discussion

  
Week 4 6361 Ecology of Policy in Social Work Settings
Readings
Day 1
• Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate:
From policy practice to social justice. (8th ed.). Pacific Grove,
CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.
o Chapter 4, “Understanding the Ecology of Policy
in Government, Electoral, Community, and
Agency Settings” (pp. 100–140)
• Burns, J. C., Paul, P. D., & Paz, S. R. (2012). Participatory asset
mapping: A community research lab toolkit. Retrieved from
http://www.communityscience.com/knowledge4equity/Ass
etMappingToolkit.pdf
• Community Toolbox. (2016). 2. Assessing community needs
and resources. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/assessingcommunity-
needs-and-resources
Day 2
• Rome, S. H., & Hoechstetter, S. (2010). Social work and
civic engagement: The political participation of professional
social workers. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37(3),
107– 129.
Managing public opinion and understanding the balance between its influence and your advocacy goals is a delicate matter. It is a task fraught with uncertainty because, as a policy advocate, you must navigate through the territory of politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists whose primary goals are to appease and please their constituents.
In this Discussion, you select a social problem that is of interest to you and identify how public opinion influences the process and political approaches involved in addressing that social problem.

Discussion Policy Process and Public Opinion
Post a description of the importance of public opinion in
addressing the social problem you have selected  Sex Trafficking with children and adolescents is my social problem. How does public
opinion influence political approaches to the problem? Explain. What
policy advocacy approaches and skills can you use to address the
problem with political leaders? What are the social justice implications of
your approach?
Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week’s
resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full
APA-formatted citations for your references.