Social Work Is Standing on the Legacy of Jane Addams: But Are We Sitting on the Sidelines?

After moving to the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I have reflected ever more deeply on the innovative work of Jane Addams. Everyday, I walk over the same ground that she walked over. Hull House is only two blocks away from my office. I ponder about her life and how it was she made such an impact on the lives of her poor, immigrant neighbors. I believe Jane Addams recognized that her community approach to helping people was unique. Her speech at the National Conference of Social Work in 1930 indicated that social work's special genius is its closeness to the people it serves (Addams, 1931). How close are today's social workers to the people and communities they serve? More important, I wonder what Jane Addams would be doing to deal with today's urban problems. Would she compare the profession as it existed in 2001 as the one she helped found (Brieland, 1990; Lundblad, 1995)? The social work profession is a legacy of Jane Addams. We trace our roots to her. The work Jane Addams and others like her started in the early settlement houses became mainstream during the 1960s and found its place in the curricula of schools of social work. Aspects of community practice (for example, community organization, development, planning, and administration) have become essential elements of higher education in social work. What is my concern? Many groups outside the social work profession are doing important work in community practice. These include the National Community Building Network (NCBN) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For at least two decades there have been training institutes for community organizers outside of social work. However, little attention was paid by the outsiders to what was going on in social work. Current initiatives are different, with widespread interest outside of social work, and in one case focused on community organization as taught and practiced in social work. In addition, groups within social work are working to bring a community practice perspective to the forefront. These include two national organizations, the American Humane Association (AHA) and the Alliance for Children and Families (ACF). I am concerned that, as an organized group of social work practitioners and educators, we are not at the table (or barely at the table) as these new articulations of community practice are forming. Allow me to cite a few examples of formally organized groups that are developing innovative practice models. Within each group are committees or small groups focusing on curriculum development. Community Practice Organizations National Community Building Network NCBN provides a forum for community practitioners, researchers, funders and others engaged in neighborhood transformation to share their common interests, insights into barriers they encounter, and field-tested strategies for rebuilding communities. The network is also committed to developing tools and building capacity within communities to influence comprehensive community-building policies at the local, state, and federal levels. For example, the Social Action and Policy Development Continuum is a framework for collecting and developing the curriculum and tools needed to support all phases of social action and policy development (http://www.ncbn.org). HUD's Office of University Partnerships (OUP) Established in 1994, OUP is a catalyst for joining colleges and universities with their communities in a shared search for answers to pressing urban problems. In August 2000, HUD announced $7.5 million in grants to 24 colleges and universities "to help harness their physical and economic resources--and the knowledge, creativity, and energy of their faculty and students--to create stronger, healthier neighborhoods near their campuses" (OUP, 2000a, p.1). With support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Memphis, those involved in the HUD-funded Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) projects have organized a new national nonprofit association. …