Community Practice

A social worker begins working with a newly formed group of women concerned about the continued availability of family planning and abortion services in their area. Though the members have no great ideological differences, they do have different views and disagree on the overall policies that should be pivotal in planning and providing services. During the earliest meetings the worker should

encourage the group to analyze and discuss the various alternative policies to help them coalesce

A neighborhood association, concerned about area health and education problems, employs a community worker to explore the problems further and develop new programs. The worker initially establishes relationships with a variety of community representatives and involves residents in preliminary discussions about the problems. The workers main role will be that of

enabler

A worker from a family agency is assigned to meet with a group of mothers from a nearby housing development. Many mothers want and need to work, but they have no means of caring for their children while they work. Several are intersted in developing a cooperative child care center. In working with this group, the soial worker would most appropriately assume the role of

enabler

A community center worker develops a tenant's association in a building lacking a regular supply of heat and hot water. The landlord is unavailable, and there is no superintendent on the premises. The association has met for three weeks and consists of 10 tenants out of the 40 families who occupy the building. Six of the 10 families wish to begin withholding rent as a protest while holding the money in a separate escrow account. The tenants believe this strategy will force the landlord to negotiate with them. Three families are uncertain and may move to a better building. One family is unwilling to pay into the escrow fund. Other tenants know of the tenant association, but do not attend meetings. In his interaction with the tenants association, the workers primary role is that of

enabler facilitator

A group of African American families approaches a social worker who organizes in a multi ethnic rapidly changing conservative working class neighborhood. They are concerend about discrimination in the sale and rental of housing in the area. Rather than seeking legal remedies that are available to address the problem, the worker attempts to put together a broad based representative community coalistion to promote fair housing policies. It is likely the effort to build a coalition will

fail. because some elements of the community will not enthusiastically support fair housing policies and may feel threatened by them

Which of the following is a community issue where a consensus is not likely to develop?

Tenants and landlords discussing rent control

Which public program was the first systematic effort by the federal government to stimulate the full participation of community residents in planning and operating neighborhood based social development and social service programs?

The Community Action Program of the office of Economic Opportunity

A social worker in a neighborhood center is helping a group of parents concerned about low educational achievement levels among their children. The worker helps the group establish an after school tutoring and recreation program. The worker is employing

a community development method

An example of social action that uses a confrontational or "contest" method is

a group of welfare recipients "sitting in" at a local welfare center in an attempt to change policies they believe are unfair

The role of the social worker in the social planning model does not normally include

a negotiator

An example of formal authority is

a welfare supervisor notifying a client that her welfare assistance will be terminated as her benefits have expired

An example of informal authority is

a worker frequently asking a colleague for advice and accepting her direction

Low income community groups often need professional assistance to help them defend their interests and increase their participation in the policy process. A community organization worker who provides this assistance would be acting in the role of

advocate planner

A social worker is employed by a settlement house in a changing low-income community lacks an effective organizational infrastructure and has little experience in organizing or capacity to solve problems. Some traditional leadership exists but is out of touch with communal concerns and unable to represent community interests to City Hall. As people leave the community for the suburbs, they are replaced by an immigrant Arab Muslim community, whose customs do not easily blend into community life. Some members of the community call upon the Settlement House for help in dealing with neighborhood friction between groups and growing fear of change. During a meeting at the settlement house to discuss changes in the community, Joan notes that she feels like a stranger. She says she is often afraid to walk in a neighborhood she has lived in for 30 years. The worker should probably use the statement to

alert the group to the fact that Joan's sentiment is probably shared by others and supports the need for a community wide response to the changes now taking place

A committee appointed to accomplish a single function within a specified period without permanent reference to the formal committee structure of the larger organization is usually called

an ad hoc commitee

AIDS ACTION best represents an example of

an advocacy brokerage program

A social worker is employed by a settlement house in a changing low-income community lacks an effective organizational infrastructure and has little experience in organizing or capacity to solve problems. Some traditional leadership exists but is out of touch with communal concerns and unable to represent community interests to City Hall. As people leave the community for the suburbs, they are replaced by an immigrant Arab Muslim community, whose customs do not easily blend into community life. Some members of the community call upon the Settlement House for help in dealing with neighborhood friction between groups and growing fear of change. The social workers role would be one of

an enabler

A neighborhood coordinator in a welfare department finds it possible to be effective only be relating in different ways to clients and staff of the welfare department. The workers change of attitude and conversational style in dealing with these very different groups is

appropriate - there are conflicting pressures from each group and the worker needs to respond to both groups concerns to remain effective

A newly hired community worker is trying to build a constitutency to work on particular neighborhood improvements. At a community meeting, key leaders will make a presentation about some local tax issues. The organizer should

attend the meeting and informally talk to people

A community group representing a low income neighborhood demands that a neighborhood bank increase mortgage availability and make loans to community groups for small business development. The bank's staff and the community group leaders meet on these issues several times without reaching agreement. Finally after many meetings the bank rejects their demands and the group threatens to organize a publicity campaign directed against the banks "racist" management. The banks manager refuse to negotiate further. Thr process the two parrties are engage in is called

bargaining

An administrator of a mental health clinic particpates actively in a local community service coalition. One of his goals is to facilitate access to the agency and to promote referrals from other providers. The members of the coalition are unfamiliar with the mental health clinic and the range of its services. The administrator explains the services offered at the clinic and subsequently helps ease the way for client referrals between the clinic and other service agencies. The administrators role most closely resembles that of

broker

In linking the community with the agency, the worker is assuming the role of

broker

Nonprofit organizations, such as the Lions Club, or community betterment associations devoted to serving the community or to promoting specific community programs or activities, are generally called

civic association

A family service agency director resolves to develop social action projects in a mixed-income suburban community. The community's decision makers are arrogant, socially powerful, wealthy and politically influential. However, the group working with the agency has little influence. They live in the community's older and less desirable areas. The group is upset by school policies, which they feel have resulted in discriminatory educational programs that provide fewer resources for their neighborhood school. After repeated discussions with local officials, they realize these officials do not feel bound to respond to them. They are prepared to consider other means to influence local decision making. The practice strategies will most likely include

confrontation, conflict, and negotiation

Social welfare organizations may involve consumers of their services in an advisory capacity or in the planning of services. An unintended consequence is that the

consumers may build a personal power base through their participation in the organization

A municipal social services agency seeks to develop a consumer advsiory board. The board, however, is given little power, and many believe that the community leaders on the board are simply providing "window dressing". This is an example of

cooptation

A neighborhood association, concerned about area health and education problems, employs a community worker to explore the problems further and develop new programs. The worker initially establishes relationships with a variety of community representatives and involves residents in preliminary discussions about the problems. As the organizations program develops and membership grows, the worker is likely to be concerned about

developing leadership

The role of the social worker in the locality development model is that of

data analyzer and enabler

Many residents of a low income community believe that police abuses are a serious problem. They also believe that city government lacks sensitivity to their communitys economic and social problems. A new police brutality allegation has led a local citizens planning board to employ a social worker to help them develop strategies to address policy, and to change local government priorities. The workers first objective would be to

develop a clear statement of the issues and begin organizing the community

A community worker at a neighborhood center is approached by a small group that wants to work on changing community public education priorities. The first major task or phase will probably involve

finding out if there is broader interest in the issues and expanding the constituency for change

A community worker finds that a community renewal group has developed very ineffective, often hostile patterns for relating to each other at board meetings. The worker would most likely

help the board as they work on significant community issues, while helping members develop better patterns of relating during meetings

A social worker organizes a tenant association in a dilapidated building. It soon became clear that the Smith family has many problems, many of which interfere with their participation in the association. In particular, their 12-year-old son has been arrested for minor offenses and frequently runs away. Mrs, Smith approaches the social worker and requests help for her son. The social worker should

help the family arrange an appointment with an agency that can provide counseling

A family service agency director resolves to develop social action projects in a mixed-income suburban community. The community's decision makers are arrogant, socially powerful, wealthy and politically influential. However, the group working with the agency has little influence. They live in the community's older and less desirable areas. The group is upset by school policies, which they feel have resulted in discriminatory educational programs that provide fewer resources for their neighborhood school. After repeated discussions with local officials, they realize these officials do not feel bound to respond to them. They are prepared to consider other means to influence local decision making. The Directors key initial activity will be to

help the group identify other groups in the comunity who have similar concerns and seek to form coalitions likely to influence the communitys decision makers

A neighborhood association, concerned about area health and education problems, employs a community worker to explore the problems further and develop new programs. The worker initially establishes relationships with a variety of community representatives and involves residents in preliminary discussions about the problems. After the organization has determined initial program objectives, the workers main task is to

help the members partialize and assign the tasks

A worker is in the early stages of organizing a community group. A common mistake at this stage is

hold elections too quickly

A social worker is employed by the public housing agency as a housing planner. Two community groups seek to control planning for a public housing development in their neighborhood. As a first step, while formulating an understanding of the problem, the worker would

identify organizations, their intersets, and the people at the center of the conflict and try to understand their concerns

A neighborhood association wants to insure that a community meeting at a local school is well attended. The meeting will be heavily advertised through direct mail and newspaper advertisements. To insure good attendance, they should first

identify topics that have wide appeal and are of concern to the community

A community organization of low income neighborhood residents forms to protest municipal government priorities and to demand better services, more frequent street cleaning and garbage collection, improved street lighting, and better school facilities. Meetings are organized to demand changes in the city's budget and better representation from local representative to the city council. The implicit goal of the organization is probably

increased political power

If a social worker in a small community finds the area lacking in services and without a tradition of organizing in its own behalf, the most probably approach would be for the social worker to

interest community leaders and residents in studying the needs of the community and working toward developing a community wide approach

In community organization practice, a worker might emphasize collaboration between parties to achieve a particular strategy or change when there is

issue consensus

A community social worker begins work in a neighborhood with a homogenous, mainly white, working class population. The worker finds that there is a little organized effort to improve the schools or any other local institution. There is, however, a community consensus around the school systems major problems. These problems include ineffective leadership from the school board; a weak, vacilliating superintendent; and a lack of resources. The most appropriate model to use in considering strategies would be

locality development

A community center worker develops a tenant's association in a building lacking a regular supply of heat and hot water. The landlord is unavailable, and there is no superintendent on the premises. The association has met for three weeks and consists of 10 tenants out of the 40 families who occupy the building. Six of the 10 families wish to begin withholding rent as a protest while holding the money in a separate escrow account. The tenants believe this strategy will force the landlord to negotiate with them. Three families are uncertain and may move to a better building. One family is unwilling to pay into the escrow fund. Other tenants know of the tenant association, but do not attend meetings. The model(s) most closely associated with the activities of the tenants association is/are

locality development and social action

A community women's group wants to establish a self help group to deal with various pronlems of women in the community. A social worker would most likely use the

locality development model

The 1960s federal policy of involving neighborhood residents in self directed community organization activities and in the determination of program policy is called

maximum feasible participation

Many residents of a low income community believe that police abuses are a serious problem. They also believe that city government lacks sensitivity to their communitys economic and social problems. A new police brutality allegation has led a local citizens planning board to employ a social worker to help them develop strategies to address policy, and to change local government priorities. The worker would most likely use

negotiation and direct action

A community group representing a low income neighborhood demands that a neighborhood bank increase mortgage availability and make loans to community groups for small business development. The bank's staff and the community group leaders meet on these issues several times without reaching agreement. Finally after many meetings the bank rejects their demands and the group threatens to organize a publicity campaign directed against the banks "racist" management. The banks manager refuse to negotiate further. Frustrated by the banks unwillilngness to compromise, the community group authorizes strong actions that will draw attention to the issue and spur some movement by the bank. The technique that is consistent with the confrontational principles outlined by Saul Alinksy is to

orchestrate a well publicized mass demonstration in which the bank is encircled with a large red banner to symbolize the redline the bank has drawn around the community.

The beginning stage in the development of a social movement is characterized by

primary group, face to face relationships, and general goals

A white community worker works with a predominantly African American and Latino group for eight months. During a discussion about local service agencies, several group members express resentment and some hostility about White workers in minority communities. A few members question whether a White worker can be sensitive to their needs. The worker would

respond permissively to the issue raised, while making his own values and attitudes clear to the group

Last year, Maryville Hospital determined that the community supported developing a new senior citizens program and health center. The hospital is now ready to develop programs. The worker assigned to develp community support might first

revisit the issue and canvas community groups in the area to see if support can be mobilized and to obtain their involvement

A family service agency director resolves to develop social action projects in a mixed-income suburban community. The community's decision makers are arrogant, socially powerful, wealthy and politically influential. However, the group working with the agency has little influence. They live in the community's older and less desirable areas. The group is upset by school policies, which they feel have resulted in discriminatory educational programs that provide fewer resources for their neighborhood school. After repeated discussions with local officials, they realize these officials do not feel bound to respond to them. They are prepared to consider other means to influence local decision making. The overall objective of the group will probably be to

seek fundamental and institutional change

As Haitian immigrants move into a neighborhood, one community group seeks to block their entry because they want to maintain a homogenous, racially separate community. Other community groups are more supportive of diversity and pluralism. There is little contact between opposing forces, but a confrontation is building. The neighborhood center board asks the executive director to respond to the problem. The director believes the agency can play a role in the emerging community debate. The agency approach would most likely

seek to build bridges between opposing groups where feasible, but ally the agency with the principle of diversity because it is a core social work value

A social worker is employed by a settlement house in a changing low-income community lacks an effective organizational infrastructure and has little experience in organizing or capacity to solve problems. Some traditional leadership exists but is out of touch with communal concerns and unable to represent community interests to City Hall. As people leave the community for the suburbs, they are replaced by an immigrant Arab Muslim community, whose customs do not easily blend into community life. Some members of the community call upon the Settlement House for help in dealing with neighborhood friction between groups and growing fear of change. As a basic strategy, the worker would

seek to find a core group of leaders from all sectors of the community and engage them in identifying problems and finding common interests

Credit uniions, peer tutoring programs, and locally sponsored nonprofit housing corporations are examples of

self help programs

A social worker organizes a group of families who are indignant about the care they recieve at the local health center. The families want improved services and more courteous treatment. The group meets for several weeks and is now considering strategies for presenting their demands to the director. The most effective initial strategy for the group at this point is to

send the indiginous leaders of the group to meet with the director and present their demands since they are the service recipients

Advocacy and social action on behalf of poorer communities was first emphasized by

settlement house community workers

A social worker is employed by a settlement house in a changing low-income community lacks an effective organizational infrastructure and has little experience in organizing or capacity to solve problems. Some traditional leadership exists but is out of touch with communal concerns and unable to represent community interests to City Hall. As people leave the community for the suburbs, they are replaced by an immigrant Arab Muslim community, whose customs do not easily blend into community life. Some members of the community call upon the Settlement House for help in dealing with neighborhood friction between groups and growing fear of change. The worker would probably opt for

small group meetings involving a broad cross section of interests

The model of community organization that is most likely to use conflict strategies

social action

A tenant association has problems with the landlord. He does not provide sufficient heat, sanitation, maintenance services, or hallway lighting, and will not discuss the building's problems with the tenant association. The tenants ask a local agency for assistance, and a community worker is assigned to help. The worker's approach is likely to adopt the

social action model

Unions, protest groups, and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement are examples of the

social action model

A neighborhood planning board linked to the municipal adminsitration completed a community study. Their conclusions indicated that the community had rising rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, and HIV/AIDS, and a higher infant mortality rate

social planning

The use of rational problem solving and technical methods to develop new programs or new social welfare institutions best describes

social planning

A community agency hires a social worker with juvenile delinquency prevention experience. The workers responsibility is to develop plans with other community agencies and representative members of the community to address local youth recreation needs. This description most closely represents the

social planning model

Agencies such as welfare councils and councils of social agencies that frequently use fact gathering by experts to deal with substantive social problems reflect the

social planning model

A program activity not considered as primary in community development is

social protest

The primary objective of the locality development model of community organization is to

strengthen the ability of people to work on their common interests

For many years, social service and political leaders have stressed the importane of the community in improving social relationships, promoting social stability, and in realizing the American political ideals of inclusion and power sharing. As a result, social work community organization practice and strategy emphasize

strengthening democratic participation

A social worker organizes a tenant association in a dilapidated building. It soon became clear that the Smith family has many problems, many of which interfere with their participation in the association. In particular, their 12-year-old son has been arrested for minor offenses and frequently runs away. Mrs, Smith approaches the social worker and requests help for her son. At a meeting of the tenant association, the tenants resolve to request management to evict the Smiths because their son is a troublemaker who has threatened others. The family does not participate in the association. The social worker should

suggest that a delegation meet with the Smiths to discuss the gorups concerns and encourage them to seek help

Rents have risen rapidly in response to a growing housing shortage. As a result, homelessness has increased as rents have soared. Many in the community are unaware of the extent to which families are being forced to move out of their homes. A community-based housing association hires a social worker to plan a campaign to secure a rent control law. The social worker would probably first recommend

that the organization develops a social survey and problem analysis that describes the parameters of the problem nad publicize it throughout the community

A basic assumption of community practice does not inlcude the idea that

the redistribution of resources and opportunities have limited importance in the determination and maintenance of community change

Separation of voluntary agency's social planning function and neighborhood based community organization from a primary concern with programs serving the poor was fostered by

the shift of welfare responsibilities from voluntary to public agencies

One disadvantage of self help programs is that

they rarely influence the larger institutional system

A social work practice concern in working with all neighborhood groups is

to provide opportuntiies for all members to express their views

A community center worker develops a tenant's association in a building lacking a regular supply of heat and hot water. The landlord is unavailable, and there is no superintendent on the premises. The association has met for three weeks and consists of 10 tenants out of the 40 families who occupy the building. Six of the 10 families wish to begin withholding rent as a protest while holding the money in a separate escrow account. The tenants believe this strategy will force the landlord to negotiate with them. Three families are uncertain and may move to a better building. One family is unwilling to pay into the escrow fund. Other tenants know of the tenant association, but do not attend meetings. The first thing for the social worker to do is to

try to involve more tenants in the association