The Resurgence of Policy Practice in Social Work
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The Resurgence of Policy Practice in Social Work Richard Hoefer 1 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This issue marks the end of the first volume of The Journal of Policy Practice and Research. While I could wax poetic on this, I believe that there is a larger context that is important. As a field, social work’s emphasis on policy practice is being renewed. Many currents are coming together to create a formidable river. Influencing Social Policy, a sponsor of the journal, has been in existence for some time now and supports the relevance of social policy in the CSWE curriculum well. Sunny Harris Rome, the current President of the group works tirelessly with the strong board of the organization to support all faculty in teaching and researching social policy. The wonderful colleagues behind Macro Matters, known as The Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in Social Work, have created videos (see for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmsg27L6K6Q)and the CSWE-sponsored Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Macro Social Work Practice that looks at how to understand and teach all three types of macro practice, which includes administration, community, and policy practice. The curriculum guide is available for free download at https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/Education-Resources/2015Curricular-Guides/2015-Macro-Guide-Web-Version.pdf.aspx). Other organizations have supported the attention being paid to social policy, including ACOSA, (the Association for Community Organization and Social Action), and the National Association of Social Work (NASW). We are building on our own strengths to improve our understanding of how to conduct policy practice using the tools of research. This is leading to increased efforts to study the topics that long have been integral to the social work professional and educational communities. These topics have been increasingly urgent due to the influence of Donald Trump and the years of his presidency for making painfully obvious to everyone who cares to look, the importance of social policy for creating a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive society. The problem is that the Trump presidency has show what happens when the national government works to erase the gains that have been made in the past.
* Richard Hoefer [email protected]
1
School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
Journal of Policy Practice and Research
The entire apparatus of the Federal government has been subverted to enrich the few and create intentional hardship on the many. It is a lesson teaching why we must never assume that benefits and progress once made are permanent. Many states and localities have fallen under the same ideological brand as President Trump and have replicated the process of dismantling positive policy. Governors and state legislatures have refused to implement the Affordable Care Act. State Attorneys General have signed on to court cases to declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Many states use their governments fo
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