Community Change

This course is designed to increase students awareness, knowledge, and understanding of issues related to diversity and social justice, including race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, ability status, and the intersections between these social identity groups. Additionally, students will gain an understanding of dialogue as a method for peacefully resolving conflict that may emerge due to cultural misunderstandings or oppressive dynamics, as well as skills for effectively engaging in dialogue. The topics of this course include social identity development; difference

Participatory facilitation is the process of increasing participation of diverse people within groups and community contexts. Emphasis will be placed on understanding theories of group work and group process. In this course, students will develop skills and techniques to strengthen participatory facilitation practices, including understanding intergroup dialogue, liberating structures, participatory planning activities, and alternative forms of facilitation including world cafes and online facilitation practices. Students will explore examples as well as practice skills. Special focus will

This course teaches students about the role of social media in social change. Students will explore research that demonstrates the ways that social media has changed/is changing the social world. This will include an exploration of the harmful changes that can result from social media (such as mental health issues, and increases in extremism, polarization, and misinformation), as well as the anti-oppressive changes that are possible (such as increases in social connection and community, and the use of social media for activism). Throughout this course, students will also develop their own

The course aims to provide a basic introduction to international human rights, their conceptual and historical foundations, as well as the main international legal instruments and institutions aimed at protecting and promoting human rights worldwide. The course has three purposes: to define and explore the terms, histories, and theories of human rights; examine alternative or competing definitions of human rights; and apply human rights thinking to local and international issues using a case-based approach. Throughout the course, concrete case studies will be used to illustrate the range of

This course will be a rotation elective course focused on special and contemporary topics in community change. It will be faculty-driven and focus on specific and important issues in community change, including specific issues impacting community change, contemporary organizing efforts, specific skills in community change, and/or specific issues, policy, population, or contexts for community change.

This course will focus on anti-oppressive organizing and transformative justice approaches to creating community change. It will explore the theory and concepts behind such approaches as well as the specific skills needed to engage in anti-oppressive, anti-racist and transformative organizing work with a focus on power and root causes analysis.The course will draw from contemporary grassroots and social movement models of practice including emergent strategy, healing and restorative justice, digital and arts-based justice efforts, and other related examples. Students will understand the

This course will introduce students to political social work, which is social work practice, theory, and research that focuses on the use of policy and politics to create social change. Students will gain an understanding of how politics impacts their lives as well as the lives of those served by social workers on both a micro and macro level. This course will prepare students for work in political settings, such as on advocacy and electoral campaigns, as staff for elected officials, and running for office themselves. Students will develop practice skills for policy advocacy and engaging with

This class will focus on the theories and approaches for community change, with emphasis on the relationships between theory and skills (‘praxis’). It will familiarize students to a range of critical change theories and core concepts and help students to develop their own understanding of frameworks for community change. Students will engage with transdisciplinary theories in examining community change, which may include critical intersectionality, critical race, empowerment and liberation, social movement, and feminist theories, as examples.

It will also look to historical and contemporary

This course will engage students in learning core cross-cutting skills needed for engaging in community change. It will use a framework of “Scan” – “Plan” – “Do” – “Review” to help organize skills. Learning to infuse cross-cutting principles including critical Praxis.

Scan: Assessment and Scanning Skills (individual to community) Illustrative skills may include: social identity assessments, individual skills assessments, story of self/personal motivational assessments, community power mapping, asset/strength assessments, organizational/community scans, and neighborhood mapping

Plan: Planning

This course will engage students in learning core cross-cutting skills needed for engaging in community change. It will use a framework of “Scan” – “Plan” – “Do” – “Review” to help organize skills. Learning to infuse cross-cutting principles including critical Praxis.

Scan: Assessment and Scanning Skills (individual to community) Illustrative skills may include: social identity assessments, individual skills assessments, story of self/personal motivational assessments, community power mapping, asset/strength assessments, organizational/community scans, and neighborhood mapping

Plan: Planning