A primary competency for advocacy is communicating with legislators about the social problems and policies you want to change. This means you will need to be well versed in both the social problems that connect with you and the polices that exist to address them.

In Week 2, you identified a social problem. You have since worked to narrow your focus and, separately, considered how policies play a major role in the functions of social work agencies and organizations. For the assignment this week, you start to bring all these pieces together. First, you develop an issue statement to concisely capture your selected social problem through appropriate facts and questions that solicit a response. Then you identify a state or local policy that currently works to address your selected social problem and resolve your issue statement.

To Prepare:

• Review the Issue Statement Sample document in the Learning Resources this week. 
• Search for and select at least one scholarly article that deepens your understanding of—or narrows the context for—your social problem.  
• Search for and select at least one source that explores the population(s) impacted by your selected social problem. This can be a news article or other popular media—for example, you might select a source where someone details their personal story for how they were impacted by the social problem. 
• Search for and select at least one local or state policy that works to address your selected social problem for the affected populations.  
  • Use the Legislative Proposal Assessment from the Council on Social Work Education resource in the Learning Resources this week. This worksheet does not have to be submitted for your Assignment, but it is a useful tool to help you search for, select, and evaluate a policy.