Developing a Policy Advocacy Practice for Preventing and Ending Homelessness

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ABSTRACT

The Policy Advocacy and Social Change course is a specialized practice course offered in the Master of Social Work Program (MSW) at the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. The course is designed to introduce MSW students to a variety of policy frameworks (i.e., Kingdon’s policy window, political model of reasoning) and analytical approaches (i.e., intersectionality and stakeholder analysis) that focus on developing their policy advocacy practice. Both the instructors and students are challenged to develop new ways to engage, distribute, and share knowledge about improving the lives of homeless individuals. Through the course assignments, which include a social issue report, policy brief, and policy advocacy campaign using social media, social work graduate students gain the skills and competencies needed to activate their agency and build capacity to become effective policy advocates.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Renée Smith-Maddox

Renée Smith-Maddox, PhD, is a clinical professor and diversity liaison at the University of Southern California.

Lauren E. Brown

Lauren E. Brown, PhD, teaches graduate courses at the Rossier School of Education and the University of Southern California.

Stacy Kratz

Stacy Kratz, PhD, LCSW, is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Southern California.

Richard Newmyer

Richard Newmyer, MSW, is a senior lecturer at the University of Southern California.