Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice
Advanced generalist practitioners understand how racism and oppression shape human experiences and how these two constructs influence practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community levels and in policy and research. Advanced generalist practitioners understand the pervasive impact of White supremacy and privilege and use their knowledge, awareness, and skills to engage in anti-racist practice. Advanced generalist practitioners understand how diversity and intersectionality shape human experiences and identity development and affect equity and inclusion. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of factors including but not limited to age, caste, class, color, culture, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, generational status, immigration status, legal status, marital status, political ideology, race, nationality, religion and spirituality, sex, sexual
orientation, and tribal sovereign status. Advanced generalist practitioners understand that this intersectionality means that a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege and power. Advanced generalist practitioners understand the societal and historical roots of social and racial injustices and the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination. Advanced generalist practitioners understand cultural humility and recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values, including social, economic, political, racial, technological, and cultural exclusions, may create privilege and power resulting in systemic oppression. Advanced generalist practitioners:
- Analyze the holistic and systemic nature of problems in rural settings taking care to attend to the special factors of rurality such as diverse cultural backgrounds, dual relationships, inadequate transportation, extreme poverty, difficult access to health care, and disenfranchisement from political processes;
- Apply and communicate understanding of the importance of ADEI in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels in rural settings;
- Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organization, community, research and policy levels;
- Demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self-regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.
Competency #3 In Practice
As a social worker, I want to demonstrate cultural humility and engage anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion in my practice. Therefore, I commit to utilizing self-awareness and consultation with colleagues to minimize the effect of bias and privilege on my practice. I will also seek out accountability from my peers and clients in acknowledging them as the experts of their lives and cultural framework to promote inclusion. I will breakdown barriers to equity in the systems my clients interact with through advocacy, and vote against racist policies, legislation, and legislators.
3.1 demonstrate leadership in advocating for human rights, social, economic and environmental justice; and
In my internship with Youth Villages, I have advocated for educational support by assisting families in requesting individualized education plan evaluations, advocating for youth during IEP meetings, and accessing after-school resources such as tutoring. I have also integrated assistance efforts by helping families apply for food boxes and find affordable housing to address their immediate needs. This advocacy and assistance has involved direct communication with school professionals, client’s families, and relevant agencies as needed to address food security and educational support issues, ensuring that clients receive adequate nutrition and educational support. This advocacy has spanned human rights through access to education, social rights by access to a generalized educational classroom with their peers, economic rights as access to basic resources such as food, clothing, and healthcare appointments, and environmental justice through advocating for environments at home and school that are safe, through safety sweeps we conduct monthly, extermination services, checking that heating services are functioning during the winter and that the youth are not around high-risk individuals at home or at school.
3.2 design and implement social action strategies that demonstrate social, racial, economic; and environmental justice
Evidence: This Social Policy Factsheet, which advocates for the reintroduction of the Firearm and Ammunition bill HB 0380 (SB 0017), demonstrates the practice behavior of designing and implementing social action strategies that promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. It highlights the urgent need to address gun violence in Tennessee, which disproportionately affects marginalized communities, including Black Tennesseans and youth. By proposing comprehensive programs such as violence interventions, youth employment, gun safety training, and non-violent conflict resolution, the bill aims to reduce firearm-related deaths and injuries. These measures are designed to create safer communities, support economic opportunities for at-risk youth, and ensure that all residents, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, can live in environments free from violence. By implementing a social action strategy to address gun violence, I designed a document that addressed social, racial, economic, and environmental justice in Tennessee.