Social Welfare Projects Research Articles

The Politics of Empowerment

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in a component of social work and community development practice that has not received wide attention since the 1960s: the of low-income populations. Although to poor people have traditionally been associated with liberal reformers, recent calls for its use have come from an ideologically diverse group of policymakers and funders seeking solutions to social problems including poverty, drug abuse, and crime. In an ironic turn of events, conservative Republicans have been among the most vocal and enthusiastic of its recent proponents. Members of the Bush administration repeatedly used as a central theme in their speeches on urban issues, with Vice President Dan Quayle calling the heart of the Republican agenda (DeParle & Appelbome, 1991). Former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp declared that his vision for a new War on Poverty could be summarized in one word: empowerment. And President Bush regularly maintained that his domestic proposals would empower people to make their own decisions and control their own destinies (DeParle & Appelbome, 1991, p. A18). The Republicans have not been alone in their interest; the Clinton administration has also picked up the theme. In his first State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton pledged to the whole focus of our poverty programs from entitlement to (President's Address, 1993, p. A14). He has described a goal of his National Service program as the of young people and has promoted an urban development initiative that funds economic planning and social services in neighborhood empowerment zones (DeParle, 1993). Other recent supporters of strategies have been foundation and corporate funders. Over the past few years millions of dollars in grant money has been offered from sources including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Prudential Insurance Company, and the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) for social welfare projects that and develop the capacity of low-income populations to solve community problems. Does carry the same meaning among these diverse advocates? Many of the social welfare professionals who are attempting to respond to calls for the implementation of and capacity-building strategies are, not surprisingly, perplexed. They have few sources on which to draw to clarify the definitions and methods of programs that low-income groups - a situation due in part to the variety of voices calling for their use and to a paucity of information in the literature on their recent use in social work. Meanwhile, the number of foundations and federal granting agencies that are requesting the incorporation of strategies into community programming make such information imperative. This article describes how has been defined by the social work community and discusses how the concept is currently being interpreted and applied by various policymakers. Community Development and Empowerment in Social Welfare As a mode of social welfare planning, community development involves efforts made by professionals and community residents to enhance the social bonds among members of the community, motivate the citizens for self-help, develop responsible local leadership, and create or revitalize local institutions (Barker, 1991, p. 43). With the goal of improving the social, physical, or economic conditions of a neighborhood or community, the development process consists of two core intervention components: promoting the participation of community members in the change process with a focus on self-initiative and providing technical assistance to enable leadership development. Defining Empowerment Empowerment represents a means for accomplishing community development tasks and can be conceptualized as involving two key elements: giving community members the authority to make decisions and choices and facilitating the development of the knowledge and resources necessary to exercise these choices. …

An Experiment in Community Involvement in Family Planning in a Metropolitan Slum

This book is about the continuing social welfare project begun in 1964 by the Streehitakarini institution in a metropolitan Bombay slum the objective of the project being to organize and develop an integrated program of family life education maternity and child welfare and related social services with a view to the increasing of family planning acceptance in the area. The project was begun with a medical clinic which then extended to preventive medicine nutrition a sports club for the children health education the employment of women from the community to work in the program and finally the extension into family planning services which is the main thrust of this book. The emphasis of this project is on comprehensivity and involvement of the community. The book contains a description of the development and management of the problems and workings of the program through its progressive stages. Tables as well as data from surveys and records are included in the text.

Contracts and Outcome in Foster Care

Journal Article Contracts and Outcome in Foster Care Get access Theodore J. Stein, DSW, Theodore J. Stein, DSW is Lecturer in Social Welfare and Alameda Project Director School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley.University of California, Berkeley, Children's Homes Society, Oakland, California. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Eileen D. Gambrill, Ph.D., Eileen D. Gambrill, Ph.D. Associate Professor School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Kermit T. Wlltse, DSW Kermit T. Wlltse, DSW Professor School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Work, Volume 22, Issue 2, March 1977, Pages 148–149, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/22.2.148 Published: 01 March 1977

Jobs and Housing: Alternative Developments in the Venezuelan Guayana

The appraisal of development projects is often complicated by the fact that they rarely occur in isolation. In Latin America, the effectiveness of public housing programs and the reactions of the people involved are, as a rule, bound up with the whole complex of heterogeneous developments we call “urbanization.” And when public housing reaches the villages, it typically goes hand in hand with agrarian reform. This is generally the case in Venezuela, where large public housing schemes have been in operation since 1958.Consequently it is difficult to disentangle and then evaluate the impact of industrialization per se from social infrastructure development in the towns, or agrarian reform per se from social infrastructure development in the villages. The Guayana region of Venezuela is one of the few areas where a production-oriented project and a social welfare project have operated discretely, but within a uniform socioeconomic context.

Social Welfare Activities in Bahrain

In several issues of AI-Raida, we reported on the increasing interest in social welfare projects which distinguishes the State of Bahrain.