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As we celebrated our last day of summer this Labor Day weekend, let’s not forget the true intention of the holiday is to recognize the labor movement and its workers. In this spirit let’s talk about how a conversation among like-minded people becomes a social change movement. There isn’t a straightforward path to creating a movement but our profession is full of stellar examples and social workers who have taken an idea or a wish and turned it into an actionable cause. Join us for the #MacroSW chat on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 9 pm EST (6 pm Pacific) to discuss moving from conversation to action.
Advocacy happens every day in big and small ways and in communities across the country. We don’t have to look far for examples. Consider the 10 NASW chapters who are collectively advocating to keep their decision-making power and the recent unveiling of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s mental health agenda which in this election year we can play an active role to shape this policy. There are many other tangible change initiatives social workers can participate in. We can look to history too, such as the labor, civil rights, and women’s movement, and appreciate that monumental change is possible.
This chat is to follow up on our July post conversation to action, in the wake of the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the sniper attack on Dallas police, which encouraged people to share advocacy activities happening in communities in our crowdsourcing document to curate a list of places where you could share your social work expertise.
On this chat, we’ll discuss things happening right now, as well as pay homage to our profession’s history of moving conversations to advocacy work. Social injustice has not only outraged us but motivated organizing efforts. Social workers have artful weaved a “feet on the ground” approach with theory and are skilled at collaboration to guide community organizing work.
For this chat, we’ll discuss the following questions.
- What was the tipping point that pushed you to work on a cause or issue?
- How has social media played a key role in your activism?
- Share tactics which have helped you or your organization solve a community problem?
- What issues are you currently working on and where do you need additional help in your community?
- Share events or initiatives where social workers can be involved in a cause. Also, add to our crowdsourcing Google doc so we can Tweet about them later!
Resources
- The Anatomy of a Movement, Harvard Business Review
- Civil Rights Movement, History Channel
- Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, Wikipedia
- The 4 Steps to Building a Successful Social Movement, Fast Company
- Black Lives Matter Founders Describe ‘Paradigm Shift’ In the Movement, NPR
About #MacroSW:
#MacroSW is a collaboration of social workers, organizations, social work schools, and individuals working to promote macro social work practice. Macro social work practice focuses on changing larger systems, such as communities and organizations. It encompasses a broad spectrum of actions and ideas, ranging from community organizing and education to legislative advocacy and policy analysis. The chats are held weekly on Twitter every Thursday at 9 p.m. EST (6 p.m. PST). Click here for a list of chat partners. For information about how to participate in the #MacroSW chat, view our FAQs. For chat schedule and chat archives check out: http://macrosw.com
