Why did you decide to participate in RISE?
I saw RISE as a space for social workers and other service providers to consider how social systems often do not take into account life experiences that are impacted by oppression. Since service providers are often enlightened by individuals who share their life experiences and the conference is interdisciplinary it seemed like a great place to do a workshop where participants can reflect on their unique place in identifying trends in social issues and to support efforts to respond to them. I also have a personal connection to the topic I’m presenting on as a gender non-conforming woman who is interested in health care.

How do you define social justice, and how do you work towards it?
I view social justice as engaging in acts that bring injustice to the forefront and secure inclusive equity. In other words, I believe social justice is only possible when people become aware of privilege and oppression they experience as well as injustices of people who have different life experiences from them. Often well-intentioned work can generate or play into injustices when the focus rests on a sole form of oppression. I work towards social justice by supporting folks to find their own way to express social injustice and celebrate strides towards healing from, resisting and subduing oppression.

What are your personal guiding values as a social worker?
With an understanding that most folks have transactions with social workers because they encountered adversity in some form or another I believe I must offer opportunities for people to speak about their experiences from their personal and cultural perspectives. I believe the people and communities I come into contact with can shed the most relevant light on their needs and resiliency. I learn from them. I believe my role is not only to support folks in finding means to get needs met, but also to provide a place for them to explore institutional, cultural, interpersonal and internalized barriers. I try to be considerate of the power I have as a service provider and communicate to people I work with that when I make a mistake they have a right to call me on it. Lastly I make an effort to allow transactions with individuals to be holistic. I encourage people to share all the complexities of their experiences without replicating social systems that force people to contend with social issues in a fractured way.

What was the impetus for your project, “Exploring Health Care for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals?”
People’s perceptions and expectations of gender have a great influence on social and professional interactions, yet we do not often spoken about it. Health care is an example where this silence has a deep impact on consumers’ quality of life. I did the project so that I would be better equipped to discuss the disparities in health care for gender-variant individuals.

In your paper, “Gynecological Health Care for Gender-Variant Individuals
Identifying Unmet Needs and Raising Awareness of Poor Treatment,” you discuss how gender variant individuals are an invisible population and in order to treat them with ethical care and competency that their needs and presence needs to be made visible. The project that you created, which sought to ascertain the state of health care for gender variant individuals is a great example of how social workers can take an active approach to social justice. What are your thoughts on other action type initiatives that social workers can do to not only work towards social justice but also actually incorporate social justice in their practice like you have?
Social workers can assist people to build perspectives and find their words or unique means to express and respond to injustice. Social workers can support them in placing those difficulties into a context that affords social injustices to be identified.

What do you hope that conference participants will come away from your session with?
I hope that conference participants will come away from the session with a greater ability to be responsive to experiences of gender-variant individuals, particularly of those who experience additional oppressive circumstances such as coming from a disadvantage community. I also hope participants will be able to use material from the session to dissect other social injustices and feel inspired to support those who resist oppression.

You can download materials from Quai and Vaughn’s session here.

Well, we are here to give you what you need!

We have organized a social networking evening to give people another opportunity to discuss social justice issues, collaborate, and just connect. This event is open to EVERYONE, but please RSVP because space is limited.

What: RISE Social Networking Event
When: 6-9pm, Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Where: SideBar, 120 E 15th St, New York, NY,
Who should come: People who came to the RISE conference and want to continue their discussions. People who didn’t come, but want to get involved. People who want to meet other like-minded, social justice oriented activists.
Details: Happy Hour until 7pm with $3 Bud Light Drafts and 2 for 1: Absolut Cocktails, Sauza Margaritas, Cruzan Mojitos.
RISE has booked the Mezzanine.

Spread the word and bring your friends! It will be a great chance to continue the conversations we started at RISE in September.

RSVP to info@riseconference.com so we have an accurate headcount

All materials are copyrighted by the presenters. Please email info@riseconference.org if you would like to contact the presenters about utilizing their materials for anything other than personal use.

The Cradle to Prison Pipeline Powerpoint

Healthcare Access for Gender Variant Individuals Powerpoint

Comprehensive Intake Form for Gender Variant Individuals

Community Gardens and Community Well-being Powerpoint

Let it Begin with Me: Self Acceptance and Social Justice Powerpoint

Our first annual RISE: Social Work in an Era of Change conference was an incredible success. Our nine months of planning and organizing paid off with a packed house of passionate, dedicated, and inspiring people from around the country.

Despite some minor problems (like broken air conditioning and running over schedule because the sessions were too short…), everyone was incredibly excited to be there. Throughout the day people kept coming up to the organizers saying things like,  “I had been feeling so burnt out and isolated until I came here” and “I was starting to wonder if social work was the right profession for me, but now I’m re-inspired.” The amount of positive energy at the conference was truly overwhelming.

We are starting to scheme about smaller events for the rest of the year, so tell us about what YOU want RISE to organize in the near future. (Please leave comments about what topics you want us to address as well)

Unable to attend RISE last Friday? Download Marie Romeo’s amazing keynote speech and our conference program to get a peak at what you missed.

We will be uploading other presentation materials and short video clips from the conference over the next couple of weeks. So keep checking back here and email info@riseconference.org to join our listserv.

We have been receiving a lot of emails from people who were not able to purchase tickets and still want to attend. While we cannot add additional tickets due to our space capacity, you can email register@riseconference.org to be placed on our waitlist. You will be contacted if an additional space opens up. If you are waitlisted please do NOT show up at RISE unless we have told you there is a spot for you, since we will have to turn you away.

We hope to have a much larger space next year so we can accommodate everyone who is interested in attending.

Thank you all for being so supportive of this project in its inaugural year!

The planning committee decided yesterday that we will also be providing a free lunch to all participants in addition to breakfast.

Register through Brown Paper Tickets. Full details about registerring are available on our website.

Contact register@riseconference.org with any questions

Sorry for the late round-up this week, folks! To make up for it, we have a couple of extra links this week.

Resentment over Race and Health Care Reform On Racialicious, an open thread on the link between race and the healthcare protests.  The CNN segment they embed is interesting, but make sure you check out the comments too.  Common threads? That the view that social welfare programs “take resources from supposedly hard-working white people and give them to supposedly  lazy black people” is still pervasive, but that class is just as important if not more, and that resentment exists between minority groups as well.

Jails are the New Asylums A fascinating — if disturbing — article in the New York Times this week about mentally ill offenders in juvenile prisons.  As states cut their community health budgets and resources for the mentally ill become more and more scarce, thousands of kids are ending up in prisons ill-equipped to deal with them — not to mention rehabilitate them.

Growing a New Leaf We posted a while ago about an article on the potential of urban agriculture for reintegrating the homeless — here’s another story about the therapeutic value of growing things.  Also from the New York Times, this a slightly less depressing article about a farm in upstate New York that’s become a haven for recovering addicts, who divide their time between tending the farm and participating in more traditional rehab programs and activities.

Class, Race, and Digital Activism Leigh Graham at the Poverty In America Blog writes about a lack of focus on poverty at the recent Netroots Nation conference. In order to close the digital divide, Graham calls on activists to “incorporate our low-income neighbors into our on-line activism, or move beyond noble but limiting motivations like ‘help’ and ‘charity’ to ‘empowerment’ and ‘equity’.”

Lawsuit to Challenge School Harassment Policies The NYCLU has filed a federal lawsuit against the Herkimer County School District for failing to protect a gay high school student, identified in court papers as “Jacob,”  from the harassment of his classmates, which ranged from verbal assault  to physical abuse and threats of violence, with one student threatening the 14 year-old with a knife.  Catch the NYCLU’s own Karyn Brownson at the RISE, talking about working against adultism in adult/youth collaborations, and becoming an ally to youth like Jacob who so badly need them.  

Stop Stealing Children’s Smiles This is what 11 year-old Heidi Rubi Portugal said she wanted from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which has arrested 264 immigrant workers in Pheonix since 2008. Portugal was a part of a children’s protest march calling for the release of the workers and an end to the raids, which have separated these children from one or both parents.

• Au Bon Pain
• D’Agostino Supermarkets
• Morton Williams Supermarkets
• Murray’s Bagels
• Pizza Mercado
• Think Coffee

Thank you to all our sponsors for their support!

Riot in a California Prison Over the weekend, 200 inmates were injured in an 11-hour riot in an overcrowded California prison.   The riot was tragically predictable — a  New York Times editorial reports that in 2007, a California prison expert warned that the cramming of 5900 men into a facility designed for 3000 was a “serious disturbance waiting to happen.”  The editorial calls on the state government to find ways to reduce prison populations, and quickly.  For one idea, check out Aliyah Vinikoor’s session on restorative justice as a model for thwarting the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline at RISE.

Speaking of the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Michelle Chen of Race Wire (one of our favorite bloggers, by the way) writes about a recent Human Rights Watch study that found that students with disabilities are disproportionately likely to be subject to corporal punishment.  Of course, she continues, that’s not the full story — again and again, the data has shown that students of color (especially Black students) are disproportionately labeled as developmentally delayed or emotionally disturbed, and disproportionately punished with violence.

Popularizing Popular Education Melinda K. Lewis (another one of our favorite bloggers) asks why popular education isn’t more, well, popular with social workers.  It’s popular with us, Melinda! Check out the links to popular education resources on her post, and Kayhan Irani and Ellen Baxt’s Theater of the Oppressed workshop at RISE if this is something you’re interested in.

Is Obesity a Social Work Issue? The NASW says yes, posting a list of suggestions for social workers on how to be sensitive when dealing with overweight or obese clients, particularly children and adolescents.  We say yes too, but for different reasons.  As this article on disproportionate overweight and obesity among food stamp recipients shows, it’s also a social justice issue — marginalized communities often lack access to fresh, healthy food, and are therefore more likely to suffer from obesity and related health problems.  It’s also impossible to comprehensively advocate for a just health care system without considering obesity — the disease, along with related conditions, accounts for nearly 10% of health care spending in the US.

What Sets Us Apart What sets social work apart from other professions? According to Elizabeth J. Clark, the Executive Director of the NASW, it’s “our belief in social justice.”  In a recent speech, she calls on social workers to ensure that the “great traditions of social work — those of social justice, advocacy, and hope” remain our guiding principles and priorities.  

Social Workers Needed for Health Care Reform We’re loving the NASW this week, apparently.  On their advocacy blog, they call on social workers to check off the last item on Fraces Perkins’ list, the one she didn’t quite get to — health care reform.  Check out their blog for updates on their legislative efforts, and use this tool from the Kaiser Family Foundation to familiarize yourself with the different plans up in the air.

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations… Continued On RaceWire, an article about using  structure versus culture to understand the achievement gap between poor Black students and their middle and upper-class white counterparts, and how it’s affecting the Obama administration’s policy.  Some say that the gap is a cultural problem, and if we could just get Black kids to “recognize the value of an education,” we’d solve it.  Others — “structuralists”  as the article calls them — “see educational gaps as a byproduct of institutionalized inequity, rather than just poor decision-making.”

 Save the Bed-Stuy Farm Eight years ago, the Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson were running an emergency food program in Bed-Stuy, a neighborhood where healthy food was extremely hard to come by.  Realizing that their community would be healthier if fresh produce was more readily available, they cleaned up an abandoned lot behind their building, got Green Thumb status for it, and created a farm that now feeds 3000 people each month.  Now that it’s not an vacant dumping ground anymore, developers want it.  Sign their petition to let elected officials know that this farm is important and shouldn’t be destroyed for gentrification.