Community Practice an Introduction

1 Community Practice An Introduction Social: adj . of or relating to society or its organization.1 President Obama started his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, where he saw fi rsthand what people can do when they come together for a common cause. (Briefi ng Room, Th e B l o g . C h a n g e h a s c o m e t o W h i t e H o u s e . g o v , Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm.) Social work is community practice. Community primary purpose of helping , and (3) place envi- is a synonym for social. It is necessary for all ronmental modifi cation and the provision of social workers: generalists, specialists, therapists, concrete services on an equal plane with direct, and activists. Th e Oxford Encyclopedic English face-to-face interventions with clients” (Italics Dictionary (p. 1377) defi nes social as “1. of or added, p. 59). Indeed, as this text illustrates, relating to society or its organization, 2. con- social work practice is using the community and cerned with the mutual relations of human naturally occurring and socially constructed beings or classes of human beings. 3. living in networks within the social environment to pro- organized communities; unfi tted for a solitary vide social supports. life. .” Although usually associated with com- Th is chapter provides an overview of community organization, social action, social plan- munity practice with our conception of commu- ning (Rothman & Tropman, 1987 ; Wells & nity practice as social work practice, reviews the Gamble, 1995 ), and other macro-practice activi- importance of community practice knowledge ties, direct service and clinical social workers are and skill for all social workers, describes the community practitioners if they make client generic social work community problem-solving referrals, assess community resources, develop strategy and its use in community practice by client social support systems, and advocate to clinical and community social workers, and crit- policymakers for programs to meet clients’ ically examines the ethical imperatives and con- needs. straints of community practice. Social work’s ecological perspective is about community. Whittaker, Garbarino, and associ- Community Practice ates ( 1983 ) persuasively argued that “the ecological-systems perspective . will compel us to do Community practice applies practice skills to several things: (1) view the client and the situa- alter the behavioral patterns of community tion — the ‘ecological unit’ — as the proper focus groups, organizations, and institutions or peo- for assessment and intervention, (2) see the ple’s relationships and interactions with the com- teaching of environmental coping skills as the munity structures. Netting, Kettner, and Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 1 EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 9/9/2015 2:42 PM via COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA AN: 357093 ; Hardcastle, David A., Powers, Patricia R., Wenocur, Stanley.; Community Practice : Theories and Skills for Social Workers Account: s8889607 2 Community Practice: An Introduction McMurtry ( 1993 ) conceive of community prac- relationships (Butcher, Banks, & Henderson with tice as part of macropractice, which they defi ne Robertson, 2007 ; Delgado & Staples, 2008 ; as the “professional directed intervention Hardina, 2002 ; Mancini, Bowens, & Martin, designed to bring about planned change in 2005 ). Ross ( 1967 ), an early pioneer of bringing organizations and communities” (p. 3). community organization into social work, con- Community practice as macropractice includes ceived of community organization as “a process the skills associated with community organiza- by which a community identifi es its needs or tion and development, social planning and social objectives, orders (or ranks) these needs or action, and social administration. objectives, develops the confi dence and will to Community practice involves a set of cogni- work at these needs or objectives, fi nds the tive, analytic, and sorting skills, plus the ability resources (internal and/or external) to deal with of the worker to secure commitments and estab- these needs or objectives, takes action in respect lish partnerships. Th ink of priority setting, dele- to them, and in so doing extends and develops gation and problem sharing, problem solving, cooperative and collaborative attitudes and prac- assessment, and contracting. tices in the community” (p. 28). Social planning, a subset of community • Community practice requires the abilities organization, addresses the development and of looking, listening, fi nding, and theory coordination of community agencies and serv- building. ices to meet community functions and responsi- • Community practice entails persuasion, rep- bilities and to provide for its members. Social resentation, and reframing to allow social action, another community organization subset, workers to deal with diff erent agendas when involves practices and strategies to develop, working with individuals and groups and in redistribute, and control community statuses communities. and resources, including social power, and to • Community practice necessitates organiza- change community relations and behavior pat- tional, management, and group skills. terns to promote the development or redistribu- • Community practice calls for interactive, tion of community resources. responsive, and socially oriented skills of Well and Gamble ( 1995 ) elaborate this basic public information, collaboration, and inter- tripartite community practice prototype into an organizational tasks such as networking, social eight-component model that combines practice marketing, and public information. acts or the doing with the purposes of the prac- • Community practice requires social action, tice. Th e unifying features of their inventory are evaluation, advocacy, and lobbying skills. purpose and objectives. Community practice’s • Community practice demands a strong com- purpose is “empowerment-based interventions mitment to social justice and client and com- to strengthen participation in democratic munity empowerment. processes, assist groups and communities in • Community practice requires the ability to advocating for their basic needs and organizing learn new theories and skills as needed. for social justice, and improve the eff ectiveness and responsiveness of human services systems” Community intervention, like clinical (p. 577). Community practice’s objectives are to: intervention, is complex in terms of the circum- stances of those needing help and in terms • develop the organizing skills and abilities of of professional performance challenges or use individuals and groups of self. • make social planning more accessible and Community organization and the related inclusive in a community community development are the practices of • connect social and economic involvement to helping a community or part of a community, grassroots community groups such as a neighborhood or a group of people • advocate for broad coalitions in solving with a common interest, to become a more community problems eff ective, effi cient, and supportive social envi- • infuse the social planning process with a ronment for nurturing people and their social concern for social justice (p. 577) Copyright © 2011. Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 9/9/2015 2:42 PM via COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA AN: 357093 ; Hardcastle, David A., Powers, Patricia R., Wenocur, Stanley.; Community Practice : Theories and Skills for Social Workers Account: s8889607 Community Practice: An Introduction 3 Th e model’s eight practice domains are (a) distribution of the community’s physical, eco- neighborhood and community organizing, (b) nomic, and other social resources for social jus- organizing functional communities, (c) commu- tice under the profession’s ethical code (National nity social and economic development, (d) social Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008 ). planning, (e) program development and com- Th e macro social worker and the direct serv- munity liaison, (f) political and social action, (g) ice or clinical social worker can diff er in perspec- coalitions building and maintenance, and (h) tive. Th e community organizer assumes that if social movements (Well & Gamble, 1995, pp. the community (its organizations, institutions, 580–589). Hardina ( 2002 , pp. 2–3) expands the and behavior patterns) functions more eff ec- practice domains into more specifi c skills such tively and is responsive to its members, they will as budgeting, grant-writing, and a wide range of be healthier and happier. Th e direct service prac- research skills. Hardina ( 2002 ) also includes titioner tends to view the community as a sup- analytic skills of power analysis, needs assess- portive or potentially supportive resource for a ment, and political analysis. specifi c client or a class of clients, with commu- While these domains and skills are not mutu- nity change eff orts designed to improve the com- ally exclusive, the schemata expand the scope of munity for these clients. In attempting to improve community practice. More importantly, they the quality of life for individual clients, the social

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