The number and diversity of immigrants in cities have increased greatly in recent years. As social workers frequently work with immigrants, this article will focus on the following important topics: legal definitions, origins, employment, and health of immigrants and refugees, as well as micro and macro interventions in social work with this population. Micro interventions such as the culturagram for greater understanding and engagement of immigrant clients, as well as macro issues involving agency structure and government policies and laws will be explored. Advocacy continues to be an important tool for social workers to use especially with current challenging policies.

Background: Gentrification is impacting urban communities across the globe. Some urban communities have undergone major displacement of longtime residents thus placing older persons at particular risk of social isolation and the loss of social networks. Objective: The objective of the article is to bring attention to the impact of gentrification on communities and specifically addresses the impact on older persons, especially as it relates to displacement, social isolation, and social networks. Additionally the article aims to address implications for social work practice. Method: A review of the literature was used to gather information on this important topic. Additionally, newspaper articles were reviewed that discussed gentrification in urban neighborhoods. Content analysis was used to gather themes that would inform practice recommendations. Additionally the author used community mapping through personal observation. Findings: Gentrification is perceived as both positive and negative, depending on the stakeholder. It also has been associated with negative health effects as well as social isolation and the loss of social networks. Older persons of color are particularly at risk of displacement. Emotional and financial hardships. Conclusions: Practice implications include an examination of quality of life factors, introduction of financial counseling and advocacy for policies that respect the quality of life of older persons faced with gentrification.

Social work students need to learn how to synthesize sociopolitical and psychological theories into an integrative practice approach if they are to become effective agents of social change and social justice. Academic resources used to scaffold these skills oftentimes implicitly presume that the social worker is white and the client is “other”—Hispanic, African American, and so forth. The integrated sociopolitical and psychological analysis model, ISPA, presented and applied herein to the analysis of societal racism, provides an integrative framework for the teaching and practice of social work and social justice. The model promotes the decolonization of social work educational spaces, while providing Hispanic and African American social work students with an integrated framework that decenters “whiteness” and examines its individual and societal effects.

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.