic illness connect with the kinds at SSA to help prepare social workers for the the first quarter, for instance, when students of disease management systems that work for growing need for gerontological social work. are required to take a course in human behav- their current life circumstances. That’s the “The mismatch between the anticipated service ior. work we’re trained to do.” needs of older adults and the availability of The change is one example of the impact social workers trained in gerontology has been of SSA’s Older Adult Studies Program, which > > > . < < < deemed a crisis by some scholars,” Engstrom is the incubator and launchpad for an infu- says. sion of elder care issues into the SSA curricu- hen SSA adjunct “There is this notion in both medicine lum. In addition to new coursework, the pro- faculty member and social work that gerontology is all about gram’s members have persuaded colleagues to Darby Morhardt working in nursing homes, that it’s only end- introduce gerontological issues in a variety of launched an “Intro of-life care,” Grogan says. “But even if you are courses. “We encourage the use of older adult to Aging” class for working in a nursing home or in hospice, it’s case examples in both the first and second wfirst-year master’s students in the fall of 2007, not just about helping people to die. It’s about year as a way to engage students in this area,” most of her students confessed that they had understanding people’s connection to life as says Robyn Golden, director of Older Adult only enrolled because virtually every other well as death. It’s about the kind of intergener- Programs at Rush University Medical Center, course was full. ational care that happens across a lifespan. The who teaches “Aging and Mental Health” at But by the end of the term, Morhardt, trick is figuring out how to expose students to SSA as a member of the adjunct instructional who is also a research associate professor in the this without forcing it down their throats.” staff. Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease one of the keys, says Teigiser, is to provide SSA has also introduced a fellowship Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg students with information about the issues program specifically designed around geriatric School of Medicine, had won a great many surrounding care of the elderly early and often issues, part of a national initiative sponsored

26 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 in a generation where they must care not only for gests that widows often form or strengthen rela- social supports. If you are limited in mobility, their children but also for their parents. Thinking tionships with friends and loved ones following you are obviously limited in your opportunities about how important it is to promote productive the death of a spouse. “In the past we tended to to engage in social relationships. So I want to aging struck me as very important work.” think that people become socially isolated after use longitudinal data to look at that effect, as ha’s doctoral work focused on widowhood the death of a spouse and some of that is true,” well as how your spouse’s health affects your as one of the major stresses in later life, and her she says. “But I found that in some ways people relationships.” papers have discussed the many aspects of losing are very resilient and maintain their social sup- ha also sees an uptick in interest in geron- a spouse. “Widowhood is multifaceted,” she says. ports and keep quite good contact with friends tology among her students. “I see some more “The consequences are not just emotional; they’re and loved ones.” awareness among young students that it is also behavioral, economic, and social.” ha’s next research horizon is studying how a important to pay attention to older people,” she And while many studies have examined how decline in health affects the relationships of the says. “They are discovering that even if you are social support can help people adjust to widow- elderly. “Previously, other studies looked at how interested in younger children, it is important to hood, Ha’s research has concentrated on the social social support affects health, but I think it is also know about older adults as a resource who can consequences of widowhood itself. Her work sug- important to examine how health affects those help the whole family.”

by the John A. Hartford Foundation and > > > . < < < the coming senior tsunami, little is being administered through the New York Academy done to develop new models of care. “Right of Medicine. The foundation is a leading he Older Adult Studies now, the money is not following the people,” champion of gerontological research and Program has also introduced she says. “We need to develop policy and the training of scholars and clinicians in the several courses on working care models for a range of new issues related field. Through the foundation’s support SSA with the elderly in the School’s to aging—things like people leaving or being paired with the Loyola University School of Professional Development forced out of the workforce earlier or having Social Work in 2006 to form the Chicago Program (PDP), which provides to hang on to their jobs longer because their Area Gerontological Social Work Education tdiverse continuing education opportunities for 401(k) has been decimated. The new mod- Consortium. By the end of the grant in 2010, social workers. The program is now looking els of care need to have a bio-psycho-social each school will have conferred 30 Fellowships into creating a comprehensive set of courses framework if we’re going to really take on the to second-year master’s degree candidates, around working with older adults. issues of aging.” including a $5,000 scholarship. “The reality in the master’s program is mitzen, a 1980 SSA alum, envisions a The program’s Geriatric Leadership often young people only want to work with return to a more collaborative, interdisciplin- Fellows are engaged in seminars, courses, and kids or with people their age,” says Golden, ary approach to the study of aging at the fieldwork, including rotations designed to give who also works with SSA students in field University. “When I went to graduate school, the student a broad exposure the diverse needs placements. “But then they get out and they’re there was robust research going on across the of older people and to the programs and ser- in their 40s and suddenly the idea of working campus addressing aging issues,” she says. vices designed to meet these needs. A clinical with the elderly isn’t so distant. It’s their par- “Bernice Neugarten and Shelley Tobin [both student, for example, may spend time in an ents and their friends’ parents, and they begin scholars in human development and psychol- institution’s grants department to gain a differ- to realize that this might be the next phase of ogy] conducted seminal research on aging at ent perspective on the issues. The goal of the their work. PDP courses allow them to get the U of C. Today we have some pieces in program is to enable the Fellows to become back in the classroom to understand the theory place to develop that kind of synergy again.” leaders in the field. and get a better grasp of the issues.” golden envisions an even grander mis- Cynthia Phon, who was in the first class Ultimately, more social workers, adminis- sion. She would like to see SSA promote a of Hartford Fellows at SSA, says that the pro- trators, and policymakers informed about and collaboration with the City of Chicago to gram provided a cohort of like-minded stu- involved with elder care are needed to design take on elder care in the same way that the dents. “There’s not a lot of understanding and advocate for new models of care. Much of University has worked with Chicago Public [among social work students] about the various the geriatric care in the country it percieved to Schools on education initiatives. “If we could things you can do with older adults,” she says. take place in nursing homes, but that percep- pull together all of the intellectual and clini- “The Hartford fellowship provided validation tion fails to address the realities of how people cal resources of the University and create a that there are other people out there who are age in their communities and the expectations ‘town/gown’ partnership to think about these really interested in this and wanted to talk of contemporary seniors. issues,” she says, “think of the great role we about the issues and the career options.” golden says that despite all the talk about could play.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 27 memoranda

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Centennial Kicks Off Washington Week Services Research meeting in Boston. the 2009 Outstanding Social Work Doctoral candidate Erick Guerrero Dissertation Award Honorable Mention Nineteen students spent their spring with Opening Event also presented on institutional arrange- and doctoral candidate Judy Havlicek break the week of March 23 at SSA’s On the evening of November 14, ments and adoption of culturally com- won the 2009 Doctoral Fellows Award sixth annual Washington Week, where University of Chicago President Robert petent practices in outpatient substance for her paper, “Movement Trajectories: more than two dozen of the School’s J. Zimmer and SSA Dean and George abuse treatment, and received the Patterns in Placement Changes of alumni gave presentations about career Herbert Jones Distinguished Service Outstanding Young Investigator award, Former Foster Youth Leading to the opportunities in the nation’s capital. The Professor Jeanne C. Marsh hosted the which recognizes interdisciplinary sci- Transition to Adulthood.” event was launched with a reception at opening celebration of SSA’s Centennial, entific work in materials research by a the Cosmos Club, hosted by Charles held at the School’s Mies building. The young scientist or engineer. Curie, A.M. ’79. The event featured SSA on Facebook event highlighted 100 years of field- a presentation by Frank G. Farrow, In addition to Facebook groups cre- shaping research and service at the A.M. ’71 about his experiences at SSA ated by SSA students, the School now School. Human service pioneers, phi- SSA @ SSWR with former dean Harold Richman, has its own Facebook page. Join other lanthropists, social service leaders, and SSA was well represented throughout who was instrumental in launching the alumni and students and become a distinguished SSA alumni and friends at the 13th annual Society for Social Center for the Study of Social Policy, a “fan” of SSA. Search under “University renewed the School’s commitment to Work Research conference held in New think tank in the nation’s capital. of Chicago School of Social Service enriching the discipline and illuminating Orleans in January. In addition to the Administration” to find the page and solutions for society. Centennial Symposium (see “Centennial connect with the SSA community and Preceding the opening event, Symposia Continue”), Assistant Marsh and Students get event updates. SSA offered an invitation-only oppor- Professor Michael E. Woolley tunity to listen to William Schulz, at ASHR spoke at the symposium, “Sources of executive director emeritus of Amnesty In October, Dean Jeanne C. Marsh Strengths: Social Environments that Alumni Back for International and now a senior fellow and doctoral student Christina Promote Positive School Outcomes for at the Center for American Progress. Andrews presented “Gender Students.” Julie Darnell, A.M. ’03, Black History Month Schultz spoke to the group about his Differences in Need-Service Matching Ph.D. ’08, an assistant professor at the During February, alumni and friends of latest book, The Future of Human in Comprehensive Substance Abuse School of Public Health at the University the school participated as speakers in a Rights: U.S. Policy for a New Era. Treatment” at the Addiction Health of Illinois, Chicago, was presented lunch time brown bag series,

28 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 SSA Centennial Opening Event 1 : Jinnie English, A.M. ‘99, shares a laugh at the reception. 2 : William Schultz spoke about human rights issues prior to the opening event. 3 : Assistant Professor E. Summerson Carr talks with Assistant Professor Robert Fairbanks. 4 : University of Chicago 4 President Robert J. Zimmer gave a joint opening address with Dean Jeanne C. Marsh. Above: SSA Master’s students enjoyed meeting alumni in our 5 : From left to right: Dean nation’s capital during Washington Jeanne C. Marsh, Samuel Week. Deutsch Professor Dolores Norton, University President Left: Students plant trees a few Robert J. Zimmer, Joe Loundy, blocks from SSA in Woodlawn in A.M. ‘69, Professor Emerita honor of the Centennial. Pastora San Juan Cafferty, Donna Barrows, A.M. ‘79, and Visiting Committee Chair SSA and the 2008 election David Vitale. Read about SSA students’ 6 : Emcee and Sun-Times Editorial involvement in the presidential Page Editor Tom McNamee, campaigns. Visit ssa.uchicago. A.M. ‘82 introduces actors from the Court Theatre. edu/publications.ssamag.shtml. 6

“ConverSSAtions,” for Black History Students Plant Trees institutions to plant 7 billion trees by the Dexter Voisin for a daylong program, Month. Jinnie English, A.M. ’99, CEO to Commemorate end of 2009. The students also attend- “An Examination of Gangs and Urban of Chicago High Achievers spoke on ed an outdoor seminar in Woodlawn’s Violence,” at the University’s Gleacher February 5, Donna Steele, A.M. ’97, Centennial Brickyard Garden with Dorothy Pytel, Center in Chicago. Panelists included regional program manager for the Illinois To commemorate the 100th anni- a local activist gardener and founder of Chicago Police Department superinten- Department of Children and Family versary of SSA, more than 60 SSA Woodlawn Youth Solutions. Additional dent Jody Weis and CeaseFire founder Services and Raymond Thompson, students headed out to the Christ trees will be planted this spring. Gary Slutkin, and the topics discussed A.M. ’03, director of community out- Way Missionary Baptist Church on included the compelling factors of join- reach for Perspectives Charter School on September 25. At Woodlawn and 62nd Crime Lab ing a gang and how characteristics of February 11, Kelly Michele Evans, street, the group planted seven trees, gangs have changed over time. A.M. ’00, co-founder and CEO of KEDA the first of 100 pledged to the United Opens Doors Consulting, Inc., and Delrice Adams, Nations Environmental Program Plant McCormick Foundation Professor of A.M. ’00, co-founder of KEDA and pro- For the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign Social Service, Law, and Public Policy DOC Films Celebrates gram coordinator for Project Match, on in a project planned by the School’s Jens Ludwig and Associate Professor February 17, and Dorothy B. Holly- Environmental Action Group. The inter- Harold Pollack, co-directors of the 100 Years of SSA Turner, retired director of social services national campaign encourages individu- Chicago Crime Lab, launched a design The University of Chicago’s film society, for the Chicago Department of Health als and communities to collaborate with competition to identify promising new DOC Films, presented 10 films to cel- on February 23. industry, government, and educational intervention ideas and work with select- ebrate SSA’s Centennial, each of which ed applicants to find private funding to addressed an important social issue for Dean Jeanne C. Marsh (center) with doctoral students at the Society for launch and evaluate the pilot programs. its time. The event kicked off on January Social Work Research (SSWR) conference held in New Orleans in January. The competition aims to generate evi- 1 with the movie To Kill a Mockingbird dence that is as reliable as medical clini- and ended on March 3, with In the cal trials and use it to inform large-scale Family. The celebration honored SSA’s violence prevention efforts in Chicago impact on social policy issues through- and across the country. out the years and its legacy of working on December 6, Ludwig and with individuals, families, and communi- Pollack teamed with Associate Professor ties to achieve a better way of life.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 29 memoranda

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Centennial Symposia Professor Beth Angell joined Professor Therapeutic Relationship in Community- community-based settings with children Leslie Alexander from the Graduate Based Settings.” The event, held in New and adults. Continue School of Social Work and Social Orleans on January 15, discussed the cur- on March 7, Associate Professor SSA’s series of special symposia held Research at Bryn Mawr College to rent status of research on the therapeutic Susan Lambert and Associate by faculty throughout the School’s organize“Off the Couch and Out of the alliance and showcased emergent con- Professor Julia Henly hosted “Putting Centennial year continued, with events Clinic: Innovations in Research on the temporary perspectives across a range of Research To Work: Improving Low- exploring education, clinical therapy, low-wage work, and health care. on November 15, SSA held “Into the Second Century: Continuing Jarrett and Duncan Go To Washington SSA’s Tradition of Improving Urban Two SSA Visiting Committee members have left the commit- Education,” organized by Frank P. tee to join the administration of President Barack Obama. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor Valerie Jarrett was named senior advisor to President Obama, Charles M. Payne, Hermon Dunlap while Arne Duncan was the president’s choice to become U.S. Smith Professor Melissa Roderick, Secretary of Education. and Assistant Professor Michael E. Jarrett has served on the Visiting Committee since 2001, and Woolley. Framed by an overview of is a former chairwoman. In 2007, SSA created the Valerie Jarrett the School’s work and accomplish- Award for Faculty Leadership in tribute to Jarrett’s leadership at ments over its first 100 years, the event SSA and to honor her role as an unwavering advocate and bene- spotlighted areas of emerging research, factor for the School. “Valerie has been instrumental in raising awareness and support for SSA,” says Dean Jeanne C. current policy issues, and innovative Marsh. “She has also been crucial in advancing understanding of the role and value of social work in our society.” practice activities, and ended with a Duncan has served on the Visiting Committee since 2000 and was named chief executive officer of the Chicago look at future directions for research, Public Schools in 2001. SSA faculty has worked with Duncan through the Consortium on Chicago School Research and policy, and practice efforts. the School’s Community Schools Program. “Arne Duncan has used talent and ideas coming out of the University of Dean and George Herbert Chicago to help shape the strategy and direction of [CPS’s] massive turn around effort,” Marsh says. “We are thrilled Jones Distinguished Service Professor that he will bring his energy, intelligence, and experience to positively affect the lives and educations of millions of Jeanne C. Marsh and Associate American children.”

30 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 student spotlight b y ca r l v o g e l

Centennial Symposia The Next Generation “Off the Couch and Out of the Clinic” 1 : Dean Jeanne C. Marsh Amzie Moore follows in the footsteps of his father, a leading light in the fight for civil rights “Putting Research to Work” 2 : Assistant Professor Heather Hill addresses the audience tudents in the master’s program at SSA often learn fascinating information in class, but the 3 : Associate Professor Waldo news Amzie Moore discovered last year was something else altogether. During a discussion of the civil Johnson, Jr. rights era in his policy course, he had mentioned to then faculty member Judith Levine that his father, 4 : Associate Professor Susan Lambert also named Amzie, had been a pioneer in the struggle in Mississippi. S “She was interested and looked into him. So the next class she told “America and Chicago’s me that [SSA’s Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor] Charles Payne Health Safety Net” had written a chapter in one of his books about him. I had no idea,” says 5 : Associate Professor Colleen Grogan Moore. “I went and got the book, and I have to say the research was 6 : Associate Professor Harold Pollack extremely accurate. It was like he lived with us.” Payne devotes an early chapter in I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The “Continuing SSA’s Tradition of Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle to the elder Improving Urban Education” Moore, noting that “If asked to choose one person as the forerunner of 7 : Assistant Professor Michael Woolley the work they did in Mississippi in the 1960s… veteran SNCC workers 8 : Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service would overwhelmingly choose Amzie Moore.” No wonder; after WWII, Professor Charles M. Payne Moore helped start the state’s Regional Council of Negro Leadership, saw the church that served as his headquarters burned down after an NAACP meeting in 1955, refused to put up “colored” and “white” signs over the For more information about how restrooms at his service station, and was a pioneer in attracting federal Amzie Moore SSA created the Centennial symposia attention to racist terror tactics in the state. “Threats against his life were series, visit ssa.uchicago.edu/ almost constant,” Payne writes. publications.ssamag.shtml. “My father deeply influenced the work I do,” Moore says today. “You look at what was accomplished by people like him—and that includes work he did helping establish subsidized housing for low-income families and economic development for people in the area—and I’m certain that he’d Wage Jobs and Public Policies to Support be proud to see me here at SSA.” Vulnerable Workers,” a symposium that the 37-year-old Moore’s journey to SSA did not follow a straight line. After high school in Mississippi, he brought together top social work and served nearly seven years in the Navy, after which he earned a B.A. at Hampton University in Virginia. Nine years social policy scholars and practitioners ago, he moved to Chicago with the idea that he’d apply to law school, but, disillusioned as he learned about to discuss the implications of the chang- the difficulties in impacting social justice through the courts, he ended up with a job “in corporate America,” as ing labor market on low-income working he puts it. families. The event highlighted the richness An article in the Chicago Tribune brought Moore back to his need to work for social change. “It noted that of social work’s enduring contributions to one out of five African-American children drops out of high school,” he recalls. “I felt like I needed to do some- knowledge about macroeconomic labor thing about this crisis. I wanted to work with young people.” market trends, employer strategies and moore found a position at a community center as the after-school program director, then in the foster care practices, and job conditions at the front- system at a residential facility for children and later as case manager and a residential assistant in a transitional lines of today’s firms. living program. “I started observing how a lot of policies didn’t make sense with what we were seeing on the on April 17, Associate Professor ground. I had heard about SSA’s social administration concentration and so I applied. I knew at the School I Colleen Grogan and Associate Professor could get the intellectual and theoretical foundation I needed to achieve whatever I wanted to do next.” Harold Pollack conducted the sym- As one of SSA’s 82 evening program students, Moore has kept his current job as case manager for the posium “America and Chicago’s Health screening assessment support services program with the Community Mental Health Council while taking classes, Safety Net: A Century of Continuity and which have included “The Social Meaning of Race,” a class taught by Payne, who had no idea that Moore was Change.” The event discussed the role of at the School. “After I read his book, I sent him an email. He was shocked,” Moore says. “We had lunch and various health care reform approaches for talked about the civil rights movement and what I had been doing. Then I took his course and it was one of the vulnerable populations. Presenters looked best classes I’ve taken at SSA.” at the major historical trends in the devel- moore says that throughout, the School has been what he had hoped it would be. “It’s been humbling to opment of the U.S. health care delivery me to be at SSA. There are some of the smartest people I’ve ever met here, and I’m getting new perspectives system, particularly the development of our and being forced to think hard about how things work,” he says. “That can only benefit me in the long run.” private/public mixed system, and offered a moore isn’t sure which direction his career will go after he graduates at the end of 2009, but his interest new critique on how this broader framing in providing a better life for children has lead to a focus on support for families. “I’m interested in what causes influenced the separate development of disorganization in families, particularly African-American families, and how to mitigate that impact on young the health care safety net. people,” he says. “I may become involved with research that helps influence social policy.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 31 the alumni community

Huberman Heads Alumni Updates Chicago Schools

Joe Loundy, A.M. ’69, was awarded an Center of Oak Park & River Forest at Ron Huberman, A.M. ’00, was alumni service citation by the University the group’s 2009 Spring Gala on May named chief executive officer of the of Chicago this spring for his more than 1. Pyrce has served the organization as Chicago Public Schools on January two decades of work with SSA. A long- board president, volunteer, and commit- 27. Prior to being named CEO, standing volunteer for the School, Loundy tee member. Family Service is a nonprofit Huberman served as the president is an active member of the SSA Visiting mental health, counseling, and youth of the Chicago Transit Authority, as Committee and a member of the SSA (harm) prevention agency. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Centennial chief of staff, and executive director Committee. In January, William Sinunu, A.M. ’93, of the city’s Office of Emergency He also served launched Globally Hip, an organization Management and Communications. as president of trying to eliminate ethnocentrism and In 1995, Huberman joined the the SSA Alumni promote cultural awareness. The organi- Chicago Police Department, serving Association from zation provides online cultural IQ tests, in various capacities. Ron Huberman, A.M. ’00 1998-2003, cultural personality profiles, and programs “We are very pleased to see where he advo- such as cultural coaching and facilitated that a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Social cated and net- sessions. Sinunu has also published two Service Administration will provide the leadership necessary worked actively books: Life Could Be Sweeter in 2005 and to ensure the continued transformation of public education in to help SSA The Sweet Life in 2007. the City of Chicago,” says Jeanne Marsh, Dean of SSA and the Joe Loundy, A.M. ’69 expand its stu- George Herbert Jones Distinguished Service Professor. The founder of SVT Group, Sara Olsen, dent internship placements by 25 percent. As assistant deputy superintendent for the Office of A.M. ‘98, and her business partner loundy also received the Human First Information and Strategic Services, Huberman led the research Brett Galimini were one of 25 finalists Award for his commitment to the issues and development, information services, and records services divi- in BusinessWeek magazine’s “America’s of the GLBT community on March 21 at sions. While working for the police force, he studied at SSA as Most Promising Social Entreprenuers” the Human First Gala, an event to support well as the Chicago Booth School of Business and also earned his contest, out of an entrant field of 200. the programs of Center on Halsted. From master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of SVT is the first advisory firm to specialize 1978 to 1982, Loundy served as chair Chicago. in valuation of non-financial, social, and of the Gay Horizons’ board of directors environmental return on investment, and and later served as the organization’s first clients have used its services to inform executive director. critical business decisions, drive invest- Look and Leave: Photographs and Stories ment toward the greatest positive impact, from New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward, and ensure accountability. by Jane Fulton Alt, A.M. ’75, will be Damian J. Martinez, A.M. ’00, Ph.D. published by the Center for American ’08, edited his first book, How Offenders Places in August. Alt began actively Transform Their Lives, expected to be exploring the visual arts while pursuing released in July 2009 by Willan Publishing. her career as a clinical social worker, and The book discusses prisoners’ needs when she has exhibited nationally and interna- returning to their home communities tionally. Her and explores the rarely researched area work can Student Career Panels of internal identity shifts from prisoner be found SSA wishes to thank the following master’s program alumni who par- to citizen, primarily through qualitative in many ticipated in the Alumni Student Career Panels on February 28. studies. Martinez was recently honored permanent as one of the first recipients of the SAGE collections, Laura Bass, ’08, Sarah Doran-Mudd, ’00 Aida Pigott, ’06 Junior Faculty Professional Development including the Peter Chapman, ’86 Marsha Hahn, ’05 Matt Shaffer, ’07 Teaching Award by SAGE Publications and Museum of Pamela Cook, ’05 Kristen Komara, ’04 Mary Shapley, ’08 the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Fine Arts, D. Michael Coy, ’06 Allison Levine, ’05 Donna Steele, ’97 (ACJS) in an award reception in Boston. Houston, the New Orleans Museum of Kimberly Denten, ’07 Ann Maxwell, ’96 Kelly Waldhoff, ’07 He is an assistant professor at Rutgers Art, and Yale University’s Beinecke Library. University School of Criminal Justice, Janice Pyrce, A.M. ’77 received the Center for Law and Justice, with a joint Read Alumni Reflections online at http://ssacentennial.uchicago. 2009 Rita Johnson Humanitarian Award appointment with the Department of edu/participate. More than 50 alumni submitted reflections of their from Family Service & Mental Health Social Work. time at the School for the Centennial year.

32 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 alumni spotlight b y S a m B a r r e t t

Full House Led by a succession of three SSA grads, Erie Neighborhood House thrives

ound about the end of the day, when streetlights flicker on, the Erie Neighborhood RHouse sees a flurry of activity. Parents pick up their children from the white brick, utilitarian building, and adults hoping for a better future arrive to take nighttime classes. But this is nothing new. Since 1870, Erie House has helped people of all races and backgrounds have a better life. there aren’t many institutions in Chicago’s neighborhoods that have been around for more than 130 years, let alone ones that have grown to add new services and Erie House Executive Director Ricardo Estrada plays with students at the agency’s early childhood remain relevant to the community. development center. That takes a blend of vision, knowledge, compassion, and attention mon denominator is that it’s all Ravelo, who graduated with a profit: The Little Village Immigrant to details. It’s one reason that the about education,” Estrada says. master’s from the School in 1977. Resource Center, an Erie House last three executive directors at Erie over the past several years, “And I said, ‘Why would you want extension that will offer many of House have been SSA graduates. the West Town neighborhood in that? I think I have a better sug- the same services as its West Town “It matters to have gone to which Erie House is located has gestion for you. SSA will give you counterpart, but with an emphasis SSA if you’re going to be in social gentrified, diminishing the orga- that and a lot more. You can go in on leadership programs and legal work in this city,” says Ricardo nization’s ability to offer service any direction you want to go with services. The hope is to open in two Estrada, executive director of to the disenfranchised. Five years a degree from SSA.’” years, and nearly $1 million of the Erie House since 2003 and a 1993 ago, Erie House began working ravelo stepped down as $4 million needed to build the cen- graduate of the master’s program with the Little Village Development executive director after being ter has been raised. at the School. He acknowledges Corporation to also provide services diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s But Estrada isn’t content with that keeping an organization like in that largely low-income Latino lymphoma, naming Erie’s associ- that project to keep Erie House Erie House going in the right direc- community. ate executive director, and fellow relevant. He and his staff are con- tion is a demanding endeavor. But Rafael Ravelo, executive SSA alum, Esther Nieves as his sidering how to foster a culture of the skills he learned at SSA, as well director at Erie from 1985 to 1997, successor. “I feel very humbled literacy in the community, for exam- as the School’s network, make the currently serves as senior advisor to to have been the director,” says ple, including a study into whether course navigable. the organization, with an empha- Nieves, who left in 2003 to earn introducing the importance of read- established in the settlement sis on the collaborations in Little a second master’s degree in ing to young mothers in the mater- house tradition, Erie House evolved Village. During his tenure, Ravelo international non-governmental nity ward would have an impact. into one of the first comprehensive oversaw the expansion of the Erie management from New York It’s an idea that would mix research, social service agencies in Chicago. House child care and the adult University. Currently, she is the community-level intervention, and Today, it serves more than 5,000 education programs, as well as the national director of immigrant and new thinking—in other words, a people a year, with a budget of development of a community tech- refugee rights for the American very SSA idea. more than $8 million annually, a nology center. In the early 1990s, Friends Service Committee, a It’s much too soon for Estrada staff of 160, and a wide array of when Estrada first worked at Erie Quaker-based organization with to consider stepping down as child care and after-school pro- House, it was Ravelo who con- headquarters in Philadelphia. executive director, but he does offer grams and adult education classes vinced him to get a master’s degree Despite Ravelo’s grim prog- one hint as to what he’ll look for in like technology training or English in social work from SSA. nosis, he returned to Erie House a candidate for his demanding job as a second language. Erie House “He came to me and said he after a brief recovery. His advice when that time comes: “I can say also founded a local elementary was going to go and get a psychol- has been instrumental in the next that the person will have a master’s charter school in 2005. “The com- ogy degree someplace,” recalls big project underway at the non- in social work.”

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 33 faculty notes

Chicago Women’s lege search research and speak on important Urban Informality in Philadelphia’s and applica- issues in social work and social justice Recovery House Movement” at Alliance Group tion process. during the first part of the 2008/09 the International Sociological To commemorate Jane Addams Day The conversa- school year. Association Research Committee on and SSA’s Centennial, the School’s tion explored Dean and George Herbert Urban and Regional Development in Dean and George Herbert Jones how high Jones Distinguished Service Professor Tokyo, Japan on December 18. Distinguished Service Professor schools and Jeanne C. Marsh delivered “Seeing Associate Professor Waldo Jeanne C. Marsh and the Chicago communities Eye to Eye: Human Perception in Johnson delivered the keynote can help close Vision and Service Delivery” with address, “Diversity Lessons Learned Women’s Alliance Group held an Susan Lambert event at the Holland & Knight law the aspira- Eliakim Hastings Professor Steven but Unheard: Insights from the firm on December 10 that honored tions/attain- Shevell to the University of Chicago Empirical Research and the Field,” the University of Chicago’s Pioneering ment gap for today’s youth. Alumni Club of Japan, in Tokyo, Japan for the Child Care Association of Women. on November 23, Lambert on October 15, as well as “Quality Illinois Fall Meeting in Lisle, Ill. and The event gave a lecture titled, “The Hidden Treatment for Women: Special, participated in a roundtable discus- examined col- Reality of Hourly Jobs” in Milwaukee, Tailored, or Matched Services” at the sion, “Crafting a Research Career” laborations focusing on how front-line managers Addiction Health Services Research at the Annual Program Meeting between Jane maintain the link between consumer Conference in Boston on October 21. of the Council on Social Work Addams, demand variations and labor costs in on December 11 Associate Education. Edith Abbott, low-level, hourly jobs in the transpor- Professor Robert Chaskin was At the 2nd annual Illinois Sophonisba tation, retail, hospitality, and financial a panelist for Chapin Hall’s event Youth and HIV/AIDS Forum spon- Breckinridge, services industries. She also discussed “Thursday’s Child: Location, Location, sored by The Children’s Place and Grace Jeanne Marsh “hidden realities” that interfere with Location: Combating Urban Poverty Association at the Chicago Cultural Abbott and worker’s ability to access social ben- Through Place-Based Initiatives,” Center on February 27, Associate their contributions to policy, practice, efits. The Harper lectures, named for which discussed how initiatives that Professor Dexter Voisin presented and research. The Chicago Women’s the University’s founding president integrate services for high-need young shared research about teenagers’ Alliance Group is an organization of William Rainey Harper, bring faculty people can complement comprehen- responses to message initiatives and women 45 or older who are alum- to speak to alumni communities. sive neighborhood development work. programs to increase awareness nae, faculty, or researchers for the Frank P. Hixon Professor Charles about HIV/AIDS. University of Chicago. Payne spoke on October 29 at the Norton Receives Union League of Chicago as part of New Publication Service Award the Chicago Schools Policy Luncheon Lambert and sponsored by the Business and from Walsh Samuel Roderick at Harper Professional People for the Public In December, Guilford Press pub- Deutsch Interest. The luncheon series topic, “Is lished the Lecture Series Professor Great Teaching Enough?” was inspired second Dolores As part of the University’s Harper by new research by the Consortium edition of “Dodie” Lecture series, Associate Professor on Chicago School Research. the 2003 Norton Susan Lambert and Hermon Dunlap Associate Professor Evelyn book received a ser- Smith Professor Melissa Roderick Brodkin presented two research Spiritual vice award in spoke to alumni and friends of the papers at the Annual Research Resources the fall from School. Conference of the Association for in Family Bryn Mawr Dolores Norton Roderick Public Policy Analysis & Management Therapy College, her presented in Los Angeles in November, “Choice by SSA Froma Walsh alma mater, where she is a Trustee “Potholes on and Constraint in Street-Level Mose and Emerita. Norton was honored for her the Road to Practice: How Organizations Make Sylvia Firestone Professor Emerita historical legacy and contributions College” on the ‘Real World’ of Workfare” and Froma Walsh. Walsh was invited to the School over the course of her November 9 “Organizations, Exclusion, and to give the plenary address and career. in Ann Arbor, Welfare: Administration and Access to workshops at the International Mich. discuss- Benefits.” Congress: An Investigation into Melissa Roderick ing her multi- Faculty Speaking In December, Assistant Professor Psychology in Michoacan, Mexico, year research Robert Fairbanks presented a and at the International Congress project on how first-generation college The SSA faculty has been involved in research paper titled, “Bodies Is on Family and Crisis in Castellon, students struggle to navigate the col- a number of events to present their What Makes It Work: Statecraft and Spain.

34 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 in memoriam

Margaret Rosenheim

Former SSA Professor Walter Walker Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at Margaret Rosenheim, former died on November 11, 2008, end- the University of Chicago. dean of SSA, died on February 2, ing his more than 30-year battle with 2009 at the age of 82. A pioneer- multiple sclerosis. An advocate of the Miriam Elson, AM ’42, a lecturer at ing scholar who combined an inter- handicapped, Walker was the president SSA from 1980 to 1994 and a clinical est in child welfare with training of Lemoyne-Owen College until 1986 social worker for 58 years, died on May law, Rosenheim was among the and vice president at the University of 6, 2009 at her Chicago home. She was first faculty to receive the Norman Tennessee until 1991. He grew up in 99. Elson played an important role in Maclean Faculty Award, which is Chicago and attended the University establishing the field of clinical social given to emeritus and senior faculty of Chicago as an undergraduate. work. She developed model field place- for outstanding contributions to After earning his master’s degree at ment programs and had an abundant teaching and the student experi- the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work, impact on the Illinois Children’s Home ence on campus. he received his Ph.D. from the Heller and Aid Society, where she headed throughout her career, School at Brandeis University. At SSA, their adoption division, and the student Rosenheim was an advocate for a in addition to his tenure as a profes- mental health clinic at the University of system of non-judicial interventions sor, he also served as vice-president for Chicago, where she served for 23 years. to deal with troubled adolescents. planning. elson published widely, includ- She was the author, editor, and co-author of numerous books and articles about ing two classic books, Self Psychology juvenile justice and child policy, including A Century of Juvenile Justice and The University of Chicago’s long- in Clinical Social Work and The Kohut Children Harmed and Harmful: Risk in the Public World of Childhood. time director of the Office of Special Seminars, which introduced Heinz rosenheim received her J.D. in 1949 from the University of Chicago Law Programs and College Preparation, Kohut’s idea of “the psychology of School, where she met her husband, Edward Rosenheim, the David B. and Larry Hawkins, died on January 30, the self” to the field of clinical social Clara E. Stern Professor in English, who died in 2005. From 1969-72, she was 2009 at the age of 78. Hawkins part- work. She was honored with many the director of the Center for the Study of Welfare Policy and was director nered with SSA on many community awards, including SSA’s Edith Abbott of the Center for the Study of Welfare Policy at SSA from 1969-72. In 1975, programs and initiatives. In 1972, he Award for Career Distinction and the Rosenheim was named the Helen Ross Professor of Social Welfare Policy. She founded the Institute for Athletics and Lifetime Contributions Award from the served as dean of SSA from 1978-83, before retiring in 1996. Education, an advocacy organization International Council for Psychoanalytic promoting a healthy balance between Self-Psychology. A scholarship at the sports and education, and in 1991, School in her name and that of her late he founded Space Explorers, a science husband, Alex Elson, a prominent law- ’69. After beginning her career as a School System as a prevention/interven- enrichment program that connected yer and labor arbitrator, was established medical social worker at the University tion specialist. of Chicago Hospital, Patterson held underserved students with the scientists by friends. Kiyo N. Finucane, A.M. ’96, died on various management administrative of the Kavli Institute. He was hon- December 11, 2009 at the age of 91 in positions at several social service orga- ored last December with the Diversity SSA has recently learned of the death of her home in Columbia, Md. Finucane nizations, including Youth Guidance. Leadership Staff Award, as an “exem- Jack R. Hegrenes, A.M. ’60. was a resident of the Washington, D.C., Most recently, she worked as an plary leader” in the efforts to support area for more than 60 years, where she independent management consultant diversity at the University. James Wagner, A.M. ’68 died on first moved to work with disabled chil- providing strategic planning, orga- January 10, 2009. He started his profes- dren and adults at Gallinger Hospital. In nizational, program, board and staff Harold A. Jambor, A.M. ’39, died on sional career as a Chicago Public School 1961, she joined the Crittenton Home, management, and diversity awareness December 28, 2008. He is survived by teacher, then became education director counseling unwed mothers and girls training. his daughter. at the Chicago Urban League, then the with behavioral problems. She retired dean of students at the School of Public in 1980. SSA has recently learned of the death Ben Meeker, A.M. ’40, died on Health at the University of Illinois. After Finucane attended SSA in 1939 of Thelma Wagner, A.M. ’80. March 8, 2009 at the age of 97. his retirement, he nurtured the return of after attending Occidental College in Meeker helped establish the Federal jazz to Hyde Park. In 2007, Wagner and Lester Brown, A.M. ’71, Ph.D. ’80 Los Angeles. The start of WWII ended Probation Training Center in Chicago, associates partnered with the University died on February 16, 2009. Brown her time at the School, as she had to and won the Doyle Award from the of Chicago and the Hyde Park Cultural was a professor in the Department take care of her widowed mother and Federal Probation Officers Association alliance to create the Hyde Park Jazz of Social Work at California State younger siblings, who had been placed in 1964 and the Halpern Award from Festival. In 2008, the festival’s main University at Long Beach. in an internment camp in Wyoming. the National Council on Crime and stage was named in his honor. In 1996, the University of Chicago and Delinquency in 1967. After retiring from Beverly Avery, A.M. ’83, died Dean Jeanne C. Marsh reviewed her law enforcement in 1973, he worked SSA has recently learned of the death February 2, 2009. A resident of academic records and awarded her a for 10 years as an administrator for the of Irma Jean Ellis Patterson, A.M. Atlanta, Avery worked for the DeKalb master’s degree in social work.

www.ssa.uchicago.edu | 35 behind the numbers B y s c o t t w . a l l a r d

may be determined by a need to be recent decrease in funding at the time Weaving a Better Net close to a trained workforce, program of my interviews also reported reduc- To truly help low-income families, partners, fee-paying clients, donors, and ing staff levels, the range of services INSPIRED, DEDICATED, HOPEFUL. volunteers. Some agencies may want to offered, numbers of clients served, or distance clients from their home neigh- even temporarily closing the facility. policymakers should focus on local borhoods to preserve anonymity and protect from the stigma associated with Moving Forward social service delivery seeking help. The success of recently proposed A lack of access to service pro- federal strategies for reducing poverty grams, however, is likely to lead to ultimately rest on the strength of local ebate about policy local agencies to provide assistance at lower program take-up, failure to fol- nonprofit service organizations. responses to the cur- the street-level. Because the capacity low through on referrals, and higher For example, for transitional rent recession offers an of local social service organizations rates of program attrition. Greater job and employment training pro- opportunity to reflect varies by region, city, and town, the distances means more difficult com- grams to be effective they should be Dupon how the safety net helps low- American safety net actually is a con- mutes and less information about avail- located within reasonable commut- income Americans and how we might strengthen it. Popular impressions of assistance often are of welfare cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) or food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance annual public and private expenditures for social service programs Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). These important programs account for only a small por- tion of safety net spending, though. today’s safety net delivers much1 50 billion more assistance through social service ing distances of low-skill job-seekers. programs that support efforts to find glomeration of tens of thousands of able programs. Simply put, inadequate Effects of programs intended to and keep a job, cope with job loss, care unique local safety nets. This makes access to service providers can be tanta- strengthen parenting and engage for children, or address various health, our safety net responsive to local mount to being denied assistance in the non-custodial fathers will likely vary substance abuse, and mental health needs and preferences, but it also current safety net. according to their availability in neigh- problems. While we spent roughly $50 inhibits efforts to coordinate programs, Safety net programs are also less borhoods where needs are great- billion on TANF and SNAP in 2008, in minimize duplication, or respond swift- predictable sources of support than is est. Accomplishments of President my recent book Out of Reach: Place, ly to widespread increases in poverty typically understood, and agencies are Obama’s Office of Faith-Based and Poverty, and the New American Welfare or changes in the economy. most vulnerable right at the moment Neighborhood Partnerships will rest State I estimate that we spend $150 moreover, local variation can lead when stable support is most neces- on the strength and sustainability of billion each year on social service pro- to safety net assistance that is inacces- sary. Government revenues, private local organizations. Likewise, neigh- grams. sible to the poor. For Out of Reach, I endowments, and charitable giving borhood investment through pro- the disconnect between popular interviewed nearly 1,500 public and decline during economic downturns. grams like the Promise Neighborhoods conceptions and the reality of safety nonprofit service organizations in met- About 40 percent of service providers initiative will yield results only where net assistance not only distorts political ropolitan Chicago, Los Angeles, and I interviewed reported decreases in at there is adequate nonprofit service rhetoric and policy debate, it leads us to Washington, D.C. I found high-poverty least one of five key funding sources in delivery infrastructure. look past important structural features neighborhoods (poverty rate over the years following the recession that By ensuring local service provid- of the safety net that impede our ability 20 percent) to have about one-third began in 2001. Given the severity of ers are accessible and stable sources to successfully deliver programs of assis- as much access to a variety of social today’s economic conditions, we should of support, we can offer better help tance. services as low-poverty neighborhoods expect the percentage of agencies to those in need and help the country (poverty rate less than 10 percent). reporting lost funds today to be much emerge quickly from the economic Inherent Localness Why are there fewer service pro- higher. challenges ahead. of the Safety Net viders in or near high-poverty areas? less reliable revenue flows gener- Unlike cash assistance, most social ser- Perhaps first and foremost, high-pov- ally lead to less predictable services. Scott W. Allard is an associate vice programs cannot be delivered to erty communities often lack quality, Seven out of ten government and non- professor in the School of Social clients in their homes, relying instead on affordable office space. Location also profit service agencies that reported a Service Administration.

36 | SSA Magazine Spring 2009 INSPIRED, DEDICATED, HOPEFUL.

These words describe students who come to The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration to prepare for a career dedicated to improving society. As one of the nation’s oldest and preeminent graduate schools of social work research and analysis, SSA educates its students by promoting a deeper understanding of the causes and human costs of social inequities.

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