List five (5) things you learned from your peers and how their observations and contributions may add to your skill set as a social worker or professional.

1. Gun Control- According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, " Based on available Data from 1980 to 2008 Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders. the victimization rate for blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000)".

2. Anti-Bullying- "During the 2010-2011 school year, there were more than 34,000 reported cases of bullying in Michigan schools-more than 8,000 of them in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties”.  "One teen dies every 30 minutes in the U.S.A. from bullycide”

3. Same-Sex Marriage- "Currently there are 15 states that allow gay marriage, along with the District of Columbia and 34 states that have banned same-sex marriage, either through legislation or constitutional amendments".

4. Adult Illiteracy-"The U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy reports 32 million adults in American can not read, 21% of adults read below a 5th grade level, 63% of prison inmates are illiterate, and an astonishing 19% of high school graduates are unable to read at the expected high school grade level".

5. Gender Discrimination- “The gap between male and female earnings is striking: Department of Labor statistics show that, on average, a woman who works full-time makes only seventy-seven to eighty cents on the dollar as compared to a similarly situated man”.

The information that I learned from my peers are important due to it making me more aware and know in depth of the issues that exist. Social workers should know about the social problems that are being issues for people, so when there is a client(s) that are experiencing one of the problems, then the social worker will be knowledgeable about it.  Being aware of issues are also important to know to be enabled to assist clients that are experiencing the problem.

Darice Collier

My A-ha moment in the class was when we watched the documentary about the history of poverty.  I learned a few things that I thought were interesting. Poverty has indeed been around with humans for a very long time. Everything always has a history and the first step to fix anything is to know the history of it. Poverty has been around since the existence of humans. This is great to know as a social worker to have knowledge of why clients deal with poverty and where it originated from. Poverty is something that many Americans deal with and it is the most intractable problem in the United States. One of the things from this class I was intrigued about is that policymakers remain uncertain as to the precise causes of poverty. It is a social and political problem, so it is a surprise that the causes are unknown. The cause of poverty is complex and has many various reasons to why it is a huge issue. Policymakers believe that employment is the best antipoverty program. 

Darice Collier

I reviewed chapters 5, 6, 7, and, 8 from our text to prepare for our exam. After reviewing the chapters I think I am ready for the exam.  Chapter 5 "Poverty in America", was a great chapter and I enjoyed reviewing the information. Poverty is something that many Americans deal with and it is the most intractable problem in the United States. One of the things from this chapter I thought was interesting is that policymakers remain uncertain as to the precise causes of poverty. It is a social and political problem, so it is a surprise that the causes are unknown. The cause of poverty is complex and has many various reasons to why it is a huge issue. Policymakers believe that employment is the best antipoverty program.  Chapter 6, "The Voluntary Sector Today", deals with some of the institutions involved in social welfare. The heart of the voluntary sector is made up of the private, non profit organizations that are at the local level.  The voluntary sector was the first modern welfare institution and it has a long legacy in the social welfare.

Chapter 7, "Privatization and Human Service Corporations", displays the privatization of social welfare. Many local officials pursue privatization due to state and local jurisdictions struggle to justify increasing service demand with static resources. Private practice is condoned, but privatization of government activities is skeptical. The social work profession will be a concern with many government activities being a privatization.  There are some social workers that work in private practice, but there are many social workers that work in the public sector. Chapter 8, "The Making of Governmental Policy", deals with the process of how governmental policy is made. Social welfare programs assist millions of Americans and employ thousands of human service professionals. The public policy process is important due to many social welfare policies being established by the government.

Darice Collier

List of 3 Things That I Have Learned in The Course

1. Social welfare policy: A subset of social policy, regulates the provision of benefits to people to meet basic life needs, such as employment, income, food, housing, health care, and relationships; This is vital to know as a social worker because social policies dictate to how social workers can get their work done.

2. History of Poverty:  Poverty has been around since the existence of humans; This is great to know as a social worker to have knowledge of why clients deal with poverty and where poverty originated from.

3. Variety of organizations: Provide a wide range of benefits and services to different client populations; This is good to know as a social worker to be knowledgeable of what assistance can be given to clients that are in need.


Karger, H. J. and Stoesz, D.  (2013). American Social Welfare: A Pluralist Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Darice Collier

The social problem that I selected is the concern for the support of pregnant women and single mothers that are poor and have low income. I have learned many things about this social problem. One in four low-income single mothers nationwide are jobless and without cash aid because they can't get the help that is needed. The first article I came across is from New York Times and I went about researching from there first because I love their newspaper articles. The article of the New York Times, "Welfare Limits Left Poor Adrift as Recession Hit" have many examples of women struggling due to them being cut off from assistance because they are past the welfare limit. According to the article there are many women doing illegal things to survive since they are not receiving assistance. A quote from the article, "The revamped law encourages states to withhold aid, especially when the economy turns bad", is exactly what is happening now (New York Times, 2012). I have learned great things from chapter 7 this week. Human service corporations have become dominant in social welfare. There are many human service professionals that have been skeptical about the support of human service corporations. 


Darice Collier

DeParle, J. (2012, April, 7). Welfare Limits Left Poor Adrift as Recession Hit. New York Times, p. A1  

Chapter 6, "The Voluntary Sector Today" I had a good experience reading and learned many things. The three subjects that caught my attention the most were Traditional Providers, Human Service Executives, and Clinical Entrepreneurs. The Traditional Providers have an organic conception of social welfare.  Most social service is in the form of United Way subsidized sectarian and nonsectarian agencies. The members group collected $4.07 billion in 2006-2007. The Human Service Executives are salaried employees of proprietary firms. They market strategies for encouraging social welfare. Human service corporations have established important positions in human service market. The Clinical Entrepreneurs are professional service providers who consist mostly of social workers, physicians, and psychologists, they do not work for salary, but work for themselves.

What are the competing institutions that the voluntary sector has?


Karger, H. J. and Stoesz, D.  (2013). American Social Welfare: A Pluralist Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

 Darice Collier

I have learned many things after reviewing chapter 1,2, and 4 in our text. Chapter One, Social Policy and the American Welfare State is a good thing to know about. There is a correlation between social problems and social welfare. The relationship between the two determines the social welfare in the United States. The social welfare state is important due to how it is a great way to help those that are disadvantaged and are in need of things.  The social welfare policy has become a huge business in the United States during the past thirty years. There are many human services that shapes the social welfare policies. Child-day care, nursing care, health care, and substance abuse services are a few of those services. Social welfare is a necessity for our nation to help people meet the basic needs of life.

Chapter Two, Social Welfare Policy Research is another great thing to learn about. Social welfare policy research helps to analyze a social policy or program, which is good to know what programs are good and beneficial. The goal of a policy analysis is to do research in providing information to legislators and advocacy research. They also are expected to evaluate a policy and make recommendations. There is a systematic and structured framework for policy analysis, which examines a specific social welfare policy. One of the things that policy analysis looks for within a policy is social welfare values, which are equity, social justice, and redistribution. Social work practice is driven by social policy. 

Chapter Four, Discrimination in American Society is an interesting topic and vital to understand for social work. The main things I learned was discrimination, racism, minority middle class, immigrants, violence, sexism, women in society, ageism and gays/lesbians. There are many different types of areas of discrimination in the United States. African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, women, gays, lesbians, people with disabilities, the elderly and the poor whites are all targeted for discrimination. There are antidiscrimination programs, legislation, and policies that are created for protecting the rights of individuals. Some people are stigmatized for receiving assistance from a program.

Darice Collier

 

    After reflecting back over this week's learning process, I had a good experience.  I learned many good things that will benefit me as a social worker. I enjoyed reading chapter four from our text and learning about discrimination and social stigma in American society. Every social worker should have knowledge about discrimination and social stigma that is in our nation to be a good social worker.  Understanding discrimination and social stigma that occurs in our nation will allow generalist to be able to assist and guide clients that may experience it. The blog assignment that that we had to write about this week had me a little agitated due to me not able to find me an article at first. I kept trying to put different things in the search engine, but it was not working. I was so happy when I finally was able to find me an article to write my blog about!

Darice Collier