Gentrification

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, which disproportionately harms people living in poverty and people of color, as well as the elderly, families, and youth. As such, this article argues that macro social work practitioners should view gentrification as a key concern. Thus, to help guide macro interventions, the article begins by first defining gentrification and describing ways to measure it, while emphasizing its difference from revitalization. Second, the article explores causes of gentrification, including its relationship to systemic racism. Third, the article explores the consequences of gentrification on individuals’ and communities’ well-being, considering how these consequences can influence macro practice. Finally, the article provides insight into ways that macro practitioners can strategically with others to prevent gentrification, mitigate its harms, and proactively support community well-being in areas threatened by gentrification

Teaching Race and Racial Justice: Developing Students’ Cognitive and Affective Understanding

Effectively addressing both cognitive and affective dimensions of learning is one of the greatest obstacles to teaching race and racial justice in higher education. In this article, we first explore the need to integrate attention to cognitive and affective development, along with evidence-based strategies for doing so. We then provide a case study of an undergraduate sociology course on environmental justice in which the instructor intentionally adopted holistic pedagogical principles of teaching race. Analyzing student responses from a pre- and post- course survey, course assignments, and instructor observations of student participation, we find that both white students and students of color experienced significant growth in their cognitive and affective understanding of the complexities of race and work toward racial justice. However, results also show how challenging it can be to create the conditions for productive multiracial dialogues that produce extensive affective development, particularly interpersonal skills of racial reconciliation. Reflecting on the limitations of the case, we conclude that more holistic teaching approaches are necessary to develop both students’ cognitive and affective abilities to navigate race and work against racism, and we make suggestions for faculty development and administrative support

Teaching Race, Racism, and Racial Justice: Pedagogical Principles and Classroom Strategies for Course Instructors

Teaching on topics of race and racism presents unique challenges to leaders in the university classroom setting. Despite an increasing number of instructors bringing a critical analysis of racial in/justice to their curriculum, many report challenges in teaching this content effectively. In this article, we address these challenges. We define common challenges in teaching racial content and articulate four principles for course planning around topics of race, racism, and racial justice. Then, drawing on a systematic review of scholarship examining issues of difference within a diverse range of disciplinary settings, we introduce a set of five pedagogical strategies, and supporting classroom practices, that will help instructors effectively manage everyday classroom interactions. This article contributes to the vast literature on teaching race and anti-racist education by synthesizing guiding pedagogical principles for course planning and classroom management that are applicable in a wide array of disciplinary contexts and providing concrete strategies that committed instructors, at varying levels of experience, can implement in their courses

Resisting Gentrification: The Theoretical and Practice Contributions of Social Work

Summary Gentrification is changing the landscape of many cities worldwide, exacerbating economic and racial inequality. Despite its relevance to social work, the field has been conspicuously absent from scholarship related to gentrification. This paper introduces the dominant view of gentrification (a political economic lens), highlighting its contributions and vulnerabilities, then introduces four case studies that illuminate the distinct contributions of social work to broaden the ways in which gentrification is theorized and responded to within communities. Findings When gentrification is analyzed exclusively through a political economy lens, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners are likely to focus on changes in land and home values, reducing the adverse effects of gentrification to a loss of affordable housing. A singular focus on affordable housing risks paying insufficient attention to racial struggle, perpetuating damage-based views of poor people and neighborhoods, and obfuscating political, social, and cultural displacements. Social work practice—including social action group work, community organizing, community development, and participatory research and planning—offers a holistic approach to understanding, resisting, and responding to gentrification and advance equitable development in the city. Applications By exploring social work practice that amplifies residents’ and change makers’ efforts, advances existing community organizing, produces new insights, builds inter-neighborhood and interdisciplinary collaborations, and facilitates social action and policy change, this paper helps community practitioners to reimagine the role of social work research and practice in gentrifying neighborhoods

Teaching and Learning Social Change

How can social work courses prepare students to be scholars of social movements, and also to act in solidarity with movements for social justice? How can graduate programs reimagine the professional socialization of social work students from aspiring for expertise toward a stance of life-long learning? How can instructors more deeply leverage our teaching practice to advance justice in our communities? This paper traces one attempt to answer these questions through a three-quarter graduate social work course designed to deepen students’ skills and knowledge in practices for social transformation, while amplifying existing social justice movements. Drawing on reflections from the instructor and five students, course artifacts, and insights from other students and community partners, this case study offers a model of community-engaged teaching that centers solidarity, reciprocity, and justice

Housing a Homeless Shelter: A Case Study of Community Deliberation

Among the core competencies of macro practitioners are the skills to design, implement and evaluate conflict resolution processes. Drawing upon theories of deliberative democracy, restorative justice and the Just Practice framework, this paper explores a process of deliberation which engaged 200 community members in the controversial siting of a homeless shelter. This case study is both descriptive and reflective: by offering an in-depth description of the process and a reflection on the guiding values, this paper provides critical insight into best practices in – and limitations of – using deliberation to resolve divisive community issues

Social Justice Education with Law Enforcement: Reflections from the Field

The systemic racism embedded in and embodied by law enforcement has resulted in nationwide protests, sparking a call to action that has particular resonance and urgency for social justice educators. While the need for transformed education of police officers is critical, educators may ask: What pedagogic tools are most effective in police departments? How might educators respond to officers’ resistance to learning about inequality? And what obstacles might educators have to overcome in order to do this work? In this case study, I draw from 11 years of experience providing consulting and training to a city police department, sharing key insights designed to further discussion about the essential ethical, pedagogical, and practical considerations. Topics include effective assessment, pedagogical design, negotiating resistance, and building relationships. While the needs of each community and police department are highly contextual, this case study is designed to further dialogue among social justice educators regarding our unique role in the struggle to create a justice system worthy of its name

Cultural Humility in Community Practice: Reflections from the Neighborhood Story Project

Although cultural humility is frequently emphasized in social work education as a lifelong commitment to reflection and action, there are few examples of what this looks like in practice—particularly outside the scope of clinical health settings. This paper situates the need for practitioner reflections on cultural humility and offers an autoethnographic case study of efforts to cultivate cultural humility in myself and among participants in a neighborhood-based action research project. I consider cultural humility from three relational positions: holding oneself accountable, creating conditions for cultural humility within groups, and acknowledging how group members co-create conditions for cultural humility