Baby Steps in Community Work

Introduction to Community Work

I'm currently in my second year of the Masters in Social Work (MSW) program at Humbodlt State University, California. One of the courses I'm taking in the MSW "concentration year" is SW643 Community Work, instructed by Michael Yellow Bird Ph.D. Visit Michael's blogspot at http://arikaraconsciousness.blogspot.com/ , if you would like to learn more about our professor.

There are serveral goals and objectives to this course; which focus on, understanding a community on a individual to macro level, learning and developing knowledge about community work and social systems that help promote the overall well being of others, using ecological perspectives to develop and enhance appropriate interventions, engaging community systems and stimulating participation from community members, critical evaluation of social research in this field and how it relates to working with communities, and addressing social injustices from a multi-system perspective by identifying strategies for intervention that honor the cultural uniqueness and interdependence of all communities (Yellow Bird, 2009).

One of the assigments for this course is the Critical Reaction/Activist Internet Blogging. This assignment asks the students to start a personal blog to share some of our reflections and reactions to some of the course material. I will be using this blog, Finding Soul in Social Work to voice some of my thoughts and feelings. I'm in hopes they will all tie into the various topics of community and generate some stimulating ideas. And, I'm also hoping that others will discover this blog, browse through it, add a comment with their thoughts and feelings, and take a risk to express anything that stirs within. I invite you to express yourself freely, even if it might be hard for me or others to chew on.
~Domo Arigato Gozaimasu! (Thank you very much!)