Spring 2026 SOWK 531 Class 10 Weekly Email

MyHeritage Syllabus Presentations Emails

Thank you for hanging in and waiting to get your forums for this week. They are extra credit. We had some trouble coming back from LSWO 2026. It was a great conference and feel like I got lots of ideas and learning and got to explore and learn about Puerto Rico. We didn’t make it back until last night after some challenges with all of the stuff happening with the airports. Looking forward to seeing everybody on Saturday.

Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn

Synchronous class, Saturday 3/28. Advocacy and Social Action with Populations at Risk.

Unit Assignments

Content

• Read Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2018) Chapter 11: Advocacy and Social Action with Populations at Risk

W-10 A-01: Asynchronous Participation and Engagement [Extra Credit]

I’m offering this week’s forums as an opportunity for extra credit, so they are not required. I do still expect students to read the textbook. To receive credit, the expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can be related to the prompts or building on conversations shared by peers. There are three forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least 3 replies across any of the forums and read all of your peers’ replies. These forums include the following:

• Questions Drawn From Textbook Chapter 11 covers a range of advocacy- and social action-related topics from the textbook.
• A scenario involving discrimination against a Hmong immigrant family at a community swimming pool serves as the basis for Advocacy Tactics Case Study, where students select and apply appropriate advocacy tactics.
• Students engage with Alinsky’s perspectives on social action and a documentary about his legacy in Reflecting on Alinsky Social Action Approach, considering how his confrontational approach to community organizing applies today.

Assignment 04: Community Assessment Group Project

Submitted in next week’s forum

Meta: Points 100 pts (20% of final grade); Deadline Monday 03/30/26 at 8:00 AM Completion via a forum post on MyHeritage; Locations: MyHeritage Assignment Detail, Assignment Description and Rubric, and W-11 Discussion Forum - Community Assessment Group Project Presentations.

Purpose: This assignment promotes students’ ability to collaborate effectively with peers while demonstrating skills in community assessment and professional presentation. Students will apply theoretical frameworks from Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2018, Chapter 8) to examine a real community, assess its strengths and needs, and consider potential macro-level interventions.

Task: Working in groups, students will select and assess a local community. The group will create a pamphlet summarizing their assessment and deliver a 15 to 20-minute presentation with visual aids. The presentation will be completed virtually, having student post the video and their created pamphlet in the forums. The presentation can be organized including the following information:

• Introduction to the Community: Orient your audience to your community. Provide a clear overview of the community. Factors that may be helpful include location, population characteristics, income level, attractiveness, housing, geography, history, educational opportunities, social/cultural systems in existence, commerce and industry, religion and churches, type of government, political factors, social and health systems, sources of information, and distribution of power, among others.
• Community Assessment: Present your assessment of the community. Describe the steps you took to assess the community. What was the scope of your assessment. Consider connecting it topics such as the five functions of a community or community social stratification discussed in the textbook. Students are encouraged to gather data through multiple methods, which may include reviewing census and demographic data, conducting windshield surveys, interviewing community members or stakeholders, internet searches, and reviewing local media or organizational reports.
• Findings: Summarize the major findings of your assessment, there should be at least three. Identify the community’s key strengths and existing resources alongside its most pressing needs or gaps. Organize your findings clearly — consider using a framework such as strengths, gaps, opportunities, and challenges to present a balanced picture.
• Interventions and Potential Actions: Based on your findings, propose potential macro-level interventions for creating planned change. These might include strategies related to community organization, advocacy, program development, or administrative action. Explain why the proposed interventions are a good fit for the identified needs and how they build on existing community strengths.
• Showcase of Created Pamphlet: Present the pamphlet your group developed as a tangible product of your assessment. It should also be added to the forum post. The pamphlet should distill your key findings and proposed actions into a format that could be shared with community members, stakeholders, or decision-makers.
• References: Slides should designate where you got information from using in-text citations. A reference list should be included to provided the full citations of sources uses during your presentation.

To submit this assignment, one group member will create a post in the Week 11 forum identified for this assignment. The post should include a brief summary of the project, who your group members are, your presentation video, and your pamphlet.

Students may record their presentation in the way that works best for their group. The assignment on MyHeritage is set up as a Learning Tool using Panopto, so students can record directly through Panopto or upload a pre-recorded video (e.g., from Zoom). If using Panopto, you will need to adjust the video’s sharing settings: hover over the video, select the share icon, copy the link, and set “Who can access this video” to public (unlisted). Students may also host their video on another platform (e.g., YouTube or cloud storage) and share the link in the forum instead.

Success: This assignment is graded using the Appendix C Community Assessment Group Project Rubric. A successful project clearly articulates the individualized character of the community, demonstrates a thorough and theoretically grounded assessment, identifies needs supported by evidence, and proposes relevant interventions. The presentation is professionally delivered and the pamphlet is high quality.

Appendix C. Community Assessment Group Project Rubric

The Community Assessment Group Project Rubric is used to evaluate the group presentation and pamphlet students complete in SOWK 531. It evaluates the assignment across six criteria: whether the presentation provides a thorough overview of the selected community, describes the assessment process with connections to theoretical frameworks from the textbook, presents clearly organized findings, identifies actionable macro-level interventions, is professionally delivered, and includes a high-quality pamphlet that could serve as a practical resource for community stakeholders.

Criterion	Initial	Emerging	Developed	Highly Developed
A thorough community overview that clearly orients the audience to the community.	The presentation offers a limited or unclear description of the community, covering fewer than five aspects or presenting information in a way that does not meaningfully orient the audience.	The presentation describes the community from at least five different aspects. The overview provides a basic sense of the community but leaves significant gaps in the audience’s understanding.	The presentation describes the community from at least eight different aspects. The overview is generally clear and informative but may lack depth or detail in some areas.	The presentation provides a robust overview of the community, describing it from at least ten different aspects (e.g., location, population characteristics, income level, housing, geography, history, educational opportunities, social/cultural systems, commerce and industry, religion, government, political factors, health systems, distribution of power, etc.). The overview provides a well-rounded picture that clearly orients the audience.
The assessment process is described and connections are drawn to theory.	The presentation provides a limited or unclear account of the assessment process, with little indication of what the group did to gather information and no connection to theory.	The presentation describes the assessment process but does not connect the work to any theoretical framework from the textbook.	The presentation describes the assessment process and identifies a relevant theoretical framework, but the connection between theory and the assessment is surface-level or lacks detailed explanation.	The presentation clearly articulates the steps and actions taken to understand the community and its needs. Artifacts of the assessment process (such as photos done during windshield survey) are included. The description of the community is connected to at least one theoretical framework drawn from the textbook (e.g., Warren’s five functions of community, social stratification, power dynamics, ecological perspective, etc.), with explanation of how the theory informed the assessment.
A set of findings and their analysis is presented.	The presentation identifies one or fewer findings, or findings are presented in a way that is unclear or unsupported.	The presentation identifies two findings. Discussion or analysis of the findings is minimal or one-sided.	The presentation identifies at least three findings, but the discussion does not provide a balanced analysis.	The presentation clearly describes at least three findings about the community (these can be strengths or needs). Each finding includes discussion that provides a balanced picture, considering factors such as strengths, gaps, opportunities, and challenges related to that finding.
Potential actionable macro interventions are identified.	One or fewer interventions are identified, or proposed interventions are unclear and disconnected from the assessment.	Two potential interventions are identified. Descriptions may be vague or lack clear connection to the assessment findings.	At least three potential interventions are identified, but descriptions are limited. For example, the audience may understand what is being proposed but not how it connects to findings or how it would be carried out.	At least three potential macro-level interventions are identified. They fit with the identified needs, build on community strengths, and are described in enough detail to understand how they might be accomplished.
The presentation is professionally delivered.	The presentation is unclear, highly disorganized, or difficult to follow throughout.	The presentation has noticeable problems with organization, clarity, or delivery that make it difficult to follow at times.	The presentation is organized and clear but lacks smooth flow. Visual aids are present but may not enhance the presentation effectively.	The presentation is professionally delivered, clearly conveys the assessment’s details, and demonstrates strong presentation skills including organization, pacing, and visual aids.
A high-quality pamphlet is created.	The pamphlet is not included or is incomplete to the point that it does not function as a meaningful product.	The pamphlet is difficult to follow, unclear in its presentation, or missing key information about the community’s findings and proposed actions.	The pamphlet includes relevant information but has limitations in design, readability, or completeness. It may be difficult to follow in places or lack sufficient detail to stand alone as a useful product.	The pamphlet is well designed and visually appealing, clearly showcases key information about the community (including findings and proposed actions), and could realistically be shared with community members or stakeholders as a useful resource.

Unit Resources

You can listen to a podcast episode for this week’s reading Chapter 11: Advocacy and Social Action with Populations at Risk, or see the entire series Podcast Series.

Hercules and Orenstein (1999) directed The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy that can be watched. One of the forums asks students to reflect on Alinsky and his Social Action Approach.

Slides will be uploaded closer to class.

The Lecture Videos tab in the MyHeritage course is where you will be able to find class recordings. The video this week is at [Spring 2026 SOWK 531 Week 10]().

Reference

Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H. (2018). Generalist practice with organizations and communities (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Hercules, B., & Orenstein, B. (Directors). (1999). The democratic promise: Saul Alinsky and his legacy [Film]. Media Process Educational Films; Chicago Video Project; Independent Television Service.

To-Do Lists

• Reach chapter 11
• Attend class
• Complete 3 replies across any of the forums for extra credit
• Submit your A-04 Community Assessment Group Project Presentations