The purpose of the Community Action Project is for you to become familiar with an at-risk group, explore an issue pertinent to social work practice, assess the availability of resources, and potential needs of your community. The final product will summarize the following information in a 3-5-page paper
Select an at-risk population: CHILDREN Once you have selected your population research the following:
Briefly describe the group. Why it is considered a population at-risk- what is the population at risk of? Why? (use your textbook to support your discussion here)
Size of the group in the current population in the US, size of the group in Carroll County, MD (cite source of statistics)
How has the population been oppressed and/or discriminated against both historically and in the present time both in the US and in the Carroll County Community
What are the major issues that present barriers to serving this group? How can social workers help?
Select on issue that impacts this group examples include poverty, addiction, mental illness, physical illness). Once you have selected the issue research the following:
Summarize the issue you have selected and include the following:
Information about how this issue impacts members of the selected group in Carroll County, MD
Research and describe resources that are available in the Frederick community to address the identified issue for this population. Resources might include support groups, treatment facilities, online resources, advocacy groups, etc. (you do not have to include every resource, just try to give an overview of what is available, or note if there are not resources available).
Identify specific social work interventions that would best serve the selected population (use 2-3 academic resources to support your discussion on appropriate interventions, one source can be your textbook).
Reflect and recommend action based on your research
Identify any gaps in services or unmet needs for the population in Carroll County, MD you uncovered during your research.
From a social work lens, discuss recommendations you would make to address service gaps and unmet needs (for example, is more funding needed? Are more programs with targeted interventions needed for the specific population?) (Use at least one academic resource to support your discussion)
