Social workers:

a. use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services; and

b. apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

The call of this competency is to formulate and advocate for policy changes on the local, state, and federal level for all peoples.  This is crucial because if we did not advocate for all peoples, our profession would stagnate and progress could never be made.  This competency engages me to take the needs of the people/ clients and be the mouthpiece for issues that have a direct impact on them.  It can be a challenge to accept that policy work moves very slowly and often does not achieve the exact results that I may desire. I commit to combating the obstacles that policy engagement will bring and to work on behalf of those in my community. Through my eventual position as a social worker, I can grow through policy by remaining informed of the policies in my state, by voting in elections, and by remaining aware of what issues impact my community. I will remain committed to this competency by involving myself in local committees and taking positions within my local communities.   

Evidences

Coursework

Policy Brief: DACA Expansion

This was an assignment in my SWIP (Social Welfare Issues and Policies)  class.  My classmate Natalia Quinones and I put together our policy brief to present to representatives on our class trip in Washington D.C.  The bill chosen that we advocated for includes college students that were born in Mexico and are illegal immigrants in the United States can have their illegal status protected if they graduate from college.  This bill is an extension of a greater bill of DACA that would ensure. 

This assignment developed my oratory skills to be able to effectively communicate the policy that I was seeking for the Latino immigrant community.  I also developed skills to contact my local representatives and developed knowledge of where to look for issues to advocate for.  

I chose this assignment because this policy brief clearly demonstrates creating and advocating for policy change at the national level.  I was able to connect a bill that meant so much to me as a person with Mexican heritage into policy advocacy.  Scheduling and meeting with representatives also developed my skills and knowledge of how to meet with them as a constituent that is concerned about the laws and legislation that will affect my community.   It also has begun my knowledge and passion for always creating policy changes in my social work practice.

Field:

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Training

With the new rules and regulation surrounding FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), it has made our existing process of how we reach students at FYE, up for change.  We reviewed our current practices and agency policies.  We saw that with the FAFSA, it is just as new to us as it will be for the students and families that will be utilizing it.  Therefore, we decided to train our student advisors and FYE assistance in the new FAFSA regulations as we can help students and families break down the language of the form if it is brand new to them.  We can also assist them in directing them to student finance and/ or enrollment for questions that pertain to those specific departments.  

This new training developed my knowledge of what FAFSA can offer students based upon socioeconomic factors such as parental income, parental high degree achieved, and what federal loans are available to them and if the payments are realistic given a student’s situation.  I also developed skill in breaking down language of the FAFSA form that could be foreign to student’s when applying for federal aid.  

I chose this competency because a new policy was enacted from a need that was recognized within our agency that could help students and families have an easier time completing tasks in order to attend Southern.

Further Evidence:

Contacting District Representative about ceasefire bill in Palestine

This was an email that I sent to my local representative of District 3, Kentucky, Morgan McGarvey in which I encouraged and recommended him to sign a ceasefire that the U.S. House of Representatives had a bill that was to be voted on in October and November.   

This helped me deepen my knowledge of how the tragedy and genocide occuring in Palestine was effecting my home district in Louiville, KY.  As there is a large Palestinian community presence in my home city. Many families that had their own family in Gaza and the West Bank were pleaded with our representative to sign this ceasefire bill to hopefully stop the genocide that is killing Palestinians. This also further developed my advocacy skills in policy as I had taken what I had learned in SWIP and applied it to my home representative.  Those skills and knowledge being: Tracking issues on the federal, state, and local levels and to use my voice to advocate for policies that affect my community.     

I chose this because I felt moved to advocate and use my voice to push policy to stop the bloodshed being committed.  The people of Palestine both stateside and abroad need any help in stopping the appalling acts being committed and I decided to voice my concern.  This helped me gain this competency in that I had not only contacted representatives in the classroom setting but I have done the same in my own community that is negatively affected by this bill being turned down.