As part of the University of Georgia, a land- and sea-grant institution, the School of Social Work has primary responsibility for preparing social work leaders for social work practice with the diverse people and communities in the state of Georgia, the region, the nation and beyond our national borders.
Consistent with this mission is a strong emphasis on the importance of community outreach. Also known as service-learning, this involves utilizing the School's resources in helping students learn, while addressing community problems at the same time.
Below are examples of School of Social Work community outreach projects.
In recent years, some historians and filmmakers have begun to call attention to the many “foot soldiers” in the civil rights movement who have not been widely recognized or acclaimed. The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies, a documentary and research program at The University of Georgia, joins this vanguard.
The foundation for the project is Horace T. Ward: Desegregation of the University of Georgia, Civil Rights Advocacy, and Jurisprudence by University of Georgia School of Social Work dean, Maurice C. Daniels, which focuses on the life of federal judge Horace T. Ward.
In celebration of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month each September, students in Associate Professor Donna Leigh Bliss's Clinical Practice with Addictive Disorders class develop community-based websites that provide information on substance abuse, where to get help, and resources for professionals. RecoveryAthens.org, RecoveryAtlanta.org, RecoveryAugusta.org, RecoveryMacon.org, RecoverySavannah.org.
Burn Camp provides social work students with a dynamic educational opportunity where they learn social work values as well as essential life lessons in an intensive week working with burn-injured children.
Parham Policy Day is hosted annually by the School of Social Work. The daylong program, organized by Parham Professor June Gary Hopps and students in her policy course, aims to highlight the impact and importance of social policy in our society.
The Parham Academy was started by Parham Professor June Gary Hopps to bring together MSW students and at risk children in the community and provide a unique, structured learning experience for both sets of students. Participants spend time after school learning about how to set goals, how to learn about professions, how to deal with bullying, how to keep “drama” out of their lives, how to dress and speak, as well as age and grade appropriate socialization skills. The program also provides strong academic support and exposure cultural and educational facilities.
Students in Associate Professor Schnavia Smith Hatcher’s forensic social work class prepare a half-day workshop for Athens-area probationers, providing information on how the probationer’s social environment impacts their lives in Athens and resources to help them make better decisions in the future.
The Institute for Nonprofit Organizations is working with 40 nonprofit organizations in the Athens region, providing training and technical assistance on organizational capacity building. The project is sponsored by a two-year federal grant titled Building Capacity for Services that Grow Local Economies. The Institute is one of three partners in the project, which also includes Community Connection and ACTION. Visit the Institute's Initiatives page for more information.
During the spring, UGA students from three schools or colleges—horticulture, social work and family and consumer sciences—travel to five Athens area elementary schools to teach children about healthy eating, nature and sustainability. Co-directed by Shari Miller, an assistant professor of social work; David Berle, an associate professor of horticulture; and Jung Sun Lee, an assistant professor of food and nutrition.
Students in Associate Professor Stacey Kolomer’s Working with Older Adults course have teamed up with UGA’s Archway Partnership to help preserve the oral history of Hart County, while giving social work students experience working with older adults. Students in the class travel to Hart County to conduct life review interviews with older adults. Audio clips from the interviews are used in various media to help preserve the oral history of the community.
