Collaborating with community members adds a critical dimension to social work research, providing practitioners with intimate knowledge of a community's goals and needs while equipping community advocates with vital skills for social change. Sharing the inspiring story of one such partnership, Corey Shdaimah, Roland Stahl, and Sanford F. Schram recount their efforts working with an affordable housing coalition in Philadelphia, helping activists research low-income home ownership and repair. Their collaboration helped create the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund, which funnels millions of dollars to people in need. This volume describes the origins of their partnership and its growth, including developing tensions and their diffusion in ways that contributed to the research. The authors personalize methods of research and the possibilities for advocacy, ultimately connecting their encounters to more general, critical themes. Building on the field's commitment to social justice, they effectively demonstrate the potential of change research to facilitate widespread, long-term difference and improve community outcomes.
Price: $120.00
Pages: 232
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Publication Date:
13 September 2011
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780231151788
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Methodology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Volunteer Work, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Work
This is a one-of-a-kind book. The authors do not just talk about collaboration, they tell the story of the nitty-gritty process of trying—successfully—to work with community advocates. A wonderful book about how it all worked and could and should work at the ground level.
Corey Shdaimah is assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
Roland Stahl is assistant professor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts School of Social Work.
Sanford F. Schram teaches social theory and social policy at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College, and is an affiliate to the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
1. Changing Research/Researching Change
2. Reevaluating Evaluation Research: Sowing the Seeds of Distrust
3. Introducing Our Collaborative Research Case Study: Working with the Women's Community Revitalization Project
4. Quantitative Data Analysis in a Collaboration Research Project: Low-Income Home Repair in Philadelphia
5. "Everyday World Policy Analysis" and Low-Income Home Repair in Philadelphia: Walking Through Programs from the Client Perspective
6. From Research to Recommendations: The Politics of Presentation
7. The Challenges of Doing Collaborative Research
8. A Model for Collaborative Research
Conclusion
Appendix A: American Housing Survey Definitions
Appendix B: Resources for Doing Community-Based Research
Notes
References
Index
