Special Project
Introduction
As a part of my practicum field experience at CSLA Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts, I got the opportunity to orchestrate a Community Resource Fair. This fair took place on the evening of March 6, 2023. This event was made possible due to the combined efforts of myself, my supervisor Patti O’Shea, and the permission of the school administration. In addition, there were other staff members who made this event possible by assisting us with necessary supplies and an adequate space in order to host the event. Lastly, students and their families who took place in the event were the final participants in this project.
Social Issue
Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts is a thriving and diverse community public magnet school housed on a brand new campus with students enrolled from all nine Hamilton County School Districts. It has about 647 students ranging from grades K-9 with a student teacher ratio of 17 to 1. The students come from various backgrounds of race, culture, socioeconomic status, family structure and religion. They walk the halls together as to create a beautiful tapestry which is reflective of our Chattanooga community. The intentional conversations between teachers and their students as well as parent participation help ensure that every child has amazing potential. CSLA works hard to support, encourage, and teach students to be the best people, best learners, as well as the best citizens that they can be as part of their mantra. As the implementation process began for the Community Resource Fair, the thoughts and principles behind it were to connect families to local businesses and organizations that can provide relevant services and supports to our families. The goal of the event is to bring more awareness of organizations and providers who are available and to educate families by providing resources and support. Many students are underserved and underprivileged and by creating this opportunity, they are able to overcome disadvantages and find success. Given that there is a diverse population of students at CSLA, many already have access to healthcare, dental care, behavioral support, etc., however many of the students have a greater need for support and families left without the knowledge of where to begin in the search for resources to assist with daily life. While the school does not qualify for Title 1, there are still a significant number of families that at the edge of qualifications for free or reduced lunches, which is usually a metric used to demonstrate the percentage of low income families in a school.
Theoretical Application: The Social Exchange Theory is utilized throughout as social workers can use social exchange theory to understand the relationships their clients have with others and why they continue to maintain certain relationships or abandon them. This theory also says that relationships are based on cost-benefit analysis. Each individual seeks to maximize their benefits and is expected to reciprocate for the benefits they’ve received. When one person in a relationship has greater personal resources than another, that person is predicted to have greater power as well.
Research: Equity in education is deeply complex and can take on many forms, making it challenging to establish a general definition. But the basic meaning behind the term is the pursuit of creating an educational system that caters to students of all kinds and develops their educational experience accordingly. This means that no matter what a student’s background , language, race, economic profile, gender, learning capability, disability, or family history, each student has the opportunity to get the support and resources they need to achieve their educational goals (Routledge, 2019). By addressing systemic issues, we as social workers may become more aware and combat issues surrounding poverty, marginalization due to a variety of complex issues, as well as other inequities which hinder a students academic and overall well-being. The goal is to create more opportunities for student success by removing barriers in the school environment as well as the home. According to research, equity and equality are both essential in today’s schools. Both regard fairness but in reality have two separate meanings (O’Day & Smith, 2019). It is important to understand these differences when working in the school setting. Essentially, equality in school means that every student gets the same resources and opportunities. This could also refer to the same funding for all schools, the same quality of and abundance of materials and facilities, and/or instruction. Equity refers to every student receiving the kinds of opportunities and resources that they need depending on their specific situation (Routledge, 2019). Both are crucial in assuring positive outcomes regardless of where they started or what unique challenges that they might face. Unfortunately, resources are often more abundant for students who come from wealthier families, with others achieving lower educational outcomes as a result of unequal opportunities and resources (McKillip & Luhm, 2020). The community resource fair provided families a chance to connect with organizations that can meet them where they are and assist them accordingly.
Interventions: The intervention was to develop an event that would bring different community resources in one place to connect with families in order to provide easy access for each student and their families. It is important that we as social workers take action to implement new ideas and advocate on behalf of our clients. One way to accomplish this was by inviting a variety of vendors to the event. Vendors who were present included: Chant, Civil Air Patrol, Fit One, YMCA, College Prep, Adventure Pediatric, Highland Mortgage, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, MCR Foundation, First Things First, Sylvan Learning, Shepherd Community Center, River City Counseling, Farmer’s Insurance, and the Creative Discovery Museum. Many summer camps sent their information packets to provide to families as well. The list of vendors showcased an inclusive array of mental, physical, and emotional supports as well as extracurricular activities and housing support. Each organization showcased environmental, economic, as well as addressed a diversity of families and needs present at the school. Overall, it was an inclusive event that each member could benefit from attending. This event also led to discussions of future events similar to this one to be held again at CSLA as well as other schools in the district.
Results: Positive results and feedback were provided to the organizers verbally throughout the event. Many families were able to connect and find valuable resources at the event. Vendors were able to showcase their resources and we as social workers were able to advocate and assist our school families. Event hough in a small number (N=7), survey results indicated that the event was enjoyed, especially by the vendors. 71% of the vendors felt that the event was beneficial to them, over 80% stated that the registration and communication were hassle-free and satisfactory, and 85% stated they were interested in participating again in the future. Families who participated shared verbally that the event very beneficial and overall vendor results indicated that it was a seamless process that they would be interested repeating and participating in future community events.
Conclusions: The event was a success with 27 vendors and more than 50 families participating, and I find that it will be one that needs to be repeated at numerous schools in the area. It is important for families to know where to go and how to find valuable resources in order to improve the quality of life and provide equal opportunity.It is also imperative for organizations to promote their services and communicate their efforts. Social workers should continue advocacy work for their clients and propose positive changes throughout systems.
Limitations: Rarely is an event or study ever perfect. In this particular case, time constraints, risk of survey error, participant bias and resource intensiveness all play a role in potential weaknesses. Additionally, the number of participants involved play a major role in the success of the event or lack thereof. Fortunately, the event turned out great with about 50 families participating as well as the vendors who signed up and did an excellent job at showcasing their organization/agencies. One of the major limitations was also related to the event evaluation, with a very small number of participants taking the evaluation survey.
Changes-Thinking Back: Thinking back, there are some things that I could have done better, or that I would change if I could do it all over. A pre and post survey was given to parents at the school and I feel as though I could have placed more emphasis on the post survey and the importance of their thoughts and opinions as to how the event was orchestrated, constructed, and the utility it did or did not provide for them. Their opinions and feedback are of high importance and may benefit the event in future years. Next time I will send out a reminder email regarding survey results alongside of the importance of their participation.
Unexpected Outcomes: Fortunately, there were very few unexpected outcomes. The week leading up to the event met some last minute changes as the location remained at the school, however due to space and tables, we had to switch from the gym to the cafeteria. This was not a major issue as I just sent out another email letting vendors know of the change. I did not expect the amount of families that showed up and frankly was a bit nervous about not enough of the school body participating. Contrary to belief, many were very excited as well as the vendors that participated and each vendor that signed up made their presence.
Competencies:
* Competency 1: Ethics and Professionalism: Both ethics and professionalism were demonstrated throughout the process. Written and oral communication took place as well as advocacy work. Additionally, weekly supervision with my field instructor was extremely helpful as we were able to discuss my special project as well as any adjustments or additives that needed to be made.
*Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice: It is important for all individuals and families to receive adequate as well as equal opportunity. Advocacy played a major role in this event as agencies were located who serve all families, despite socioeconomic diversities.
*Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion in Practice: Diversity was present as the event as it included families from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds. There was also a variety of resource tables present at the event in order to assist a diverse population of people.
*Competency 4: Research: In order to make the event a successful utility to students and their families, I reviewed research regarding best practices to use in providing a larger number of resources at the same time, which played a vital role throughout the process. Identifying what agencies/organizations offered and whether or not they were a fit for our families was very important in the background research phase. It is also important to note the role that adequate nutrition, healthcare, transportation, etc., play in the success of the student both at home as well as at school; therefore, we aimed to invite a variety of vendors to address all these aspects. All these aspects were discussed with my field instructor in preparing the fair.
*Competency 5: Policy: Advocacy work was displayed throughout by speaking with numerous agencies and proposing this event take place in future years. Stakeholders throughout the event were highly interested in hosting another event such as this one in future years.
*Competency 6:Engagement: Engagement was an ongoing process throughout the beginning of the event formation and carried out throughout the end with post surveys. Weekly emails with open communication were imperative in order to make the event successful.
*Competency 7:Assessment: Speaking with families and working with students each week, gave opportunity to assess where needs were the highest and what resources were of high priority. Assessment was also necessary to see what environment and amount of space each vendor would need for the event as well as any added supplies that they may need.
*Competency 8:Intervention: The resources fair itself was the intervention for this special project; by including a variety of vendors, the intervention ensured that efficient resources to assist the school families who did and did not have insurance, adequate living situations, etc. were included.
*Competency 9: Evaluation: Two surveys were sent in order to gauge the thoughts and opinions of the participants. The results were compiled and viewed in order to show improvement over the course of the project.
References:
Calitz, T. M. L. (2019). Enhancing the freedom to flourish in higher education: Participation, equality and capabilities (1st ed., Vol.1). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315207070
McKillip, M., & Loom, C. (2020, April). The effects of increased learning time on student academic and non-academic outcomes: Findings from a meta-analytic review. Education Law Center. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED609061.pdf
O’Day, J.A., & Smith, M. S. (2019). Opportunity for all: A framework for quality and equality in education. Harvard Education Press.