Frontline Worker Perceptions of the Empowerment Process in Community-Based Agencies

Despite the lack of consensus about its I meaning, "empowerment" is a widely used term in social work and other human service professions. It is a key concept in social work and over the past few years has become an important concept in work with disadvantaged and disenfranchised populations. Some describe it as a process. For others it is an outcome or goal, and still others view it as a form of intervention (Dunst, Trivette, & LaPointe, 1992; Gutierrez, DeLois, & GlenMaye, 1995). Because empowerment takes place in different forms, on different levels, and within a variety of contexts and situations, Rappaport (1981) contended, "Empowerment [needs to be] viewed ... as a process of infinite variety" (p. 3). The Social Work Dictionary defines empowerment as "the process of helping individuals, families, groups, and communities increase their personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic, and political strength and develop influence toward improving their circumstances" (Barker, 2003, p. 142). The emphasis in most definitions of the concept is "directed at influencing a sense of control over important life events" (Dunst et al., p. 12). Although many in the social work profession have written about empowerment, few have offered a description of the empowerment process from the perspective of frontline workers in high-risk communities. How do frontline workers enact empowerment principles in their everyday work environments? What do these workers perceive to be the challenges in implementing empowerment interventions with disadvantaged populations? What strategies do they employ to overcome or address individual and situational challenges to the empowerment process? This article examines these questions on the basis of findings from a 2001-2004 qualitative study of the implementation of the Casey Family Resource Center Initiative in four of Casey Family Services divisions. FAMILY RESOURCE CENTERS Comer and Fraser (1998) suggested that family resource and support centers are distinguished from other programs by their consumer perspective. They tend to emphasize family participation based on joint decision making between families and service providers. Family resource centers embrace a prevention orientation and emphasize social support, empowerment, and skill development. Most family resource centers have an additional goal: improving the health, safety, and general well-being of children. Family resource centers, like those being developed by Casey Family Services, "are mandated to reach a wide spectrum of families representing a diverse set of needs and strengths" (O'Donnell & Giovannoni, 2000, p. 72). Effective family resource programs may also have systemic goals, such as helping to initiate, develop, or improve interagency cooperation, promoting joint service initiatives, enhancing social supports for families, and increasing family economic self-sufficiency--the latter two of which were prominent goals for the Casey Family Resource Centers. The Casey Family Services Family Resource Center Initiative used empowerment interventions to provide mental health services, child and recreational activities, parent services, educational programs, and other skill training. Casey's Family Resource Center (FRC) programming began in 1999 in four of its seven divisions. (Although all seven of its divisions embraced the FRC initiative, only four had begun implementing the model when this study was conducted.) The sites and program models of these four centers differed slightly. One was located in a school setting in rural New Hampshire, another in two public housing development sites in a small New England town, and another in a midsize urban mid-Atlantic city. Population size, racial composition of the community, and poverty levels among families differed. Although three of these centers were embedded in host settings and one was a freestanding center, frontline staff had similar experiences while engaging in empowerment practices. …