Transforming our world: community practice responses to global and national grand challenges

At the end of 2015, the United Nations released Transforming the World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development supporting a set of 17 goals aimed at eradicating what was identified as arguably the “greatest global challenge and indispensable requirement for sustainable development” (United Nations, 2015, p. 3)—poverty—within the next 15 years. Earlier that year, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare formally launched the Grand Challenges of Social Work, identifying 12 of the most salient social problems facing the United States with the goal of realizing meaningful and measurable change within the decade (see Sherraden, Barth, Brekke, Fraser, Mandersheid, & Padgett, 2015). As one might expect, there is considerable overlap in the challenges identified both globally and nationally, including concerns about globalization, rising social and economic inequalities within and among countries, environmental change, children’s health and well-being, unemployment, underemployment and disconnection from the labor force, and addressing the needs of society’s most vulnerable populations.

Yet, what is the role of community practice in responding to these challenges? Within the global context, one could argue that macro practice is at the center of strategies to realize the 2030 United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets because, internationally, there is an overarching focus on community, social, and economic development to foster positive change. In terms of national policy in the United States, the role of community practice in this ambitious decade-long social work agenda is more ambiguous. In the working papers that undergird the Grand Challenges of Social Work in the United States, macro practice is barely mentioned although community, organizational, and policy practice tools are inextricably linked to reducing if not fully eliminating the structural inequities that underline the country’s most salient social issues.

Our first issue of 2019 includes a collection of articles that, in their own way, illustrate how community practitioners are responding to the social problems articulated in both the UN’s Transforming Our World and the US Grand Challenges of Social Work. One of the common themes across most of the articles in this issue focuses on organizational and/or community responses to addressing the first UN SDG: ending poverty in all of its forms. Its corollary among the Grand Challenges is reversing extreme inequality (see Lein, Romich, & Sherraden, 2016). Poverty underlies the struggles experienced by low-income Americans with limited attachment to financial services (see Friedline, Despard, & West, this issue); access to high quality rental housing by low-income families (Metzger, Bender, Flowers, Murugan, & Ravindranath, this issue); recovery from environmental problems (Willett & Kvam, this issue) or war (McIntyre Miller, this issue). A second theme is associated with the second UN sustainable goal: ending hunger and achieving food security and runs through articles examining the devastation of agricultural lands and livelihoods in Kenya (Willett & Kvam, this issue) and Sierra Leone (McIntyre Miller, this issue) to hunger and food insecurity on college campuses in the United States (Price, Sampson, Reppond, Thomas-Brown, & Camp, this issue). Finally, a third theme that ties the articles in this issue together is what works—each of the articles offers examples of best practices of community initiatives that move toward eradicating poverty and fostering sustainable development.

In our lead article, “Does the Composition of Financial Services in a Community Relate to an Individual’s Savings Account Ownership?,” Friedline, Despard, and West connect community-level factors with individual- and household-level factors to examine outcomes of financial inclusion—one of the main elements associated with achieving financial security (see Sherraden, Huang, Frey, Birkenmaier, Callahan, Clany, & Sherraden, 2015). Using data from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study, merged with community demographic and financial service indicators, the article investigates how that availability of banks and credit unions compared to alternative financial services influences savings account ownership. They found that lower-income households that resided in communities where the density of mainstream financial services was higher than that of alternative financial services were more likely to own savings accounts. However, community composition and density of financial services has no impact on middle to higher income households.

Persisting high levels of residential segregation remain as one of the main drivers of inequality and differential access to opportunities in the United States (see Metzger & Khare, 2017). One strategy that has been employed in the United States to reduce segregation and increase housing options has been the use of housing subsidies in the form of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). “Step by Step: Tenant Accounts of Securing and Maintaining Quality Housing with a Housing Choice Voucher” by Metzger, Bender, Flowers, Murugan, and Ravindranath depicts the rental housing search experiences of 34 low-income, minority HCV holders in the St. Louis metropolitan area. In a rental housing market with high vacancy rates, they report that HCV voucher holders struggled to secure affordable quality housing in their preferred neighborhoods. These struggles were exacerbated by the lack of current apartment lists, financial burdens associated with application fees and security deposits, and transportation problems. This work supports SDG 11 emphasizing sustainable cities and communities.

In “Building Resilience to Environmental Problems in Kenya: Lessons for Aid Organizations from Three Successful Community-Based Processes,” Willett and Kvam examines the experiences of 19 communities in Kenya affected by environmental problems such as deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, droughts, floods, waste, and pollution. They specifically examine the extent to which financial support from aid organizations might be better channeled into projects that are community-based and initiated by local community members using well-known indigenous processes of mutual support such as culturally appropriate charity, community-based micro financing, and community-based fundraising to foster resilience. Their findings support multiple sustainable development goals.

Along a similar vein, McIntyre Miller examines the role of international organizations in postwar community development. “Through Community Eyes: The Transition of International Organizations from Community Aid to Development in Postconflict Sierra Leone,” traces the role of international organizations in the period since the end of the country’s civil war in 2002, particularly in the transition from providing relief efforts and securing peace to support for the redevelopment of the country’s economy and physical and social infrastructure. In-depth interviews with community members from two communities in Sierra Leone assessed international organization efforts aimed at community-driven development. McIntyre Miller reports that community members expressed concerns about the lack of use of local expertise, unfulfilled promises, and introduction of ill-advised programs reduced the effectiveness of these efforts, underscoring the need for community buy-in and participation. Findings from this study also support multiple sustainable development goals including SDG 16 promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions.

Each of the previous articles allude to the emergence of communal responses to addressing social problems. In “Authenticity and Community Process,” Elias presents a conceptual argument underscoring when genuine participatory processes are used to address community issues, these processes serve to empower individuals, enhance individual authenticity, and encourage active citizenship. In turn, when individuals engage with others most authentically, those interactions serve to strengthen community and political processes thereby producing better results—better policies and programs—because individuals who become active citizens and participate in governance become responsible for the common good. Elias argues that community practitioners could apply these principles to better understand “how community-based organizations go about their daily work and foster authentic participatory processes within the communities they serve.” This study depicts ways in which community members and community processes can foster SDG 17, which emphasizes the need for partnerships to realize the 2030 SDG.

Our final article in this issue, entitled “Creating a Community of Practice among College Campus Food Pantry Directors in Michigan” by Price, Sampson, Reppond, Thomas-Brown, and Camp, examines hunger and food insecurity on college campuses. Recent estimates suggest that hunger and food insecurity affect nearly 40% of college students in the United States and is irrespective of geography and type of campus (Goldrick-Rab, Richardson, Schneider, Hernandez, & Cady, 2018). In light of the rapid growth of campus food pantries and the influence that food insecurity has on student academic success, this From the Field article describes the process used to create a community of practice in Michigan among campus pantry directors to facilitate dissemination of best practices, problem solving, and networking as well as to integrate efforts across campuses and organizations. The authors offer strategies that are consistent with addressing SDG 2 focusing on the elimination of hunger and food insecurity.

These articles represent examples of partnerships and strategies that support the efforts of communities in making progress toward sustainable development. Although it may be the case that social development policy is formulated in capital cities, social development is necessarily enacted in local communities. Community practitioners can not only play a role in promoting an international or national sustainable development agenda, but work to surpass sustainable development goals when nation states are unable or unwilling to meet them.