Workshops
Rural Communities in East Texas Strategies of Social and Environmental Justice Through a Systemic Lens
Workshop Presentation Emmerentie Oliphant, Wilma Cordova
Rural communities in East Texas experience unique challenges which impact the quality of life for community residents. Social workers use a systems lens to create community change strategies. The profession addresses social, economic and environmental justice in practice. Typically, communities in this region are challenged by the scarcity of resources and services, unemployment and poverty. For example, in the deep rural areas there are child care and food deserts making it difficult for people to experience quality of life. Not having access to food is an environmental injustice. The authors observed the need to create sustainable community strategies, based on social and environmental justice, to address these ongoing challenges. In this presentation, we will share ideas to focus on environmental justice through ensuring the voices of the community is heard. Community residents often show resistance to professionals entering their communities, asking questions, creating interventions and writing reports without them having a voice. They do not necessarily want to engage in research or community outreach activities, which can make it difficult to collaborate with residents. We will provide specific examples that ensure that all voices are heard based on appreciative inquiry approaches. The workshop will increase participants’ knowledge on how to use specific strategies to address social and economic justice and will include examples of undocumented migrants, day laborers, residents of colonias and residents who have been marginalized in thriving communities.
Diverse Partnerships and Collaborations in Rural Minnesota: A Model for a Continuum of Collaboration
Workshop Presentation Renee Cardarelle
Based on seven years of community-building activity in rural Minnesota, this workshop explores the impact of positional power on collaborations between diverse groups in communities where there is a significant power disparity. The workshop explores common barriers to effective collaborations in this type of community and provides insights into how these collaborations grow. To this end, the workshop introduces a Continuum of Collaboration. True collaborations should be about shared goals and objectives, but often times in communities with high levels of power disparity collaborations are about the goals of the lead partner. Identifying how this is a part of White supremacy culture and ways to interrupt these processes and to create more equitable partnerships is a key component of the session.
