This paper will demonstrate the gap between traditional financial institutions and alternative financial services in vulnerable communities. In the past decade, low-income communities such as Baltimore City and the individuals who reside there have experienced limited access to financial services, affordable credit, and investment capital through traditional financial institutions. This is also known as “redlining” and today this limitation continues persistence of discriminatory lending practices in Baltimore city. Even so, this problem has multiple causes, including historical patterns of racial and ethnic discrimination, banks’ and thrifts concerns about profitability, suburbanization and the flight of capital out of the inner city, and the restructuring of the financial services industry. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, (NCRC) map, Alternative Financial Services (AFS) had dominated low-income vulnerable community such as Baltimore city. These communities refer to AFS as their community development financial institutions. Even though some may consider AFS centers as providing a convenience to its consumers, it may come at a huge price. These AFS they exploit the consumers they serve, while providing a facade of convenience. The most common argument against the use of AFS is the fees associated with them. Individuals who cashed checks at these centers can incur an average of 3-5% of the check amount in fees, regardless of the nature of the check. On average, the annual costs of using a financial service center for check cashing is greater than fees associated with using a checking account for similar needs. Aside from the convenience AFS centers may present, there is an automatic danger associated w... ... middle of paper ... ... and as individuals develop out of their poverty situations, so do communities, and the two become mutually reinforcing, creating a comprehensive and integrated model that addresses social and economic exclusion and social disintegration which is necessary for effective poverty eradication. Finally, social work advocacy on a macro level to ensure equal access is critical. To increase opportunities to the low-income and most oppressed populations, we need to try to reduce the growing wage inequality by, joining political organizations that seek to limit the political power of wealth so as to facilitate the election of officials less indebted to economic elites and permitted to support measures to reduce inequality, lobby for direct job creation by the government. Moreover, engage in campaigns to raise the minimum wage such as Earned Income Tax Credit (Goldberg, 2012).
Popple, P. R, & L. Leighninger. (2011). Social Work, Social Welfare, and American Society. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
As her report begins, Jones constructs her beginning by describing a personal experience of having to use her “House Funds” to help her mother pay for her father’s unexpected funeral expenses. The tone of this article is melancholic. Jones wants the reader to understand why minority people can’t seem to get a head in life. Subsequently, she moves on and outlines that for many minority Millennials of color helping family members is not an irregularity, this is something that happens more often than not (Jones). Jones continues her argument, stating that instead of the minorities building assets they are spending money on basic
Popple , P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2011). Social work, social welfare, and american society. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Apply their understanding of social, economic, and environmental justice to advocate for human rights at the individual and system level: making sure that I familiarize myself with current political events and how these events can affect our clients. Making sure we identify forms of oppression of our clients and discuss this with my supervisor, and identify common barriers to care.
One area that racial inequality exists is in America’s financial institutions; even with the Fair Lending Act and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act there is still discrimination. As citizens of the United States we are protected under the Fair Lending Act, race does not take precedence over interest rate...
Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle
The National Association of Social Workers, NASW, considers the following as its six most core values; service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. The value of service is considered to be a core value because offering help to those in need is a crucial goal for all of those looking to practice in the field of Social Work. These services can include, but are not limited to, addressing social problems, helping those in need, and volunteering their knowledge to those who cannot otherwise afford such help. Social Justice is also an important core value for a Social Worker to develop. As a Social Worker one will encounter many people from several different walks of life, no two cases will ever be exactly the same. Some of these walks of life can leave a client vulnerable, defenseless, exploited, oppressed, and troubled. Therefore it is important to learn what Social Justice is, and how to help people from falling victim to injustice. Dignity and Worth of the Person is one of the most important values that one should uphold. People who need the help of a Social Worker many, but not all, times feel powerless, embarrassed, and worthless because they feel as though they cannot control aspects of their life an...
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
Perhaps one of the most versatile and diverse careers is social work, as this career works with individuals struggling with substance abuse, low-income families, and homeless individuals. Social work is a profession that is concerned with solving personal, group, and community relationships (Farley, Smith, & Boyle, 2011). Among some of the most important aspects of social work are the restoration of impaired social functioning, the provision of social services, and prevention (Farley et al., 2011). Reducing problems in human relationships and improving human interactions among individuals are the major focuses of this profession, regardless of which people group the social workers are serving (Farley et al., 2011). Even though it is a relatively new profession, social work has existed in various forms throughout history. However, the beginning of social work’s development as a profession was primarily European in origin, with the ideals spreading to the United States
Social justice is a core value in the social work field. We define social justice as, “all citizens would possess equal fundamental rights, protection, opportunities, obligations and social benefits (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015, p. 29). Unfortunately, we understand there are many members in today’s society that are not receiving social justice. Some may not want help and believe that s/he is able to do it on their own and then there are the individuals that we may not know about that could really use our help. Our jobs as social workers is to help those who need help no matter if they are rich, poor, disabled, white, Hispanic, it does not matter because everyone should be treated equally. As NASW states, “The original mission of social work had much to do with championing the rights of society’s most vulnerable members, from children to homeless people to the physically disabled” (NASW: National Association of Social Workers, 2015, para. 1).
Since the 1950s, jobless poverty has been on the rise. In 1950, 69 percent of all black males aged fourteen and older living in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods of Chicago were employed (Wilson 160). In 1960, 64 percent of all black males aged fourteen and older living in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods of Chicago were employed (Wilson 160). However, by 1990 only 37 percent of all black males aged sixteen or over living in the inner-city ghetto neighbor-hoods of Chicago were employed (Wilson 160). These increases have led to disproportionately high rates of unemployment in inner-city g...
Social workers play a pivotal role helping one achieve social justice. “As such, the social justice mandate of the social work profession may be regarded as an ethical obligation to ensure that all persons have an equal right to access societal resources and opportunities so that they may fully participate in and be contributing members of society” (DuBois 136). Everyone deserves to live in a fair and equal society however, in the movie Selma portraying the years 1964-1965, this wasn’t how the American society lived. Despite segregation slowly coming to an end, racism was still a huge issue as blacks were denied the right to vote. This is where social workers step in: social injustice and inequality.
When they are in need we must do everything in our power to make a change. Sometimes this involve advocating for them to see a change in social problems. The definition of a social worker states that they are trained person that carries out work with the aim of alleviating conditions of those in need (12). This often calls the need for social justice. After learning about social workers throughout history, I realize there’s multiple ways to help those in need (11). They’ve been able to implement social welfare for the public.
Social workers challenge social injustice. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. The meaning of this value is to ensure that individuals going into the social work profession pursue change, most importantly with, on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals, and with groups of people. Additionally, this social work value forces social workers to constantly affect social change primarily focused upon issues of poverty, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice by creating activities that seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic
Social welfare policy and the review of the YouTube video “The Tip Of The Iceberg: Social Work, Social Justice and Social Action – Darrell Wheeler, Ph.D.” The video gets off to a slow start but once the keynote speaker steps up to the mic, he begins to describe social work, social justice and social action with incredible intellect and very few notes. Dr. Wheeler knows his subject area extremely well and is passionate in leading others by sharing his knowledge.