SOWK 625 Social Policy, Justice, & Advocacy

Social Justice, Policy, and Advocacy addresses social policy and advocacy from a social and environmental justice perspective. Students will have the opportunity to assess policy, recognizing the influence it has on individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Students will engage in advocacy for socially just policies.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Social workers advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. Students will learn to professionally advocate for research-informed social policy.   

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

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Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will engage in course discussion regarding relevant course content. The student will engage with content from the required text for a total of three Discussions to critically think through the impact of personal values and experiences, the role of fear and power in stigmatization, and the application of the Takahashi Model of Stigmatization to an infographic. Each thread must be at least 400 words and each reply must be at least 200 words.

(CLO: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I) (Dimensions: Knowledge, Values, Skills, Cognitive and Affective Processes)

For this assignment, the student will use the official U.S. Congress website alongside a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool to locate, summarize, and critically evaluate a recent federal bill related to 1 of the 13 Grand Challenges for Social Work. The student will use AI to analyze the bill and critically verify the AI’s output against the actual bill details. The assignment must include metadata, a 300–400-word summary of the bill, a critical narrative addressing how the legislation attempts to solve or mitigate the selected Grand Challenge, the AI-transcript, and a 250-word critique and reflection. Current APA format must be used.

(CLO: E, D) (Dimensions: Knowledge, Values, Skills, Cognitive and Affective Processes)

Legislative Analysis: Stakeholder, Power Mapping, and AI Persona Assignment

Using the bill selected in the Legislative Analysis: AI-Assisted Bill Identification and Evaluation Assignment, the student will identify at least 3 distinct stakeholder groups with a vested interest in the legislation and use AI to simulate different stakeholder perspectives. The student will evaluate the conflicting arguments and power dynamics surrounding the legislation and synthesize his or her findings into a clear, comparative Stakeholder Matrix table. The assignment must include a 400–500-word narrative analysis of conflicting values and a 250-word AI persona reflection. Current APA format must be used.

(CLO: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) (Dimensions: Knowledge, Values, Skills, Cognitive and Affective Processes)

The student will create comprehensive knowledge of the cycle of policy change by combining all components of previous legislative analyses. The Legislative Analysis: Applying Framework Assignment must include the identification of legislative initiative, the Stakeholder Matrix as an appendix, and the final product analysis through the option of 2 frameworks discussed in the required reading. In critically thinking through all previous analyses, the student must produce the final written evaluation in the form of a research paper using a chosen template related to policy frameworks found in the course text. A total of 9 scholarly sources must be used, including any sources used for the AI-assisted assignments and at least 3 new sources. The paper must be a minimum of 5 pages and a maximum of 7 pages (not including the title page, reference page, or appendix) and must be formatted according to current APA guidelines.

The student will present an abbreviated version of their comprehensive policy analysis in a Fact Sheet. 

This must include a minimum of 3 or more scholarly sources as found in the comprehensive legislative analysis to prepare a Fact Sheet (visual or list format) with a minimum of 3 points related to the importance and relevancy of their chosen legislation.

(CLO: A, C, E, F) (Dimensions: Knowledge, Values, Skills)

Each quiz will cover the Learn material for the Module: Week in which it is assigned. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain either 5 or 10 multiple-choice questions, and have no time limit. The student will have 2 attempts to complete each quiz with the highest points earned counting toward the final course grade.