Community Partnership Action Award

Community Partnership Action Award

The CSWE Commission for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice is proud to announce the Community Partnership Action (CPA) Award to honor the contributions of schools and departments of social work and social work students (BSW, MSW, PhD/DSW) in advancing community partnership action. The CPA Award will be presented at the Carl A. Scott Memorial Lecture given annually at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting. "Community" is broadly defined as a self-organized network of people with a common agenda, cause, or interest and is not limited by physical locality.
 
Community partnership actions are central to the advancement of social and economic justice, which is intrinsic to social work education. Historically, dating back to the settlement houses, our profession is rooted in working with the community to solve social problems and issues. Community partnerships enhance social justice work by promoting meaningful reciprocal collaboration. These activities also develop connections between theory and practice in real-life contexts toward promoting social, economic, and environmental justice competencies.

Two awards will be given annually, one for each of the following categories.

  1. Social Work Program Award. Recognizes a CSWE-accredited social work program that encourages its faculty, students, and staff members to engage in community-based social, economic, or environmental justice activities. Some examples might be particular classes, advocacy activities, field assignments or projects, interprofessional collaboration, and culturally based interventions.
  2. Student Project Award. Recognizes a student (BSW, MSW, or PhD/DSW) who has engaged in a community partnership activity that successfully promoted social, economic, or environmental justice.

Selection Criteria

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the CPA Award subcommittee of the Commission for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice using the following criteria:

  • The extent to which the educational efforts or the community partnership action project effectively address social, economic, or environmental social justice issues
  • The extent to which the educational efforts or the community partnership action project empowers the community or the community leaders
  • The extent to which the educational efforts or community partnership action project are evaluated and disseminated

The call for nominations will open in early March 2023.

Nominations must be submitted through Submittable. E-mailed or incomplete nominations will not be accepted.

Questions

Please contact [email protected] if you have questions.

2022 Awardees

Tanzilya-Oren.jpg

Program Awardee: Dalton State College BSW Program

The Dalton State College BSW program graduated its first class in 2004. Established with an emphasis on service to the Latino and Appalachian populations that make up Northwest Georgia, the program has grown to serve more than 100 students per year. The program is known for its commitment to service-learning, and service is embedded across the program, beginning with the earliest, lower-division introductory courses. Students are engaged with the surrounding community throughout their studies. Most recently, the program launched efforts to introduce undergraduates to community-based participatory research and to utilizing research and service to address the Grand Challenges of Social Work. The field education program extends throughout Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, offering students opportunities to work with both individuals and communities and to grow as professionals by practicing from a socially just, anti-oppressive perspective. More than 85% of graduates go into advanced standing master’s programs each year. As part of the only designated Hispanic Serving Institution in Georgia, the program is committed to preparing generalist social workers who are competent and committed to the profession's values and ethics and to addressing the social justice issues of our time. 

Previous Winners

2021

  • Program Award: University of Missouri School of Social Work Integrative Behavioral Health Clinic
  • Student Project Award: Tanzilya Oren, Fordham University

2020

  • Program Award: Center for Innovation in Behavioral Health Education & Research at Simmons University School of Social Work
  • Student Project Award: Sujeeta Elizabeth Menon