Working with entire communities and organizations might seem overwhelming, due to the large number of people involved. Where do you begin? It might be a relief to know that the GIM is just as useful to social workers practicing at the macro level as it is for those practicing at the micro and mezzo levels. In fact, you begin the process in the same way with proper engagement and the appropriate form of assessment before enacting an intervention. Successful engagement and assessment depends on strong interpersonal skills, regardless of the level of intervention. In some respects, skills such as empathy, warmth, genuineness, and general rapport-building are the same for macro work as they are for micro and mezzo work—they just may be applied in a different way. In other respects, this level of intervention depends on additional skills not often identified as social work-related, including negotiating, mediating, assessing, and budgeting. How might you utilize these skills when engaging and assessing communities? A competent and successful social work policy practitioner is able to meld these skills. This is of particular necessity when the goal is social change.
For this Assignment, review this week’s Resources. Refer to the community you selected for this week’s Discussion. Then imagine that you have been assigned to complete a needs assessment and identify potential resources for this community. You elected to interview key informants as one form of assessing this community. Consider who you would contact as a key informant for this community. Finally, think about how you might engage the informant to obtain the community details to complete your needs assessment.
Assignment: (2- to 4-page paper in APA format).
Your paper should include the following:
- A description of the community you selected
- A description of the key informants you would contact within that community
- An explanation of why you would contact the key informants you selected
- An explanation of the skills you might use to engage these informants to obtain the community details to complete your needs assessment and explain why you chose those skills.
Support your Assignment with specific references to the Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
*PLEASE BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE RUBRIC & ALSO INCLUDE TITLES FOR EACH SECTION OF THE PAPER IN REFERENCE TO WHAT IS TO BE INCLUDED AS INDICATED ABOVE. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR HARD WORK!!
| Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Responsiveness to Directions |
27 (27%) – 30 (30%) Paper fully addresses all instruction prompts. |
24 (24%) – 26.97 (26.97%) Paper addresses most of the instruction prompts; however, one or more prompts may have been insufficiently addressed. |
21 (21%) – 23.97 (23.97%) Paper addresses some of the instructions prompts, but may have missed several prompts or did not sufficiently address the majority of prompts. |
0 (0%) – 20.97 (20.97%) Paper does not address the majority of instruction prompts and/or insufficiently addresses all instruction prompts. |
| Content |
36 (36%) – 40 (40%) Paper demonstrates an excellent understanding of all of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and Learning Resources. Paper provides significant detail including multiple relevant examples, evidence from the readings and other sources, and discerning ideas. Paper demonstrates exemplary critical thought. |
32 (32%) – 35.96 (35.96%) Paper demonstrates a good understanding of most of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and Learning Resources. Paper includes moderate detail, evidence from the readings, and discerning ideas. Paper demonstrates good critical thought. |
28 (28%) – 31.96 (31.96%) Paper demonstrates a fair understanding of the concepts and key points as presented in the text(s) and Learning Resources. Paper may be lacking in detail and specificity and/or may not include sufficient pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence from the readings. Paper demonstrates some critical thought. |
0 (0%) – 27.96 (27.96%) Paper demonstrates poor understanding of the concepts and key points of the text(s) and Learning Resources. Paper is missing detail and specificity and/or does not include any pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence from the readings. Paper demonstrates poor critical thought. |
| Writing |
27 (27%) – 30 (30%) Paper is well organized, uses scholarly tone, follows APA style, uses original writing and proper paraphrasing, contains very few or no writing and/or spelling errors, and is fully consistent with graduate level writing style. Paper contains multiple, appropriate and exemplary sources expected/required for the assignment. |
24 (24%) – 26.97 (26.97%) Paper is mostly consistent with graduate level writing style. Paper may have some small or infrequent organization, scholarly tone, or APA style issues, and/or may contain a few writing and spelling errors, and/or somewhat less than the expected number of or type of sources. |
21 (21%) – 23.97 (23.97%) Paper is somewhat below graduate level writing style, with multiple smaller or a few major problems. Paper may be lacking in organization, scholarly tone, APA style, and/or contain many writing and/or spelling errors, or shows moderate reliance on quoting vs. original writing and paraphrasing. Paper may contain inferior resources (number or quality). |
0 (0%) – 20.97 (20.97%) Paper is well below graduate level writing style expectations for organization, scholarly tone, APA style, and writing, or relies excessively on quoting. Paper may contain few or no quality resources. |
*This is my response to the neighborhood I selected from my discussion question as indicated in the assignment’s directions:
Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2018) state that in order to understand the community it is important to first gather information, which helps paint a complete picture of the community. In order to do complete needs assessment, one needs to look at the following:
Demographic factors: age, gender, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds of residents.
Economic factors: sources of income, income of residents, housing costs, and patterns of home ownership.
Communication systems: major avenues of communications among community members.
Social service organizations: know about the range and social services available to community.
Civic/service organizations: provide common-building, financial, social and political functions.
Health and medical services: medical care, prevention services, long-term care.
The community that I selected is located in Baton Rouge, LA and is a neighborhood called South Baton Rouge or Old South Baton Rouge, which consists of the great McKinley Senior High School, Buchanan Elementary, Polk Elementary, McKinley Middle Magnet, Leo S. Butler Community Center, McKinley Alumni Center, amongst lots of homes, corner stores, abandoned houses also Louisiana State University (LSU), and some eateries. The community stretches from Government Street to River Road, all of the local elementary, middle, and high schools are within walking distance of the homes and small businesses within that community. It is great to have these community stores because it is convenient for children to grab a bite to eat either before or after school. Also, it is a good source of income for both the businesses and provides some jobs for local students and residents of South Baton Rouge. In addition, the businesses have fundraisers, which allow the local schools to gain some funds as well.
However, the only challenge for the community is that since the schools are within walking distance, it becomes an unnecessary hangout and a few times there have been a few fights outside the stores. Also, many times students may want to hangout and eat there because friend are theres and this bears extra cost for parents and also puts the parent in financial duress if they do not have the money. Nevertheless, even though this community has its challenges especially crime, it can be identified as strength because many times meeting at one of these businesses is a way for students to reconnect. Also, if there is a time that a fight does break out it is in the witness of many people and they are able to stop the situation from escalating. Lastly, since this community is so close to the school and does have its challenges, I would suggest working with the other business and see whether there is another community that can be opened at one of the stores for supporting students with after school activities such as homework, community resource classes which would help student learn about mentorships and projects that students can help with. I feel that these students are our future and if good seeds in them now, then how will they bloom?
References
Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H., Jr. (2018). Understanding generalist practice (8th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
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