Community Partnerships

Abstract

Community challenges force human service agencies to collaborate in providing services. Such collaborations require practitioners to have skills not found in mainstream social work curricula. This paper explores how a new MSW program evolved through dialog with community leaders and resulted in a curriculum with a sole concentration of community partnerships.     

Geriatric Hospitals in India,Today and in the Future

Summary

In a country that shuns hospitalization of the elderly, regarding it as disrespect of those who helped youngsters evolve, Heritage Hospital (HH)is a welcome change, a model and pioneer stand-alone geriatric hospital. With its non-ambulatory services looking after sick elderly, HH is like an extended family of seniors. HH's love and fresh air complement its Meals-on-Wheels program, guided by the nutritionist's healthy food. HH's Volunteer Guild; its Diabetes Club, ever growing with India's dramatic rise in the number of diabetics; its Senior Net Club's Click@50, making elders computer savvy; and Grandparent-Grandchild and Golden and Silver Couple contests celebrated on October 1st, are all widely appreciated, enforcing strong values Indians still share on marriage and family. Heritage brings together 10,000 seniors in Hyderabad, strengthening its motto of Eastern philosophy with its strong emphasis on care for the elderly.     

Assessing the Integrity of Community Organization and Administration Content in Field Practice

The effort to ensure that students acquire knowledge and skills in macro social work practice requires considerable attention in the face of stronger interests in micro practice on the part of students and their field instructors. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the field component at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to provide learning opportunities for the development of macro practice skills and knowledge. Over 85% of the student respondents had responsibility for at least one macro practice activity during their first field placement. Although a majority of the macro practice assignments were related to organizational interventions and very few to community interventions, the study provides guidance for improving the teamwork of faculty and field instructors in an articulated approach to field learning.     

集体所有、村委管理与村民的行政诉讼原告资格——兼论“村”的公法人地位

村民是否有资格对村委会的集体财产处分行为提起诉讼,是当下我国村民自治实践中急待解决的法律问题。在实证法没有明文规定的背景下,法院都把集体财产处分纠纷作为民事案件处理,但对村民的原告资格问题却给出了两种相互矛盾的回答。而且,不管法院是肯定还是否定村民的原告资格,都分别隐含了把集体财产等同于村民共有财产,或者把"村"定性为私法人的理论错误,充分暴露了村民原告资格在民事诉讼制度框架下的解释困境。实际上,对依据法律和政府行为设立并承担大量公共管理职能的"村",我们只有把它定性为大陆法国家行政法上的公法人才是准确的。一旦恢复"村"的公法人面貌和地位,把村委会处分集体财产纠纷纳入行政诉讼,集体财产的均等分配性特征使村民个人和集体财产之间构成"法律上利害关系",每个村民对集体财产处分行为就都具有行政诉讼原告资格。     

Counter-geographies: The campaign against rationalisation of agricultural research stations in New South Wales, Australia

This paper discusses an example of community action mounted in a rural region of New South Wales, Australia, in response to proposals by the State Government to rationalise agricultural research stations operated by the Department of Primary Industries. Informed by a Foucaultian understanding of power and the concept of governmentality, neoliberalism is theorised as being the broad governmental context in which rationalisation proposals were put forward. Recent literature drawing on this theoretical perspective has emphasised that neoliberalism is enacted through a relationship of power, and is not monolithic or inevitable. Neoliberalism is always negotiated by those seeking to govern and those who are the object of such governmental actions. This paper analyses how plans to rationalise publicly funded agricultural research stations were opposed by those seeking to keep research facilities open in the case study area. The paper discusses the methods and scope of community action and, drawing on interviews, identifies a series of discourses articulated by campaigners. Non-local actors were depicted as uncaring and insensitive. In contrast, campaigners discussed the emergence of a ‘city-country divide’ in domestic politics; the need for specialist agricultural knowledge given the region's unique geographical location; and local impacts of an economic, social and emotional nature. Central were discourses of maintaining community, tradition, and continuity in unique local places defined by their climate, biophysical environment and economy. These were ‘counter-geographies’ that sought (successfully, it would transpire) to disrupt the state's imagined geography of a homogenous and flexible administrative space in which research services could be relocated wherever most efficient. Important too were embodied resistances to the way rural industries and people were subjected. Campaigners refused to accept preferred codes of neoliberal behaviour (particularly mobility and rationality) and instead demanded respect for their careers, families and communities. Important considerations are suggested for further research on impacts and negotiations of neoliberalism. This study particularly highlights the successes—as well as contradictions and limitations—of arguments that construct rural places as socialised, unique and unfairly treated (by governments), in opposition to metropolitan dominance and ‘placeless’ neoliberalism.     

外来务工者的社区融入现状分析——基于对北京石景山区Y小区的调查

文章基于对北京石景山区Y小区中外来务工人员生活和社区融合状况的调查，揭示了城市社区中外来务工人员的融人情况和面临的主要问题，并分析了造成这种情况的原因，主要从社区层面上提出了促进社区融合的建议。对于前人关于外来务工人员城市适应问题的研究进行了补充。     

从社区居民读书状况看社区图书馆的建设模式

南昌居民读书特点为：家庭藏书不能满足居民的读书需求；读书的主观能动性不足，属于“要用才读书”；在读书方面投入的时间和资金不大。因此，社区图书馆在社区将有着极大的功能发挥空间。社区图书馆的建设必须与时俱进，采用依靠政府支持、创办图书银行、挖掘物业潜力、共享学校与公共图书馆的资源等多元化模式进行建设。     

水利水电工程移民群体性事件类型探讨——基于QW省水电移民社会稳定调查

目前,水利水电工程移民是中国社会中最不稳定的群体之一,不稳定的主要表现之一就是易发生＂群体性事件＂,对区域社会稳定构成直接威胁。政府在管理和处置水利水电工程移民群体性事件过程中,首先得认清事件的性质和机理,从而快速地找到处理问题的应对方案。而不同类型水利水电工程移民群体性事件的机理不同,其处置过程也不同。因此,要做到具体问题具体分析、具体处置,就有必要对水利水电工程移民群体性事件进行分类。为了突出当前水利水电工程移民群体性事件的主要表现形态、主要矛盾、研究和政策以及政府管理应关注的重点,结合对QW省水电移民社会稳定调查,本文按照事件规模、参与主体、性质、影响范围、引致原因等十余种基本标准,对水利水电工程移民群体性事件进行了划分。     

What are friends for? Elective communities of single people

The paper presents the results of a qualitative research on friendship networks of single people. The research has been undertaken using social network analysis tools (egonetworks) and qualitative interviews, on a non-representative sample of 23 heterosexual singles of Milan, aged between 25 and 35 years, 12 male and 11 female.     

The Right to Take Risks: Alcohol and Older People

This paper examines policy and practice regarding the purchase of alcohol for older clients of home carers in three local authorities in the Greater London area. Data were gathered from interviews with home carers and their managers, focus group discussions, and a postal survey. None of the local authorities had a written policy or written guidance on alcohol purchase or on appropriate responses to the identification of problematic drinking in older clients. The findings illustrate the problem of balancing "rights" and "risks" within a philosophy of community care which emphasizes client choice and autonomy, and show how policy and practice are "tailored" by local contexts. It is suggested that both home carers and other domiciliary workers, as well as their older clients, could benefit from a clear code of practice regarding responses to alcohol consumption and problematic drinking by older people.