Social Work Commons^™

The Balance Sheets Of Low-Income Households: What We Know About Their Assets And Liabilities., Adam Carasso, Signe-Mary Mckernan

Center for Social Development Research

The Balance Sheets of Low-Income Households: What We Know About Their Assets and Liabilities.

The Achievement Gap From A Capabilities And Asset Perspective, William Elliott Iii, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Current explanations for the achievement gap do not fully explain why high-achieving poor and minority children perceive of college as being out of reach. This paper reviews perspectives on the achievement gap and proposes a model that incorporates a capabilities and assets approach. The uneven playing field created by unequal distribution of assets sustains educational advantage and high expectations for college among children from families with assets, while dampening expectations for college among poor and minority children. As a possible avenue to closing the gap, we suggest that increasing poor and minority children’s capability for financing college may increase educational …

Measuring Effectiveness Of Civic Participation At The University Level In Turkey: A Case Study Of The Civic Involvement Project At Sabanci University, Tara Hopkins

Center for Social Development Research

Sabanci University, located in Istanbul, Turkey, launched the Civic Involvement Project (CIP) in 1999 for students at the university level. This study examines the effectiveness of CIP, with the principle goals of measuring participants’ perceptions and identifying the program’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition, this research seeks to better understand how CIP compares to other youth involvement/participation programs. The impact of service-learning on several civic education variables (i.e. social awareness, social networking, political awareness, critical thinking, and personal development) and the effects of characteristics of service-learning experiences on the development of students are also explored.

Social Impact: 4-2-1 Phenomenon: New Partnership Explores Aging In China, Mu Mian

Social Impact Publication

There is a traditional belief that every child will have a younger generation to support them. Thishas resulted in an obligation on the child to take child of the elderly.

Social Impact: Q&A With Greg Echele, Ellen Rostand

Social Impact Publication

Interview with Greg Echele

Social Impact: Scattered Image, Rick Skwiot

Social Impact Publication

Most inside the social work profession agree that it has an image problem, which affects recruitment, pay, status, funding, and social influence. But they often disagree on who is a social worker, what the term "social work" means, whether to re-brand or scrap the term, who ought to do it, and what the image problem really is. Whatever it may be, it causes at least one social work school dean to worry "a lot" and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to launch a multi-year campaign to change the image.

Social Impact: Love Or Money: The Rise Of For-Profit Social Services, Rick Skwiot

Social Impact Publication

For better or for worse, for-profit social-service providers—in mental health, welfare, and medical care—are driving fundamental change in an industry previously driven largely by humanitarian concerns.

Social Impact: Anything But Ordinary: A New View Of Federal Service, Judy H. Watts

Social Impact Publication

Presidential Management Fellows program offers solution to federal workforce challenge.

Social Impact: Perspectives With Enola K. Proctor: The Future Of Social Work Research, Betsy Rogers, Geoff Story

Social Impact Publication

As an academic discipline and a profession, social work is undergoing a dramatic transformation, embracing new standards of evidence, effectiveness, and accountability in both research and practice. Characteristically, the Brown School is leading the way, and Enola K. Proctor, associate dean for research, has become a national champion for the new standards.

Social Impact, Edward F. Lawler, Tonya E. Edmonds, Luis H. Zayas, Enola K. Proctor, Ellen Rostand, Jessica Martin, Toky Branding + Design, Donna Boyd

Social Impact Publication

From the Dean: Challenging Our Profession;

Perspectives: In The News: Social Work Faculty and Alumni Comment on Latina Mental Health, Saving in China, and the Poverty Line.;

Bookshelf: From the Internet to Economics: What Faculty and Staff are Reading.;

Perspectives by Arlene Rubin Stiffman: Indictment of Cruelty or Testimony of the Human Spirit?;

Perspectives with Gina Chowa: Student Exports Poverty-Fighting Idea to Africa;

Interview: Q&A with Richard A. Gephardt;

Perspectives: A Closer Look at Immigration with Luis H. Zayas; 16 For Love or Money: The Rise of For-Profit Social Services.;

The 4-2-1 Phenomenon: New Partnership Explores Aging in China.;

Anything …

Social Impact, Edward L. Lawler, Tonya E. Edmonds, Enola K. Proctor, Julie Kennedy, Jessica Martin, Toky Branding + Design, Donna Boyd, Ellen Rostand, Michelle Kassman

Social Impact Publication

From the Dean: Make Space for Social Work;

Perspectives: In the News: Social Work Faculty and Staff Comment on Civilian Service, Health Care Costs, and Native American Stereotypes;

Perspectives: Civic Service Worldwide;

Perspectives: The Future of Social Work Research with Enola K. Proctor;

Interview: Q&A with Greg Echele;

Scattered Image: Leaders in social work education agree that the profession has an image problem but remain at odds on the best way to change it.;

Place, Space, & People: Traditionally two disparate fields, architecture and social work are interacting in new ways that involve communities in producing socially innovative design.;

Sowing …

Social Impact: A Sense Of Place: Place-Based Initiatives Help Communities And Students, Rick Skwiot

Social Impact Publication

Kirkland has been advocating and teaching "place-based" social work for some 30 years under the rubric "social and economic development."

Social Impact: Sowing The Seeds Of Knowledge, Brenda Murphy-Niederkorn

Social Impact Publication

Social Work PhDs share their impact and reflect on their doctoral education.

Social Impact: Built Environment: Place, Space, And People, Candance O'Conner

Social Impact Publication

As a child, Michael Willis lived in the Pruitt-Igoe public housing development, a cluster of 33 St. Louis high-rises that became national symbols of poor social planning. Elevators stopped on every other floor; there were few services nearby for families or recreational facilities for children. Not surprisingly, Pruitt-Igoe deteriorated, its corridors infested with crime, and was finally demolished in the mid-1970s, with the first buildings famously dynamited in 1972. Michael was there as an observer when he was a Washington University architecture student.

Social Impact: Perspectives With Luis H. Zayas: A Closer Look At Immigration, Betsy Rogers

Social Impact Publication

Immigration reform took center stage last spring as hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Latin America and elsewhere filled American streets to protest proposed legislation widely seen as harsh and punitive. The immigrants' numbers and fervor took many by surprise, but Luis Zayas, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor of Social Work and professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, finds nothing historically unusual in today's migrations.

Seed Account Monitoring Research At June 30, 2006, Lisa Reyes Mason, Vernon Loke, Margaret Clancy

Center for Social Development Research

SEED Account Monitoring Research at June 30, 2006

Do Assets Affect Well-Being? Perceptions Of Youth In A Matched Savings Program, Edward Scanlon, Deborah Adams

Center for Social Development Research

Do Assets Affect Well-Being? Perceptions of Youth in a Matched Savings Program

How Young People Save Money: Findings From Interviews With Seed Participants, Edward Scanlon, Jennifer Wheeler Brooks, Deborah Adams

Center for Social Development Research

How Young People Save Money: Findings From Interviews With SEED Participants

State Policy Options For Building Assets, Leslie Parrish, Heather Mcculloch, Karen Edwards

Center for Social Development Research

State Policy Options for Building Assets

Using Individual Development Accounts To Save For A Home: Are There Differences By Race?, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Kristen Wagner

Center for Social Development Research

Research indicates that homeownership is a key variable in wealth accumulation. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration, this study examines the performance of low-incomeblacks and whites saving for homeownership through Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a matched saving program. Results show black IDA participants saved smaller amounts and less frequently. Furthermore, findings suggest institutional variables have different associations with savings for blacks and whites. Implications for policymakers and program administrators are discussed regarding differential targeting of race groups in the design and implementation of programs aimed toward increasing savings and assets accumulation for low-income and minority households.

Wealth Building In Rural America: Programs, Policies, Research, Jon Bailey, Jami Curley, Karen Edwards, Gena Gunn, Eric Henson, Njeri Kagotho, Anna Lee, Kathleen K. Miller, Luxman Nathan, Trina R. Shanks, Michael Sherraden, Margaret S. Sherraden, Jean Schumacher, Bill Schweke, Ann Ulmer

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Programs, Policies, Research

From Financial Literacy To Financial Capability Among Youth, Elizabeth Johnson, Margaret S. Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Youth in the United States are facing an increasingly complex and perilous financial world. Economically disadvantaged youth, in particular, lack financial knowledge and access to mainstream financial institutions. Despite growing interest in youth financial literacy, we have not seen comparable efforts to improve institutional access to financial institutions and services. Instead of aiming for financial literacy, we suggest aiming for financial capability, a concept that builds on the writing of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. The paper proposes that financial capability results when individuals develop financial knowledge and skills, but also gain access to financial instruments and institutions. The paper …

Asset-Based Policy In Indonesia: Pilot Study And Emerging Opportunities, Michael Sherraden, Li Zou

Center for Social Development Research

The Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis collaborated with the Indonesian Ministry of Social Welfare and researchers from the State Islamic University (UIN) to design a major asset-based, poverty-alleviation pilot project in Indonesia. The government committed significant resources to this 5-year study, which formed a major part of the welfare rethinking in the Indonesian Department of Social Welfare’s five-year plan (2006-2010). This pilot study operated in impoverished localities in parallel with Indonesia’s successful microfinance program (Cooperative Micro Businesses, or KUBE program). Discussion of asset building has grown steadily in Indonesian government circles since the idea …

The Forms And Structure Of International Voluntary Service, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden, John Stringham, Simona Costanzo Sow, Amanda Moore Mcbride

Center for Social Development Research

International voluntary service (IVS) has a significant and growing presence worldwide. IVS is a policy and program tool used for international development aid, humanitarian relief, and promotion of international understanding. In the last century, forms of IVS have proliferated, while research on scope, effectiveness, and impacts has lagged behind. We propose a typology that addresses duration, nature of service, and degree of “internationality.” Further, we identify IVS networks and support organizations that bolster the capacity of IVS sending and hosting organizations, and in this process create large and little recognized international institutions of cooperation. Building on the typology, we suggest …

Older Adults In Service To Society, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Fengyan Tang, Song-Iee Hong, Jaime Goldberg, So Yeon Kim, Amy Luman, Michael Sherraden, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Erin Auth, Kerry Finegan, Lisa Lawrence

Center for Social Development Research

Older Adults in Service to Society

The I Can Save Program: School-Based Children's Saving Accounts For College, Margaret Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, William Elliott, Shirley Porterfield, William Rainford

Center for Social Development Research

This paper examines an innovative college savings program for public elementary school children. The project is based on the proposition that children will gain financial knowledge and be more likely to view college as an attainable goal because they are accumulating savings to help pay for higher education. As the latest in a long history of school-based savings programs, this program pioneers the idea of matched savings in which children and family savings in the students’ accounts are matched one to one up to a maximum of $3,500. Findings suggest that the principal, teachers, children, and their families are enthusiastic …

Wealth Building In Rural America: Potential In Human Diversity, Jami C. Curley, Brian Dabson, Anna Lee, Kathleen K. Miller, Luxman Nathan, Trina R. Shanks, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Potential in Human Diversity

Wealth Building In Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outlook, Jami C. Curley, Brian Dabson, Elisabeth Howard, E. G. Nadeau, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outlook

Academic Capabilities And Disadvantaged Students: The Role Of Institutions, William Elliott Iii, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Notwithstanding the far reaching intellectual and practical contributions of Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, researchers have suggested that it may not adequately address the role of institutions. This paper suggests that traditional measures of self-efficacy underemphasize institutional factors. This may have important implications, especially for considering the circumstances of disadvantaged groups. It may be productive to think of self-efficacy as a multidimensional construct that includes personal and institutional dimensions. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we examine how self-efficacy theory can be expanded to account for the social and economic realities of disadvantaged groups and lead to empirical work that can inform policy …

Economic Empowerment As A Health Care Intervention Among Orphaned Children In Rural Uganda, Fred M. Ssewamala, Stacey Alicea, William M. Bannon Jr., Leyla Ismayilova

Center for Social Development Research

This study evaluated an economic empowerment intervention to reduce HIV risks among orphaned children in Uganda. Children (n=97) were randomly assigned to receive an economic intervention or to a control arm. Data obtained at baseline and 12-month follow-up revealed differences on HIV prevention attitudes, educational plans, and child-caregiver relationship for intervention arm children relative to control children. Findings lend support to use of economic empowerment interventions for HIV risk reduction among orphaned children.