New Horizons for Policy Practice

This book provides fresh perspectives on the state of policy practice. Leading scholars explore such vital conceptual topics such as how to impact social justice, what the strengths-based perspective means to policy practitioners and how to bridge the all-too common gap between community organizing and direct practice in social work. Other esteemed academics address topics including how to use technology to impact social justice, what the impacts of the recent changes in the United States’ Supreme Court will be, how to conceptualize the impact of ex-prisoners’ re-entry into society and how to better include marginalized populations in the policy practice. The volume closes with two pieces relating to students: using service learning to increase knowledge of macro interventions and integrating social capital analysis into policy practice. Each topic is thoroughly covered by experts, using the latest scholarly material available. The reader will come away with a new perspective on the many areas where social work is involved, needed and effective in making positive change in the world. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Policy Practice.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction Richard Hoefer 2. The Path to Social Justice Goes through Politics and Economics David Dempsey 3. A Strengths-based Framework for Social Policy: Barriers and Possibilities Katherine Hill 4. Bridging the Divide between Community Organizing Efforts and Direct Services in Traditional Social Service Agencies: Lessons Learned from a Case Study Eli Bartle and Beth Halaas 5. Technology-based Approaches to Social Work and Social Justice Judith M. Dunlop and Graham Fawcett 6. The Supreme Court Shuffle: What It Means for Social Work Sunny Harris Rome and Carloyn I. Polowy 7. Ex-Prisoners’ Reentry: An Emerging Frontier and a Social Work Challenge Ram A. Cnaan, Jeffrey Draine, Beverly Frazier and Jill W. Sinha 8. Inclusion in the Policy Process: An Agenda for Participation of the Marginalized Margaret Lombe and Michael Sherraden 9. Service Learning: The Road from the Classroom to Community-based Macro Intervention Diane L. Scott 10. Teaching Students to Become Effective in Policy Practice: Integrating Social Capital into Social Work Education and Practice Robin L. Ersing and Diane N. Loeffler

About the Author :
Richard Hoefer, is Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington. He specializes in the areas of social policy and program administration, with a particular emphasis on advocacy and program evaluation. Dr. Hoefer is the founding editor of the Journal of Policy Practice (formerly the Social Policy Journal). He is the author of Advocacy Practice for Social Justice, and numerous articles on topics such as advocacy, nonprofit management and program evaluation.