Identify a geographical community or specific target population within a geographical community and identify an area of community change that is important to you as a social work practitioner. Provide context and data to educate your reader about the community and the specific change effort. This should be done as a narrative that utilizes data and community context. One example is accessibility and affordability of food in Lexington’s East End neighborhood.
Provide a rationale for the focus—your own role, why the community/area of change has been selected, etc. Demonstrate an understanding of cultural humility and power dynamics as you consider this macro change effort.
Provide a short overview of scholarly research in this area. What did you learn from your review of the literature that helps to provide context for your own community and the problem/area for change? Are there evidence-based interventions that have worked in other communities? Is there an applicability/way to translate these to other communities? What theoretical perspectives drive work in this area? Summarize the scholarly literature in a short overview that helps to provide broader context for your reader and demonstrates that you understand how to utilize the literature to inform practice.
Identify a macro intervention you’d like to create/utilize within the community, as refined by this use of the literature/evidence. Briefly discuss the following:
Engagement: Stakeholders, your role, community tensions and opportunities, political context, what you know, what you still need to know.
Assessment: What is the target for change (or the problem)? What does positive change look like? What does the community want/need? How are voices being heard? Based on your assessment, what is an intervention strategy that you can see working to affect change in this area? Why?
Planning: Discuss your intervention strategy in depth.
Who is involved?
What assets and strengths are available to help create change?
How will change happen?
Is there a theory guiding this intervention?
What are specific goals and objectives (how will it be measured)?
Who are the key stakeholders in the change effort?
How is it sustainable?
What does a timeline look like?
What resources are needed and where can they be accessed?
What are potential challenges to the successful implementation?
Conclude with a persuasive paragraph/needs statement about this project that could be an “elevator pitch” for a potential funder/stakeholder.
