School Social Work Now!

Supporting Innovative Practice,

Effective Leadership & Applied Research 

The Leadership Parachute List     

Leadership development is an organic process. Development of more effective leadership, a more sustaining culture or of more powerful teams requires patience and a willingness to undertake personal change. And time is needed for those changes to become natural and sustained.

Organizations that position leadership development as a strategic initiative understand from the beginning that to be successful they must commit for the long haul. But along the way, almost all leaders look for leverage points. The search for "silver bullets" comes up in workshops, coaching, off-site meetings and conferences.

Since this is the season that leaders are thinking about a new year, I decided to share my "Parachute List." If I were to parachute into an organization with no previous knowledge of its specific challenges and be asked to find a high-value contribution to leadership and organizational effectiveness quickly, these are the places I would look first, along with a "quick resource" for each. These are not silver bullets promising an easy or instant fix. Instead, these represent the most pernicious ways I see effectiveness and profits leak out of organizations.  Check out the parachute.     FL 

Developing Everyday Leadership:  Seeds of Greatness Exist Within Each of Us    

It's quite possible that, until now, you haven't really considered yourself a leader of any kind. Whether or not that's so, you may be surprised to learn just how many ways you, indeed, are a leader, especially 10 those closest to you. You could be a leader to a group or maybe only one or two people. It. could be in your work, in a special interest you have or perhaps the quality of a relationship you have with someone, such as your children or loved ones. There are people around you looking up to you, believing in you as a role model and as a leader.

Believe me when I say you are already a leader in ways you may not be fully aware. Never underestimate the influence you have on the lives of others.

Let me assure you that this is the very moment you have vast power to help shape the lives of others, especially if you choose to lead by example. Never forget this: At least once every day, try to ask yourself whether your life is setting a good example for others to follow.  More here.     FL    

Best Practices in Wraparound:  A Multi-dimensional Review of the Evidence    

Based on the multidimensional evidence-based practice inquiry process (Petr, 2009; Petr &Walter, 2005), this review reports knowledge obtained from the literature about current wraparound practices from three perspectives: the research perspective, as reflected in empirical studies on effectiveness; the professional perspective, reflecting the knowledge of practitioners who are involved in the practice or administration of wraparound; and the perspectives of various other consumers. Several databases (ERIC, Social Work Abstracts, PsycINFO, and PubMed) and the Internet were searched for reputable sources of information on the issue (published between 1998 and 2008).We performed a value-critical analysis assessing the evidence of current best practices with respect to the values that wraparound espouses and the values and principles held in social work and the field of child and family mental health. Results of the inquiry point to the need to further improve family centeredness, increase involvement of natural support systems, and add a clear commitment to enhancement of social justice through systems change.   Learn more.  FL   

Culturally Sensitive Interventions and Substance Use:   A Meta-analytic Review of Outcomes Among Minority Youth      

CSIs [culturally sensitive interventions] have been proposed as an important approach for tackling substance use among minority youths (Resnicow et al., 2000). Despite the growing size of this population and the existence of substance use-related health disparities among segments of the population, little research has attempted to assess the effectiveness of CSIs (Hall, 2001). Given that some debate exists about this topic, the present study sought to determine the effectiveness of CSIs across measures and time frames and for recent alcohol and marijuana use.

The findings can perhaps best be categorized as promising but inconclusive. Across the 10 studies, small but significant effects emerged. Similar findings occurred for recent alcohol use, but the effects for recent marijuana use were not significant. Little evidence emerged supporting the concern that CSIs may engender detrimental outcomes (Elliott & Mihalic, 2004).  Study results.  FL

Child Poverty, A National Shame

National campaigns are about the future and what dreams we make possible for the generations that will follow today's voters. That was a missing ingredient in this [presidential] campaign. In fact, according to data from the Center for the Next Generation, during one month of this campaign, Ann Romney's horse received nine times more coverage than kids and issues related to families.

Yet we now have more than 16 million children living in poverty; you have to go back to 1962 to find a bigger number. And even though our nation and its economy have grown, our poverty rate should be going down. not up.  Read more.

How Children Subsidize "Low, Low Prices"   

A significant part of our national antipoverty strategy over the past few decades has been increasing employment - moving people, particularly mothers, off "welfare rolls" and into jobs. But the types of jobs available to most lower-income parents, mothers and fathers alike, are low-wage jobs that present their own problems to those trying to support and raise a family. The lack of benefits, the inflexible hours and the often nonstandard shifts exacerbate the low pay and create a situation in which parents don't have the time they want and need to spend with their children or the money to find high-quality substitutes (like activities and child care) for that time.

The result, according to the Boston College sociologist Lisa Dodson and Randy Albelda, an economist at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is that their parents' low-wage jobs put youth at risk. Adolescents from households headed by a low-income worker are more likely to drop out of school, to be obese and to take on adult roles too young.  Continue.

Missing Children with Special Needs 

December 19th, 2-3 pm ET

This Webinar will explore the challenges that families, law enforcement, first responders, and search teams face when a child with special needs is missing and will provide strategies for investigators who coordinate search efforts for these children.  The behaviors and actions of missing children with special needs are often very different than that of a missing non-affected child. As such, finding and safely recovering a missing child with special needs often presents unique and difficult challenges for families, law enforcement, first responders and search teams. This webinar's goal is to enhance efforts to help locate children with special needs by increasing the audience's awareness of the challenges associated with searching for children with special needs and providing strategies for investigators who search for them. Participants will receive information on investigative resources available to them through NCMEC.  Register for FREE webinar.   

New this week:  Chicago, IL     Fairfax County, VA     Manhattan, NYC

New York, NY     Woodridge, IL         

Continued this week:  Central Falls, RI     Detroit, MI     Elgin, IL     Flint, MI 

Gages Lake, IL (sub)     Hartford, CT 13-14 sy     Newark, NJ (HS)

Newark, NJ (MS)     Norridge, IL (Mat Lv)     North Chicago, IL (sub)

Pasadena, CA     West Newton, MA (PT)  

Connecticut (Various Locations)

Louisiana (Various Locations)

 Dean, LSU, College of Human Sciences & Education

Free to Tweet Campaign    

During a 15-day online celebration of First Amendment rights, high school and college students can win one of five $5,000 scholarships. Beginning at midnight, Dec. 1-Dec. 15, students can tweet their support for the First Amendment with the hashtag #freetotweet, which will enter them into the scholarship competition.  Learn more.

Search Tool Helps Users Find Grants to Fund Youth Programs 

The Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs has created an online Web Tool that allows users to search for federal grant opportunities by youth topic or federal agency. The tool uses a filter to search for grants that are likely to fund youth programs. To learn more and determine if you are eligible, click here.

Nestle Very Best in Youth Program Grants  

• increasing research projects and their application within the school environment;
• developing a national school social work role framework paper;
• establishing a National Center for School Social Work Practice, Leadership and Research, a long-term goal,
• hosting the 2nd Louisiana State-wide School Social Work Conference, February 18-19, 2013, in New Orleans, LA, at the Tulane University Lavin-Bernick Center.   
• presenting the 4th National School Social Work Research Summit.  Watch for details to come. 

If you have interest in participating in any of these activities, contact Judie Shine.  ACSSW strives to be inclusive and transparent in all of its activities and welcomes, whether lengthy or short, the participation of its members.