Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Love Letters For Liberatory Futures, Jessica Rodriguez-Jenkins, Roberta Hunte, Lakindra Mitchell Dove, Antonia R.G. Alvarez, Alma M. O. Trinidad, Gita Mehrotra

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This collection of letters serves to explore the narratives of a collective of women of color in academia by examining individual, collective, spiritual, and institutional strategies for surviving and transforming our institutional spaces and the ways that White Supremacy has shaped our journeys. Multiple perspectives are viewed, and we have written to our children, our future social work students, our future selves, our BIPOC faculty siblings, and our feared enemies to envision and embody more liberatory futures.

Keywords: liberation, academia, BIPOC faculty, institutional racism, White Supremacy

Re-Imagining Mandatory Reporting: Professionalization's Complicity, Sam Harrell, Stephanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mandatory reporting of child abuse is a part of the civil legal system that can activate a policy cascade disproportionately criminalizing racialized and marginalized communities. While social work scholarship has explored ways to increase provider compliance with mandatory reporting laws, there is a dearth of research focused on how social work education guides future providers towards the praxis of mandatory reporting discourses. This article presents findings from a content analysis of social work textbook excerpts focused on mandatory reporting of child abuse in the U.S. We found that textbooks affirm social work’s loyalty to the State by approaching mandatory reporting …

Teaching And Learning Social Change, Amie Thurber, Helen Buckingham, Jordenn Martens, Rebecca Lusk, Darrylann Becker, Stacey Spenser

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

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 …

Working With Others In The Mentoring Relationship System, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

A mentoring relationship typically doesn’t operate in isolation. Even youth who want or need additional support from a mentor are bound to have many other important people in their lives, such as parents and other caregivers, siblings, teachers, and peers. Consequently, a mentor already may have or may need to establish relationships with other people in the mentee’s network of support. Because these other individuals, and a mentor’s interactions with them, have the potential to enhance or detract from the mentoring experience, they are all important parts of the “mentoring relationship system.”

This chapter outlines important considerations for how to …

Gentrification, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

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’ …

Can Preference Policies Advance Racial Justice?, Amie Thurber, Lisa Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mitigating the harms of gentrification to communities of color is a pressing challenge. One promising approach is preference policies that enable long-term residents to remain in or return to gentrifying neighborhoods. This mixed-methods study evaluates the City of Portland’s “Preference Policy,” which provides targeted affordable rental housing to residents displaced from a historically Black neighborhood. This paper draws on survey, interview, and focus group data to explore resident motivations, changes to well-being, and recommendations for improving the policy. Findings suggest preference policies can enhance well-being, and underscore the need for comprehensive strategies to advance racial justice in gentrifying neighborhoods.

Teaching Race And Racial Justice: Developing Students’ Cognitive And Affective Understanding, Amie Thurber, Joe Bandy, M. Brielle Harbin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

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 …

We Are Brave: Expanding Reproductive Justice Discourse Through Embodied Rhetoric And Civic Practice, Roberta Hunte, Catherine Ming T’Ien Duffly

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we share the example of our recent community-based performance project on reproductive justice, We are BRAVE, to serve as a model of how community-based performance can be an embodied strategy for social change. We draw from the work of scholars of feminist rhetoric, community-based performance, and reproductive justice. In sharing the example of We are BRAVE, we show how using communitycentered, performative storytelling as embodied rhetoric can be an effective mode of public and political persuasion.

Margaret’S Family Tree: A Story Of Hope And Belonging [Simulizi Ya Familia Ya Margareta: Hadithi Ya Matumaini Na Jumuiya], Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Margaret’s Family Tree: A Story of Hope and Belonging (2016), is a coloring book designed to help children work through their grief in a constructive way and to help them acknowledge feelings about their lost loved ones. The book is written in both English and Swahili. It is illustrated in black and white by Oregon artist Edna M. Kennel. Halvorson-Westerberg is offering it free for duplication to anyone working with children, especially in African countries.

Women, Welfare, And Work, Norman L. Wyers, Portland State University School Of Social Work

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

There are many popular misconceptions about people on welfare. This study challenges these myths with empirical findings, confirming the results of earlier studies. Four misconceptions contradicted by the findings of this study are as follows:

1. MYTH: She Doesn’t Want to Work
2. MYTH: Welfare Breeds Welfare
3. MYTH: She Rides the Gravy Train
4. MYTH: She Finds Life is Easy on Welfare

Reaganism And The Poor Family: Life On Afdc After The Budget Cuts, Norman L. Wyers, Robert C. Holloway

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent changes in federal and state welfare policies have had negative consequences for public welfare recipients. This paper summarizes a study which focused on the impact of these policy changes on the AFDC population in the most populous region of Oregon. Of particular importance are the changes in income levels, employment, and social service utilization of recipients. Personal reactions of recipients are also reviewed, as are expectations for the future. The differential economic impact of the policy changes on various categories of recipients is stressed.

Testimony Provided Before The Joint Ways And Means Subcommittee, Human Resources Committee, House Of Representatives, Oregon State Legislature, Norman L. Wyers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:
My name is Norman Wyers. I am an Associate Professor, with a specialty in income maintenance from Columbia University, at the School of Social Work, Portland State University. I would like to talk with you today about the formulation of well-articulated welfare policy, in this case policy which would more effectively link social services with income maintenance. I am using this particular piece of welfare policy for illustrative reasons but also because it is badly needed.

Administrative Thinking On Youth And Youth Programs, Norman L. Wyers, John F. Longres

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Administrators have a lot of influence over the nature of youth programs. Because of this, their thinking on the causes of delinquency, the nature of ideal youth programs, and the role of youth workers were tapped. In the past, people in the field of delinquency have been accused of assuming an individual, personal problem or deficiency point of view. This study of administrators in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area suggests that, while some evidence for a more social structural understanding exists, in general the individual problem perspective prevails. An explanation for the persistence of a personal problem perspective is advanced …

Wages, Welfare, Or What? [Statement Of Norman L. Wyers] - Salem, Or, Norman L. Wyers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In his testimony to joint hearings before a task force of the welfare reform subcommittee of the US House of Representatives held on November 9, 1977, in Salem, Oregon, as part of a proposed welfare reform bill, H.R. 9030, Professor Norman L. Wyers shared the diverse opinions of participants of Oregon town hall meetings on economic security, entitlement, eligibility and responsibility. The public opinion survey findings revealed Oregonians' support for humanitarian policies, universal benefits, and a focus on job creation over training. Wyers urged policymakers to consider the liberal attitudes uncovered in the survey, emphasizing the need for a steady …

Wages, Welfare, Or What? [Statement Of Norman L. Wyers] - Washington D.C., Norman L. Wyers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Professor Norman L. Wyers, representing participants of Oregon town hall meetings and the Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, addressed the joint hearings before a task force of the welfare reform subcommittee of the US House of Representatives in Washington, D.D. In his testimony on welfare reform philosophy, Wyers emphasizes Oregonians' strong support for government-sponsored employment (68%) over income maintenance and preference for job development (42%) as a primary strategy. Surprisingly, 56% favor universal benefits, challenging assumptions about selective programs. Wyers warns against work relief proposals in H.R. 9030, citing historical failures. According to the town meeting …

Shame And Public Dependency: A Literature Review, Norman L. Wyers

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

All research related to under-utilization of income maintenance programs as well as to their impact on recipients has discovered the presence of stigma. A survey of the pertinent literature points out that much is known about stigmatization but that social welfare has been slow to incorporate this knowledge in any attempt to reduce the destructive effect of stigma on program users. Both liberal and radical reform measures are proposed as remedies.