Social Work – Â鶹ĘÓƵ Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:17:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon_logo-32x32.jpg Social Work – Â鶹ĘÓƵ 32 32 Child care availability, issues, and solutions /projects/child-care-availability-issues-and-solutions/ /projects/child-care-availability-issues-and-solutions/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:16 +0000 https://commons.epicn.org/projects/child-care-availability-issues-and-solutions/ Read More... from Child care availability, issues, and solutions

]]> The child care industry is vital for a healthy economy and yet there are inherent tensions that make improvements in quality, affordability, and access difficult. Improvements in one area must often come at the expense of another area. A holistic approach is essential to ensure that policy changes meet the needs of all residents in La Crosse County without exacerbating existing issues. Focusing on a single issue while ignoring the interconnectedness of all these mechanisms can only improve the situation for some at the expense of others; this would not be good policy.

An important start in determining what would make good policy is having a clear idea of the challenges that La Crosse County faces, as well as the advantages they have in this area. The current problem description of a “failed economic model of the child care industry, where a simple supply and demand model doesn’t seem to work” seems a simplification of the complex issues at work in the early childhood market, and more broadly, the United States patchwork of social policies.

Breaking this statement down into its component parts could provide La Crosse County with a clearer idea of the specific challenges they may be able to assist with and provide their university partner with manageable project descriptions that can together attack different pieces of this puzzle. Before a problem can be solved, it must be seen clearly and understood. This report aims to provide a starting place for the county as they organize a plan for supporting the healthy development of all children in the county and strengthen the economic engine that is La Crosse.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

]]> /projects/child-care-availability-issues-and-solutions/feed/ 0 Sullivan County COVID-19 Needs Assessment /projects/sullivan-county-covid-19-needs-assessment/ /projects/sullivan-county-covid-19-needs-assessment/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:10 +0000 https://commons.epicn.org/projects/sullivan-county-covid-19-needs-assessment/ Read More... from Sullivan County COVID-19 Needs Assessment

]]> Sullivan responded and continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. A community needs assessment was performed through the SOWK382 course in partnership with United Way of the Wabash Valley. The needs assessment revealed how the community has responded in relation to mental health and addiction, food, schooling, and stability. The assessment reveals how Sullivan should respond to further help the community members during this pandemic.

]]> /projects/sullivan-county-covid-19-needs-assessment/feed/ 0 Culturally Diverse Enviornmental Engagement /projects/culturally-diverse-enviornmental-engagement-2/ /projects/culturally-diverse-enviornmental-engagement-2/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:44 +0000 https://portal.epicn.org/case-stories/culturally-diverse-enviornmental-engagement/ Read More... from Culturally Diverse Enviornmental Engagement

]]> The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO) seeks to more effectively engage culturally diverse residents in promoting water quality through programs that resonate with and are beneficial to residents in their daily lives. Students in Large Client Systems will create a logic model to guide MWMO’s outreach with culturally diverse populations that both benefits the community and advances MWMO’s mission of promoting water quality. MWMO will identify the community (or communities, depending on number of students) to create a targeted logic model for cultural engagement‌‌.

]]> Identify strategies to support healthy neighborhood cohesion among residents, as well as integration of neighborhoods into the larger Rosemount community.

]]> Create design and programming options for a proposed Performing Fine Arts and Education Center and develop strategies for joint financing of the center.

]]> Assess the public-health needs of mobile-home community residents in Carver County, and identify interventions and communication strategies that are culturally appropriate for residents.

]]> After-school programs are designed to help students grow academically and socially. Programs often include homework assistance, healthy snacks, sports, art, music, and field trips. Program goals are to provide reliable and safe after-school supervision, increase academic enrichment, and manage behavioral problems, particularly for low-income students and minority groups. Logan City understands the
importance of such programs and their role in the community. In order to further improve the quality of services provided the Logan City After-School Program (ASP) requested, through CBI, that USU develop and administer a questionnaire to assess ASP worker’s cultural competency. Results from this assessment were used to identify areas in which ASP workers can be better trained and prepared to respond to diverse student needs. This project was divided into threenphases and integrated into three courses over three semesters, so that each phase could build on previous progress. Phase 1 concluded in the Summer of 2015. Dr. Jessica Lucero’s MSW 6595 students designed the cultural competency questionnaire and prepared the IRB protocol. Dr. Jennifer Roark’s MSW 6800 students took on Phase 2 of this project in the Fall. Three students carried out a statistical analysis of results and compiled a stakeholder’s report (page 27) with recommendations to provide a cultural competency training to all ASP workers. Dr. Sonia Manuel Dupont’s Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Communicative Disorders class is now (Spring 2016) taking on the third phase of this project. Her students are developing training materials to be used by ASP for cultural competency training purposes.

]]> Inventory, evaluate, and identify gaps in services and programs geared toward new immigrant groups in Rosemount.

]]> With support from Logan City’s Community Development Director, Mike DeSimone, Professor Jessica Lucero and 13 of her Master of Social Work (MSW) students in her Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Groups, Organizations & Communities course embarked on a community-based research project that would assist the city in its neighborhood planning efforts for Hillcrest Neighborhood. This asset-based approach for community development is useful for several reasons: (1) it promotes investment from local residents which can lead to more involved collective efforts; (2) it favors local residents’ lived experience in their neighborhood over an outsider’s assessment; and (3) it identifies key strengths in the neighborhood that can be maximized to overcome the challenges already present. The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) to document the unique strengths and areas for improvement as reported by Hillcrest neighborhood residents in order to inform Logan City’s Hillcrest development plan; and (2) to provide MSW students with a real-world community project in which they could apply community theory and develop community-based research skills. This project gave neighborhood residents of Hillcrest a greater voice in the neighborhood planning process, and offered Logan City innovative data and recommendations to inform their continued planning and development efforts. Dr. Lucero concluded; “In social work it is imperative that our students understand the entire system of service delivery, and one major component of this system is city government. Not only were the projects relevant to my course objectives, but they taught my students how to interface with local government officials effectively.”

]]> Students from the college of Social Work conducted a project that was focused on several programs within the Sioux City area that were seeking to improve their services for and communications with members of the population that are from traditionally disadvantaged and oppressed groups.

Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Julia Kleinschmit
Social Work

Local Government / Community Contact

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