Social justice, community change, diverse democracy: New strategies for community organization?

What should a social work school do to prepare students for community practice in a society that is becoming more segregated and more diverse?

Society is changing and, as it does, its changes challenge social work educators to rethink what it will take to prepare students for the future. American society is becoming both more segregated and more diverse in its population—for example, it will not be long before people of African, Asian, and Latin American descent together become the majority - which raises new questions, as posed in the following example.

Strengthening diversity

Many metropolitan areas (e.g., Chicago, New York, Jerusalem, Johannesburg) are changing in their racial and ethnic population patterns. Whereas once it was common to view these areas as "segregated," today they are becoming "segregated and diverse." As they do, how should we think about "challenging injustice," "strengthening diversity," and "creating change"?

For example, metropolitan Detroit is among the nation's most segregated metropolitan areas according to the 2010 Census, but there also is diversity. The city is 80 percent African American and suburbs are 85 percent White, but there are smaller suburban areas that are increasing in people of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American descent.

Young people in metropolitan Detroit are aware of segregation and its injustices. They want to reach out to and connect with those who are different from themselves, but because they attend segregated schools in segregated communities, they are limited in doing so.

In response, a team of faculty members, in collaboration with the Program on Intergroup Relations, has established Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit, a program that brings together young people of African, Asian, White European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American descent.

In response, a team of faculty members has established Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit, a program that brings together young people of African, Asian, White European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American descent.

We work closely with several community collaborators, including Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Alternatives for Girls, Youthville Detroit, Farmington Public Schools, Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, Michigan Neighborhood Partnership, Peoples' Community Services, Rosedale Park Baptist Church, and Southfield Community Foundation.

Young people participate in intergroup dialogues and establish new relationships with others across segregated boundaries, often for the first time. They join together for metropolitan tours, campus retreats, and community action projects of their own design. They develop courses in schools, conduct town meetings, and make presentations to city councils. At this writing, they are preparing to deliver 3,000 petitions, calling for changes in educational policies, to public officials in Lansing.

The youth participants also have written a book about growing up in segregation, presented a theater performance in school assemblies and community centers based on their stories, and participated in a PBS television series based on the Youth Dialogues program.

Our faculty and students work together in this program. Faculty members direct the program and incorporate its content into courses (such as a new course on Youth Empowerment), evaluate its effects, and publish the findings. MSW students are program planners and youth organizers through their field placements. PhD students participate too, and a dissertation is on the way.

This program is unique but only one of several school initiatives in metropolitan Detroit. Should "segregation and diversity" affect how we prepare students for professional practice, and, if so, how?

Towards a new community practice

With support from Dean Laura Lein, faculty members—Laura Lein, Larry Gant, Lorraine Gutierrez, Katie Richards-Schuster, Mike Spencer, and I—have formed a Community Organization Learning Community to discuss questions like these and some of the educational issues they raise. For example, we have:

  • Expressed a goal of preparing students to strengthen "social justice" and "community change" for "diverse democracy," all concepts that we know are fundamental and contested.
  • Reviewed our core competencies in terms of culturally competent and intercultural methods to mobilize around issues, organize action groups, plan local programs, and develop community-based services.
  • Established a Community Scholars Program as a signature program placing students with community agencies in Detroit neighborhoods and other areas nationwide-for example, the Mississippi Delta, Central Appalachia, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • Encouraged faculty members to take intellectual leadership of community organization as a field of practice and subject of study. We are planning a national conference and a series of cutting-edge publications.
  • Strengthened our partnerships in Detroit, Flint, and other cities through joint projects that build community capacity and contribute to our core educational mission.
  • Created a Saturday Academy offering half-day and whole-day workshops on new practice skills in communities nationwide.

What about you?

What should a social work school do to prepare students for community practice in a society that is becoming more segregated and more diverse?

Questions like this are important to us, as social work educators and as stewards of the oldest and largest community organizations program in graduate education. We respect our tradition and appreciate its high standards.

But we also know that the future will be different from the past and will raise new questions for which there are no single answers. You, our alumni and friends, have experience and expertise, and we hope that you will share what you think. What do you think?

Please send your ideas to me at barrych@umich.edu.

Barry Checkoway is professor of social work and professor of urban and regional planning.