Using classroom vignettes, this article portrays the experiences of four White social work educators with minority-view inclusion and conflict management that is a result of divergent perspectives in the classroom. The use of reflexivity is explored as a strategy for understanding educators' biases and assumptions in teaching. In addition, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics is applied as it refers to helping social work students learn to think critically to meet the needs and rights of clients and to address social inequalities, diversity, privilege, and oppression. The authors provide recommendations based on their experiences and reflections.

To address the challenges present in urban communities and develop social work leaders who are equipped to confront a myriad of social and economic justice issues, Coppin State University established the Dr. Dorothy I. Height Center for the Advancement of Social Justice (DHC). Housed in the Department of Social Work, the DHC is a community-based resource whose mission is to heighten awareness regarding national and international human rights and social justice issues that impact marginalized communities. The DHC utilizes social work interns who focus on community engagement as operationalized via social justice–related advocacy, research and education initiatives. This article will highlight the experiences of these student interns and the impact of the internship on their development in the areas of social justice and leadership.

This article unpacks the pedagogical reflections of a Black male professor, bringing attention to issues associated with teaching while Black and preparing students for urban social work practice. The article asserts that contemporary forms of injustice cannot be understood without grasping critical historical analyses of race and racism in the United States. Ideas related to critical race theory, racial oppression, and social identities are explored. Finally, the article explicates the importance for students to become comfortable talking about racism and racial injustice in the context of working with clients.

Substance use disorders continue to have adverse consequences for a significant number of individuals and families. Despite the increasing need for behavioral health clinical social work practitioners trained to effectively work with this population, social work programs continue to lag behind in providing courses, which will adequately address this need. According to the Council of Social Work Education, approximately 4.7% of accredited social work programs had one or more required course offerings related to addressing substance use disorders. The purpose of this article is to address the identified gap by describing the development of a content-specific curriculum related to addressing substance use disorders while also providing a working framework for other Master of Social Work programs to consider.

Little is known about mothers’ and fathers’ opinions related to the roles that fathers should prioritize in their parenting. To fill this gap, this study analyzes data collected from parents receiving services from an urban Healthy Start program related to coparenting relationship quality, attitudes toward fathers’ involvement, and the roles that fathers should prioritize in their parenting. The results revealed that mothers had divergent opinions from fathers about the roles that fathers should prioritize in their parenting. Qualitative analyses revealed a link between coresidence and reports of good fathering. Furthermore, the reported discrepancies were related to fathers’ expectations that mothers facilitate their involvement and mothers’ expression of fatigue and resentment from feeling responsible for having to facilitate fathers’ involvement.

The disproportionate rate of life stressors coupled with the unexpected lower rates of mental disorders among African Americans demands concurrent consideration of their cultural coping capacity. Racial identity (β = −.15, p < .01) and the interaction term assessing the moderating effect of racial identity on the relationship between life stressors and depressive symptoms (β = −.08, p < .01) remained significant when controlling for social demographics, despite the significant relationship of age, income, educational status, and work status. Findings from the analyses indicate that higher racial identity significantly reduced the relationship between life stressors and depressive symptoms, and lower racial identity significantly increased the relationship between life stressors and depressive symptoms even in the presence of social demographics.

Parental incarceration represents a life-altering event for children and families. This study speaks beyond the statistics, highlighting the voices of fourteen young adults who experienced parental incarceration during adolescence. Participants shared their retrospective experiences through interviews focused on the following qualitative research questions: 1) What adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) did participants identify? and 2) What supports or protective factors did participants experience? Participants identified various ACEs, with 11 out of 14 participants revealing four or more. Key areas of support include family, school, friends, and extracurricular activities. Findings have implications for practitioners assisting children and families affected by criminal justice involvement, and for organizations most likely to play a pivotal role in addressing children’s needs.

The health trajectory of Black immigrants receives little attention in minority health discourse despite Black immigrants representing a notable share of the Black population. One aspect of their health that requires increased attention is the immigrant health paradox. This draws attention to the deteriorating outcomes of immigrants as they assimilate into the host country. Although a few scholars have acknowledged the role of race in this trajectory, few have examined it from a critical perspective. This article embraces critical race theory to argue that racial processes intersect with other forms of structural oppression to produce the immigrant health paradox. An understanding of this health trajectory of Black immigrants is instructive in understanding the impact of race on minority health.

Background: The role that fathers play in the lives of their families, particularly, the lives of children, is vitally important. Research has found positive associations between father involvement and factors, such as infant cognitive outcomes, children’s school-readiness where levels of mothers’ supportiveness are low, better socioemotional, and academic functioning in children. Black males, many who are fathers, are disproportionately overrepresented within the criminal justice system. High incarceration rates have significant economic and social impacts on families and communities. Objective: This article examines differences in father involvement among Black fathers with criminal records and explores relationships between fathers’ involvement, the amount of time served in jail, fathers’ employment status, and fathers’ education levels. Method: Secondary analysis of the third wave of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) public-use dataset was used for this article. The FFCW study follows a panel or cohort of 4,700 children born to unwed (3,600) and married (1,100) parents. The Fragile Families study employed a stratified random sample of 75 hospitals across 20 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000. Findings: The results of the analyses found (a) that the time served in jail had no effect on fathers’ involvement, (b) no statistically significant differences in fathers’ involvement based on fathers’ education level, and (c) fathers who were working were more engaged in the lives of their children, as compared to fathers who were not working and under correctional supervision. Conclusion: This article’s exploration of differences and relationships between father involvement and socioeconomic variables among Black fathers with criminal records further demystifies the complexities of fragile family compositions and circumstances while informing future policy, practices, and research.

The purpose of this article is to present an application of two tools the ecomap (Hartman, 1995) and cultural ecogram (Yasui, 2015) used sequentially so that it may help in the process of assisting health professionals in determining ways to improve culturally informed, instead of culturally competent healthcare provision. Both tools have been developed in the context of clinical delivery of social services, have some known research that points to the benefits of their use in health and mental healthcare (Lloyd, 2005), but have not yet been applied to promoting the cultural sensitivity with awareness in healthcare management of diabetes type 2 with urban African American grandparents who are caretakers of children.

While global learning among undergraduate students of color has slightly increased over the past decade, there are major research gaps regarding students of color attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), more specifically, the number of undergraduate students of color majoring in social work. The primary goal of this article is to discuss barriers that may prevent students of color who attend HBCUs from participating in global learning experiences. Also, provided in this article is a discussion regarding a Global Learning Visits Program within an undergrduate social work program at Bowie State University, an HBCU, which can serve as a model to assist students with addressing and overcoming barriers in order to take advantage of study abroad learning opportunities.

Recent high-profile killings of unarmed Black males underscore a stark reality in America: though Black men have the same constitutional rights as all other citizens of the United States, in practice their rights are often violated. The negative stereotype that all Black males are criminals has created an environment that perpetuates the killing of unarmed Black males by police officers as justifiable self-defense. In this article, critical race theory (CRT) provides a theoretical lens to examine and understand the persistent racism underlying the social inequities that have been thrust upon Black males in the United States of America. The authors conclude with implications and recommendations for social work education.

Research on the effect of arrests or convictions on college admissions decisions, while limited, suggests that college admission is a major hurdle for applicants with criminal histories. The purpose of this study was to examine admission application policies and practices at undergraduate social work programs in the South for justice-involved individuals or persons with criminal backgrounds. The qualitative study design recruited program directors through professional relationships for interviews and selected programs in urban cities in the South using the Council on Social Work Education’s Accredited Program Directory. The surveys consisted of three questions and the interviews consisted of eleven semi-structured questions focusing on the policies and practices associated with the application process. Study results reveal that slightly more than one half of all programs asked questions about criminal backgrounds, firm policies are not in place, and practices vary from institution to institution.

Empowering social work students to address structural challenges and inequalities on their university campus through partnerships with other disciplines is an opportunity to engage in interprofessional education experiences. This article presents a social work student-led initiative to develop an interprofessional group on their college campus to address the emotional and racial climate. This article recommends ways to create interprofessional education opportunities on college campuses to bring awareness to health issues faced by vulnerable groups. Recommendations and implications for social work education and practice are offered.

Social work values require its educators to teach a history that represents diversity and inclusion, yet its history routinely omits the contributions of pioneering social workers of color. This omission promotes White hegemony as characterized by the emphasis on White reformers in the American settlement movement and the exclusion of Black social workers and activists. Using critical race theory, this article posits the need to dismantle White hegemony by examining the American settlement movement and the parallel settlement movement as a counter response by Black social workers, specifically, an unrecognized Black social worker of the 1930s, W. Gertrude Brown. This recognition portends the need for social work to critique its ahistorical perspective and perchance to rewrite its history.

Culture and racial or ethnic background are important variables to consider when conceptualizing families and resilience. Working effectively with Black families requires culturally competent interventions that honor and build upon their strengths and give attention to the intricate dynamics of relationships. This paper offers an examination of the unique stressors and adversity experienced by Black families as well as factors influencing their adaptive functioning. Enriched structural family therapy (ESFT), a versatile, skill-based, systems approach, is introduced as a viable model to promote resilience in Black families. Through ESFT interventions, Black families are able to successfully manage and cope with stressors while improving overall functioning.

This qualitative research study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of African American male social work students attending a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). Seven (N = 7) individual interviews and a focus group (N = 4) were collected and data were analyzed using qualitative iterative processes. This inductive analysis generated four broad themes, The Village, Social Justice Warrior, Iwoegbe, and Sankofa. Participant narratives are juxtaposed with values of African American social work pioneers and the contributions of HBCUs to instill pride and resiliency in serving the African American community. Presented in an Afrocentric framework, findings reveal culturally relevant factors in recruiting and retaining African American males to the social work profession. Strength based curriculum and pedagogical strategies that correspond to each theme are offered.

This sequential, mixed methods study assessed economic growth and transportation infrastructure development in a suburban Texas boomtown, where population growth exceeded 100% over a 20-year-period. Researchers applied empowerment theory to investigate and compare how environmental justice (EJ) and non-EJ residents perceive the growth. Results from 200 surveys and four focus groups were analyzed and paired with GIS mapping. Findings confirmed incongruence between transportation infrastructure development and economic growth, suggesting a lack of intentional planning, with the consequence of reinforcing societal inequities. Findings underscore need for innovative and inclusive urban planning in the context of rapid growth.

Urban-dwelling African American older adults are disproportionately victimized by systems, which relegate them to disparities in health, education, and economic security as well as inequitable access to resources that support overall wellness (Brown, 2010; Jackson et al., 2004; Kahn & Pearlin, 2006; Zhang et al., 2016). The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021 revealed poorer outcomes and a “double jeopardy” for African American older adults who suffered poor health outcomes (Chatters et al., 2020). As a result, avenues to promote healthy aging through health and wellness literacy, self-empowerment, and social-community connections are critical (Chatters et al., 2020; Pourrazavi et al., 2020; Waites, 2013). A qualitative study was conducted with African American older adults in Detroit to understand how to promote health literacy and overall wellness for those who are aging in place. An empowerment-oriented wellness framework (Dunn, 1961; Dunn, 1977; Hettler, 1976) was employed. Findings indicated that these African American older adults aging in the urban communities strived to maintain their independence while recognizing that they may need some assistance as they age in place. While some elders defined themselves by their disability and expressed feelings of being pushed aside by family and society, many rejected stereotypes associated with aging and reinforced a sense of pride and empowerment. They called for programs to: 1) assist older adults with health literacy and a comprehensive understanding of overall wellness; and, 2) provide activities and tools to support proactive overall wellness; and 3) employ strategies that actively encourage social engagement as well as outreach to their less engaged peers. Participants also suggested that a strategy to enlighten younger generations about the “senior world,” and aging is also crucial.