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Your MSW is a systems degree. You were trained for policy analysis, needs assessment, and program evaluation. You just need to learn the language hiring managers use. This guide explains how to transition into macro social work and get hired for the work you were built to do.

#leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #systems-change

Macro social work built Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, and the 40-hour work week. Now it makes up less than 10% of the profession. The history is remarkable. Clinical drift is a crisis.

#leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice #systems-change

Building a Theory of Change: Why Your Logic Model Is Telling the Wrong Story

A Diagram of Activity Is Not a Theory of Change Most social justice organizations do not have a theory of change. They have a diagram of activity. Many have a logic model buried somewhere in a grant application. Some have updated it once. A few have actually used it. The problem is not that logic models are useless. The problem is that most logic models in social justice settings were designed…

#macro-social-work #systems-change

Social work centers lived experience in its language, but the credentialing apparatus often filters it out in practice. From licensure to debt to accreditation, who actually gets through? A closer look at the structures shaping the profession.

#agents-of-change #equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #systems-change

Awareness without influence is not systems change. Empathy without accountability is not justice. Our new guide examines strategic storytelling as a tool for creating systems change. This guide is meant for advocates, nonprofits, and macro practitioners who seek to create meaningful change.

#agents-of-change #community-advocacy #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice #systems-change

New article at The Macro Lens: Social work was built on proximity to harm. We've spent decades rewarding distance instead. The Architecture of Amnesia asks who really belongs at the blueprint table.

#leadership-in-social-work #lived experience leadership #macro-social-work

The federal government just classified theology as a professional degree. Social work didn't make the list. Comment deadline is March 2. Here's what happened, why it matters, and who gets hurt most. 👇

#equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy

Most MSW students get stuck with whatever practicum their program offers. But you can design your own macro placement. This guide shows how to partner with organizations you care about, arrange external supervision, and build systems-change skills through a "creative laboratory" practicum.

#agents-of-change #community-advocacy #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #systems-change

The epistemic regeneration spiral explains how coordinated macro practice, lived experience leadership, and shared governance can rebuild trust and restore social work’s systems-change capacity.

#community-advocacy #equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice #systems-change

The Epistemic Erosion Spiral: Why Social Work Struggles to Change the Systems It Claims to Serve

Introduction: The Epistemic Erosion Spiral Social work has always carried a dual mandate: providing direct support to individuals in crisis while taking structural action against the conditions that produce harm. For decades, the profession has understood that individual suffering often reflects policy choices, institutional power, and unequal social conditions. Direct service was never meant to…

#agents-of-change #community-advocacy #equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice

Library social work is often framed as crisis intervention and individual support. This piece argues that libraries are something else entirely: overlooked macro practice environments where community needs become visible, partnerships form, and systems-level change begins.

#community-advocacy #equity-and-inclusion #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #systems-change

Many of the challenges social workers face are not practice failures, but policy outcomes. This piece explores how policy analysis helps practitioners move upstream to understand, challenge, and influence the systems shaping their work.

#agents-of-change #community-advocacy #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice #systems-change

Lived experience workers are being hired faster than systems are prepared to support them. When recognition of value outpaces infrastructure, harm follows. This piece examines burnout, supervision gaps, and the unintentional exploitation built into well-meaning systems.

#equity-and-inclusion #holistic-practice #Lived experience #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #social-justice

Deafening Silence: NASW Restructuring and the Fear of Speaking Up

This piece is an unplanned follow up, written in response to the extraordinary volume of feedback to my previous article. You may wish to read that analysis first for full context. NASW Restructuring Article Response On Friday, I published an analysis of the November NASW restructuring decision. The response revealed something I did not fully anticipate: the gap between what social workers…

#equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #systems-change

NASW Restructuring and Ethical Accountability: When Chapters Stand Up To Leadership

Social workers across the country are concerned, confused, and angry. How can the organization that claims to represent us, the steward of our Code of Ethics, so blatantly violate the values it taught generations of practitioners to defend? Last month, national leadership executed sweeping NASW restructuring, resulting in the leaders serving fourteen state chapters being laid off. Many learned…

#equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #NASW #social-work

Suffering in Plain Sight: How Child Welfare's Institutional Amnesia Failed My Brothers

This piece continues the personal story I began in My Why, where I share the experiences that shaped my commitment to macro social work and empowering lived experience leaders. The US child welfare system is deeply flawed. For many children, the greatest and most lasting harm does not come from the events that triggered involvement, but from the system itself. Caseworker turnover and the…

#child-welfare-system #leadership-in-social-work #lived-experience #macro-social-work #systems-change

Coalition Building for Social Workers

A practical framework for creating powerful partnerships that drive systems change Social Work Coalition Building When you work alone, you’re limited by your own capacity, resources, and sphere of influence. When you build a coalition and bring together diverse partners around a shared vision, you multiply your collective power to create lasting change. Coalition building is one of the most…

#agents-of-change #community-advocacy #equity-and-inclusion #leadership-in-social-work #macro-social-work #policy-and-advocacy #systems-change

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