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Community Practice Skills: Local to Global Perspectives resources

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COMMUNITIES AND COMMUNITY PRACTICE IN LOCAL TO GLOBAL CONTEXTS ■ 23 community empowerment. Three additional chapters in part I establish the foun- dation for understanding and preparing for community practice. Chapter 2 pres- ents the eight models of community practice, provides the rationale for selecting the eight models, explores the three lenses that we believe will color community practice in all parts of the world during the twenty- fi es rst century, and identifi the primary roles used by social workers in the eight models. Chapter 3 describes the evolution of values, the history of approaches to community practice, and the purposes of community practice work. Chapter 4 provides an overview of the theories, knowledge base, and perspectives that guide community practice. In chapters 5 through 12, in which our community practice models and skills are presented in detail, we discuss specifi c philosophies, methods, and informa- tion technologies that facilitate the development of powerful and effective orga- nizations. Helping people to engage in progressive community change, to de- velop an understanding of the change pro cess, and to make use of participatory decision making, planning, strategy, development, and evaluation requires a skilled community practice facilitator. Through participation, people can be engaged in politics and policy development that can lead to progressive changes in social, economic, and environmental arenas from the ground up. Through engagement in the po liti cal pro cess and the development of policy, people are more likely to take active roles and become participants in the efforts working for change. We understand that increased participation does not always lead in progressive directions, nor does po liti cal leadership necessarily help a popula- tion value diversity, collaborative engagement, responsibility for future genera- tions, or environmental stewardship. However, the progressive changes we envi- sion, and those that are convergent with the values of social work, include social justice, economic opportunity, and environmental restoration and protection. Throughout this book we will frequently return to our perspectives on social, economic, po liti cal, and environmental well- being. Social well- being means that all people have access to the supports and opportunities offered by social institu- tions and relationships; economic well- being means that all people have opportu- nities to achieve a wide variety of livelihoods and that wages should pay enough to meet a family’s needs for shelter, food, health care, and transportation; po liti- cal well- being means that all people should have freedom to associate, speak, vote, and participate in the governments that make policy for them; environmen- tal well- being means that present generations must not live beyond the resources in the biosphere and must repair, to the extent possible, damage to air, water, soil, fi sheries, forests, and other species. In all the chapters that follow, we focus on the work of community practice social workers and the knowledge, roles and skills necessary for helping communities to identify goals and to work toward progressive outcomes for themselves, for their regions, and for the world.

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