Dr.

Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 1

Social Work 365M: Perspectives on Poverty

Class Time: May Term Monday-Thursday 12:30-1500
Room: B-103 Brewer Hall
Instructor:
Dr. Nancy Francisco Stewart PhD, ACSW
Office: 315 Brewer Hall
Email: nfstewar@jsu.edu
Phone: 256-782-5344
Office Hours: 11:00-12:00 Monday-Thursday

Course Description
This course explores the heritage of poverty in the United States and Alabama and the
implications of the myths, facts, and social policies that influence and affect individuals,
families, and communities. This course will enable students to have a better
understanding of the nature of poverty with emphasis on its complex causes, prevalence,
and persistence in Alabama. The course addresses the experience of poverty by race,
education, gender, and ethnicity and explores poverty research and models to explain,
eradicate or prevent poverty. The course draws on lecture presentations, field experiences
as service learning, exercises, and the viewing and discussion of poverty in research,
news, literature and film.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, each student should be able to:

1. Review the basic threads of social theory that have led to current definitions of
poverty;
2. Distinguish among and critique diverse definitions of poverty;
3. Discuss the impact of poverty on individuals, families and communities;
4. Identify Alabama state agencies, religious groups and community organizations
addressing poverty through empowerment, advocacy, and service;
5. Discuss research findings on poverty in Alabama and the United States;
6. Relate public perceptions of poverty to the development of policy.

Prerequisites for this course: none

Required Text

Seccombe,K. (2011). “So You think I drive a Cadillac?” Welfare Recipients’

Perspectives on the system and its reform, Third Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Course Readings & Resources

Instructor will use with assigned readings:

Alabama Poverty Project (2005). The Picture of Poverty. Available through instructor or
as a “PDF file” through
http://www.alabamapoverty.org/PictureOfPoverty.pdf
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 2

Albert, R. & Skolnick, L. (2006). Social Welfare Programs: Narratives from Hard
Times. Belmont, CA: Thompson Brooks/Cole.

Bragg, R. (2001). Ava’s Man. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

Cheng, T. (2007). How is ‘welfare-to work” shaped by contingencies of economy,

welfare policy and human capital? International Journal of Social Welfare, 16, 212-219.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2006.00458.x

Davis-Mayes, D. (2004). Daddy’s Little Girl. Journal of Children & Poverty, 10, 1, 53-
68. DOI: 10.1080/1079612042000199232.

Department for Studies of the Division for Church in Society. (1999). Sufficient,
sustainable livelihood for all: A social statement on Economic Life. Minneapolis, MN:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Flynt, W. (2004). Dixie’s Forgotten People, 2nd Edition. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana
University Press.

Franklin, R. (2005). Why the black church: The case for partnership between black
churches and organized philanthropy. Atlanta, GA: Southern Education Foundation.
www.southerneducation.org.

Penley, G. (2002). Della Raye, A girl who grew up in hell and emerged whole. Gretna,
Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company.

Hamill, S.P. (2007). Book Review: A tale of two Alabamas. Alabama Law Review,58,7,
1103-1160.

Harrington, M. (1962). The Other America: Poverty in the United States. Baltimore, MD:
Penguin Books.

Jansson, B.S. (1988). The Reluctant Welfare State: A history of American social welfare
policies. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc.

Pierce, D. & Brooks, J. (2003). The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Alabama. Arise
Citizens Poverty Project.

Poole, D.L & More, S. (2004). The use of asset-based community development to
increase rural youth participation in higher education. Rural Social Work: building and
sustaining community assets. T. Laine Scales & Calvin L. Streeter, Editors, 148-159.
Belmont, CA: Thompson Brooks/Cole.

Rank, M. R. (2005). One Nation, Underprivileged. Why American Poverty Affects Us All.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 3

Robinette-Moss, B. (2002). Change me into Zeus’daughter. New York: Scribner.

Seccombe, K. (2007). Families in Poverty. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Southern Education Foundation (2010). The Worst of Times: Children in extreme poverty
in the South and the rest of the Nation. Available on the web at
www.southerneducation.org.

Williams, H.R. (2004). Weren’t no good times. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair.

Other readings may be assigned. Required readings will be in PDF format on the
blackboard.
There will also be required electronic links.

Links:
WFSA12News: Cost of Education: A special investigation
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14029466

High School Drop Outs: Alabama’s Number One Education and Economic Problem
http://southerneducationfoundation.org/pdf/HSD%20Report-Final-2007Appendix.pdf

Alabama: People in Poverty.

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?sub=2&rgn=2&cat=1

Urban Institute Research of Record

http://www.urban.org/publications/412009.html

The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United States

http://www.urban.org/publications/412009.html

Pulling Apart: A state by state analysis of income trends

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2716

GREAT EXAMPLE from George Washington University School of Social Work as a

research/policy paper:
“Everything you own belongs to the land” by Derek J Miller
http://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/Documents/WP03-22.pdf

Course Website:
The course web site is on Blackboard and will be demonstrated during the first meetings
of the class. Students can access the class page by internet at http://jsu.blackboard.com.
Bb course site includes a forum for asking questions of the faculty, an electronic grade
book, access to the lecture notes for each class presentation, as well as access to
supplementary readings and web links. Announcements concerning the course will also
be made on the web site. Students in the class are responsible for checking the web site
regularly. The Blackboard web site includes more information concerning policies for
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 4

students with disabilities, the new student e-mail policy, the honor code, and other
matters. Students are expected to maintain a current e-mail address and submit their work
electronically through the course website.

Course Requirements

This semester all students will be submitting their work electronically into the course
website on Blackboard. As we read, watch video and engage in service work, students
will be journaling their course experiences and learning.

The course requirements include:

* A group service project with a statewide agency addressing poverty
* Weekly journaling as reflection papers that link assigned readings and class
activities (3 required).
* A group presentation of the service learning experience as it relates to
understanding poverty in Alabama, using references from the assigned readings and
poverty statistics. This assignment includes creation of a position paper (editorial)
with an action plan for you as an individual and a community member to create
change that would reduce poverty.

Class Attendance: Students are expected to attend class regularly. Class presentations
assume you have heard the lecture materials, viewed the films, and completed assigned
readings. The lecture notes will be provided to students each week, after the lectures, on
the course web site. However, these are notes; if you do not attend the lectures, the notes
will not make much sense. Students missing a class will be responsible for catching up
with material that was missed. This class has 16 class meetings and students must attend
80% of the classes (13) to pass per departmental policy. Therefore, missing more than
three classes over the May term will result in failure unless the absence is excused.
Students 10 minutes late will be considered absent and will not be able to sign the roll.
Habitually late students will be dealt with individually.

As part of this course and social work education, students have assignments that involve
visiting agency settings and/or the community. As such, these assignments may present
some risks. Sound choices and caution may lower risks inherent to the profession. It is
the student’s responsibility to be aware of and adhere to polices related to agency and/or
community safety. Students should also notify instructors regarding any safety concerns.

A positive relationship between the student and the instructor is important. The instructor
will be available to the students during regularly scheduled office hours and by
appointment. Students may contact the instructor by telephone and by email.
Confidentiality will be maintained unless the subject matter is required to be reviewed by
the Department of Sociology and Social Work or is to be reported by law. Please refer to
the BSW Handbook of the Department of Sociology and Social Work.

This class maintains a course site on Blackboard. Announcements, course documents,

and discussion forums will be online.
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 5

FILMS: Films reflecting the portrayal of poverty in film will be presented on

Wednesdays or Thursdays although the schedule may vary dependent on service learning
activities. Students missing a film will be responsible for arranging to see it at another
time.

Electronic journal entries on poverty: Students will write & respond to the assigned
readings, guest speakers and the exercises related to the experience of poverty with three
papers, one each due weekly. Some of these will involve visits to a community site; some
will respond to in-class exercises; some will involve research on services available for
low-income families. Field experiences and observations will be part of the journal entry.
Each week lists assigned readings and critical thinking questions. Each journal paper
should be approximately 2-3 pages.

Field Experiences: This class will be participating in service activities through Alabama
Appleseed Project. Field work will occur outside of class time and require some travel.
Service work will begin May 4 and end May 23 in Anniston, AL This May term will
focus on Calhoun county and its proximate counties. Field trips to local agencies and a
trip outside the region are planned. Students will need to coordinate their schedule with
instructor. JSU is a university affiliated program with Impact Alabama and the Alabama
Poverty Project.

The service project involves heir property in Calhoun county. As part of the project, the
class will be divided into two groups. Each group will take one parcel of land identified
as heir property and begin to trace the family tree of that property. Students will identify
who lives on the property, what improvements have been made (and when) and whether
the property was damaged in the April storms. Students will contact family members and
assist them in the steps necessary to form a limited partnership to get a deed to the
property. This may enable these families to file for FEMA and block grant assistance.

Position Paper and Presentation: Perspectives on Poverty

Brief summary of assignment:

This position paper presents information related to a specific concern you have about
poverty and its consequences in Alabama. Using your service activity and the course
readings as your springboard, as a group, students will select a topic and define the
problem as evidenced in census and state data, news reports and social work literature.
After identifying the issue and reasons we must address this topic as it relates to poverty,
students will take a position and make recommendations. Guidelines for the paper will be
discussed in class. Students should complete a literature review with at least 5 social
work articles to ground the recommendations in social work theory and practice.
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 6

Requirements:

For this assignment students will explore a specific topic related to poverty and take a
position addressing the concerns identified. In order to complete the assignment, students
will need to research statistics through the Picture of Poverty and data available through
the Census, Alabama governmental websites and research organizations that study
poverty as well as popular media such as television and newspaper articles. This semester
we will focus on heir property and the impact of the 2011 storms. Students must first
define the issue. Beyond statistics, student need to explore the social work literature
related to the topic of their choice. A minimum of 5 journal articles must be cited in terms
of defining the issue, responding through services and evaluating effectiveness. After
presenting the statistics and the literature, students must take a position on the methods
that have been tried, drawing inferences on what the situation is like nationally and in
Alabama. Each student must then make recommendations on how individually the
student can make a difference and what collective action needs to occur.

Your paper must be written according to departmental guidelines, using the APA
Publication Manual for style. Consider as though you were writing for the weekly
newspaper feature magazine. Length of paper will be 8-10 pages.

Presentation:

The position paper must also be presented as though you were educating community
members about this issue. Develop a PowerPoint presentation that provides a graphic
illustration of the problem you identified, the statistics, and your recommendations. Be
creative in your use of visual media. Presentation length must not have more than 12-15
slides. Tell your audience the implications learned in your research about this issue.
Present a strong argument on involvement at the individual and community level.
Students may present from their academic discipline’s perspective or from a
religious/moral perspective. Presentation time: 15 minutes.

Suggested topics: Public Housing, Higher Education, Taxation, Home Ownership, Debt,
Literacy, Parenting, Early childhood education, Employment, Stigma, Nutrition, Aging,
Immigration, Transportation, Secondary Education, Higher Education, Women,
Minorities, Housing, Healthcare, Mental Health, and/or Criminal Justice. As an example,
consider child care or scholarships.

Course Grades
Grades for each assignment will carry the following weight toward the final grade.
Attendance and Class Participation: 100 points
Journal Entries: 5 entries total for 100 points
Position Paper: 100 points (group project)
Class presentation: 100 points (group project)

All assignments must be typed and submitted electronically on time at the beginning of
the class when they are due. No late assignments will be accepted unless in the event of a
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 7

serious illness or emergency, and documentation is required. The four criteria for
performance in your graded project are completeness, application of theoretical content,
self-reflection, and conciseness. Final grades will be assigned according to the following
scale: 90% (360 points or more) and above = A; 80-89 (320-359) = B; 70-79 (280-319) =
C; 60-69.5 (240-279) = D; below 60 (below 239) = F.
All assignments must be completed and submitted to receive your assigned grade.
Late work will lose a letter grade for each late day.

Course Calendar

Week One: May 3

Introduction to the course and faculty
Review of the syllabus.
May 4: Craig Baab of Alabama Appleseed to present
Overview of the class web site and Alabama Poverty Project.
Introduction to the Ideology and Politics of Poverty
Introduction to Films Portraying Poverty: Their Social Significance
Welfare & public policy
Exercise 1
Thursday, May 7: Poverty Journal # 1 due

Be sure to check the course web site to make sure you know how to use it. There will be
regular announcements and e-mail messages concerning course material and scheduling
of the field work.

Readings:
May 3 to May 4
1. Heir Property in Alabama, readings from the Auburn University website:
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/agec/heirproperty/definition.php
2. Torn from the Land, Associate Press Series in 3 parts (Read all three. Link for
part one listed. Type in “Torn from the Land” into your search engine.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1202-03.htm

May 5-6
3. Read chapter 1 from Seccombe: Introduction: Putting a face on welfare, pages
1-27.
Questions to consider in your reading response paper (Journal 1):
a. Do you have “family land?” Do you have a deed to your property?
b. Is it more likely that poverty causes depression or that depression causes
poverty?
c. How does the recent disaster in Alabama affect those on family land?

Week Two: May 9 Understanding the nature of poverty

Definitions of Poverty: What do we mean by poverty?

Absolute versus Relative Poverty
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 8

Short-Term versus Persistent Poverty

Theoretical and Political Approaches to Poverty
May 10: Guest speaker: Shirley Taylor, Librarian, Hobson City
Related websites & Instructor presentation
Film 1: To Render A Life
Exploring the research

Readings: May 9: Seccombe, Historical & Persistent Dilemmas, chapters 2,

pages 27-46 and May 10: chapter 3, Stigma & Discrimination

Journal Response Paper 2 due Thursday, May 12:

Questions to consider:
a. What are the four explanations for poverty and welfare use? At this point in
your reading, which makes sense to you and why?
b. What are some of the connection between Hobson City Library, Heir
Property, the Appleseed Project regarding poverty and social inequality? What
feelings were evoked as you began to investigate families and discrimination?

Week Three: May 16: Cause for Concern

Why care? Why is poverty an important issue for America?

Poverty as a Life course event
Explore Judeo Christian, civic values and shared responsibility.
Biblical references to poverty

Readings:
Davis-Mayes, D. (2004). Daddy’s Little Girl. Journal of Children & Poverty, 10, 1, 53-
68. DOI: 10.1080/1079612042000199232.

Southern Education Foundation (2010). The Worst of Times: Children in extreme poverty
in the South and the rest of the Nation. Available on the web at
www.southerneducation.org.

High School Drop Outs: Alabama’s Number One Education and Economic Problem
http://southerneducationfoundation.org/pdf/HSD%20Report-Final-2007Appendix.pdf

Seccombe, Chapter 4, Why Welfare? Pages 71-97, Chapter 5: Day to Day living, pages
98-117. Seccombe, Chapter 6: Living & Surviving, pages 118-139

May 19: Poverty journal # 3 due

Questions for your journal?

1. Whose responsibility are the children? What are the pros and cons of insisting
that fathers be more involved with the children and their mothers?
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 9

2. Living and surviving welfare and poverty touches all aspects of one’s personal
life, not simply the economic realm. If you were on welfare, how much
assistance would you get from your family? Your friends?
3. Have you ever used charities or social services for food, shelter, or clothing?
Think about the events of April’s storms and their impact.

Week 4: May 24 Creating Change

Developing a new paradigm and future directions.

Where Are We Heading? What Can We Do?

Readings: Seccombe, chapters 8 and 9.

The Main Points of the Semester

Position paper due electronically May 26
Course Evaluation
Summaries and conclusions
May 26: Class presentation during the exam period.

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS POLICY: The Department of Sociology and

Social Work accommodates students with disabilities, pursuant to federal and state law.
Any student with a disability needing accommodation is asked to notify the professor at
the beginning of the course. The Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) is a
resource for students needing accommodation and faculty needing assistance with
accommodating a student’s special needs. Students with disabilities are encouraged to
contact DSS for information and individualized accommodation.

CLASSROOM COURTESY/CLASS CIVILITY:

1. Social Work students adhere to the standards in the BSW handbook and the NASW
Code of Ethics and assume responsibility for their conduct. Scholastic honesty and
integrity are consistent social work values.

2. Students are expected to be active in the learning process, to do the assigned readings
and participate in the class activities and discussions, including the class Blackboard
resources.

3. Assignments or examinations which show evidence that they have not been completed
directly by the student will not be accepted and may result in automatic failure for the
course. The instructor will comply with University guidelines regarding scholastic
dishonesty, including plagiarism and cheating during examinations.

4. Social work practitioners respect others. Therefore, differences in values, opinions,

and feelings of class members and guest speakers will be respected.

5. Punctuality and timeliness are important for social work practitioners. Class
attendance is expected. Attendance at less than 90 percent of the classes will result in
Dr. Francisco Stewart SW 365M May 2011 10

loss of a letter grade. The instructor should be notified in advance of any planned absence
and as soon as possible in case of an unforeseen, serious emergency.

6. Cell phones and pages should be turned off. This classroom is a public place, not a
private domain. It is expected that students will conduct themselves in a reasonable,
polite, and considerate manner. Examples of unacceptable behavior include (but are
not limited to) talking to classmates during lecture, sleeping, reading a newspaper,
studying for another course, leaving the classroom at will, and disrupting the class. All
students are expected to attend class fully prepared with appropriate materials and all
devices that make noise turned to the off position (cellular phones, pagers, personal
stereos, etc.). Any student behavior deemed disruptive by the professor will result in
expulsion of the student from the classroom, with an absence for the day and possibly
disciplinary action including termination from the course.

7. Social work practitioners are assertive and provide comments in their functioning as
team members. Comments are welcome about the course and my instruction. The course
will be viewed as a joint effort between students and the instructor.

8. Students are expected to use and ask for feedback. As the instructor, I will work with
you throughout the semester and provide you with initial feedback and suggestions for
revisions on assignments. Please arrange to meet with me before the time the assignment
is due.