Discussion: Developing Political Strategies In this week’s resources, you explore the stories of Susana and the Bradley family. They are all in situations that need social work intervention and advocacy. What political strategies would you use to enact policies developed to assist these individuals?   In this Discussion, you develop political strategies to address one…

Discussion: Using Power in Social Work Practice Politics represents efforts by people in governmental and nongovernmental settings to secure their policy wishes by developing and using power resources. —Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice (8th ed.) Social workers are in the business of empowering people. They are…

Week 7: Presenting and Defending Policy Proposals Changes are products of intensive efforts. —Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty As a professional social worker and policy advocate, you will be called upon to make a difference in the lives of those who need assistance and can benefit from…

Week 8: Developing and Using Power Power and politics have a bad reputation among some [social work] professionals, who regard them as unseemly, even unethical. However, power and politics can often be used for ethical purposes, and each of us can develop and use power resources to help stigmatized groups and unpopular causes. (Jansson, 8th…

Project: Part 2: Putting Social Advocacy Skills into Action Writing a proposal that functions as a focus of change is a significant part of being a social worker/policy advocate. This is your opportunity to use your advocacy skills to change and improve the lives of others.   In this Assignment, you write a proposal for…

Discussion: Policy Proposals In your reading for this week, you meet Jose and Iris, two individuals who are in situations that require assistance and guidance from a professional social worker and policy advocate.   In this Discussion, create a policy proposal that will impact the situations faced by either Jose or Iris. Describe the trade-offs…

Week 6: Developing Policy Proposals Early in the process, policy advocates have to establish policy goals . . . Do they want basic change or incremental change? . . . What points of a proposal are most important to them? . . . What style of approach will be most effective? —Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming…

Week 5: Building an Agenda Experienced policy advocates realize that their first challenge is to get a specific policy issue on decision makers’ agendas in agency, community, or legislative settings. —Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice (8th ed.) When you have committed yourself to an issue and…

Small Group Discussion: Policy Agendas There are challenges to agenda building that if not dealt with carefully and skillfully can adversely affect an issue or a proposal that you are trying to place in front of a decision maker. On the other hand, no matter how expertly you build an agenda for your issue or…

Discussion: Policy Process and Public Opinion Managing public opinion and understanding the balance between its influence and your advocacy goals is a delicate matter. It is a task fraught with uncertainty because, as a policy advocate, you must navigate through the territory of politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists whose primary goals are to appease and please…