UB SSW is a partner on new #MacroSW Twitter Chat-
Social Work Month Launch

 

The UB School of Social Work is taking part in a new collaboration to host semi-monthly Twitter Chats at #MacroSW on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT/EST (6 p.m. PDT/PST).

Fittingly, the chat is launched during Social Work Month.

Macro social work practice matters: The first chat

The launch is on Thursday, March 13, at 9:00 PM. Rachel West, of the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA) will host; the focus is on the Rothman Commission and its findings of the state of macro social work.

The author of the report that guides the commission, Jack Rothman, established standards for community social work practice and is regarded as a pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). The special commission out of ACOSA will make recommendations for strengthening macro social work practices.  Both the University at Buffalo, State University of New York and the University of Southern California, with other academic institutions as well as two professional organizations – ACOSA and NSWM – are sponsors of the commission.

The #MacroSW Partners

The University at Buffalo School of Social Work is one of seven moderators rotating as host of the semi-monthly chat, to be held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

The chats will discuss issues relevant to macro social work practice and will be geared to practitioners at all career levels.

#MacroSW Twitter Chat is a collaboration between public and private universities, students, community practice organizations, and individual macro social workers. The partners:

• University at Buffalo School of Social Work (represented by Pat Shelly @UBSSW)
• University of Southern California School of Social Work (Gabriel Acosta @uscsocialwork);
• Macro Social Work Student Network (Cassie Biron and Kate Jordan @MSWSN)
•  Network for Social Work Management   (Kristin Battista-Frazee @TheNSWM);
• ACOSA – the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (Rachel L West @acosaorg);
• Deona Hooper (founder of Social Work Helper blog @deonahooper), and
• Karen Zgoda (PhD Candidate at Boston College – @karenzgoda).

We look forward to engaging in thoughtful conversations, welcoming new members and providing a platform to discuss key issues for the social work community.

I encourage you to follow UB SSW on Twitter !  Join in the conversations – UB will take its turn as host of the chat in May; an announcement will be sent out closer to the date.

How to participate

To participate, log-in to your Twitter account and search for the hashtag #MacroSW. You can tweet questions to the initial host for the chat @acosaorg (easiest) or via our handle, @UBSSW. Use the #MacroSW with each of your tweets, or else they will be seen only by the host and may not be posted for all participating in the chat.

If you are new to Twitter, you will need to set up a Twitter account – It’s easy! It’s free! Here is a link that gives you an overview – Twitter 101.

For those who have not participated in a twitter chat before: It is OK just to  watch the chat and all the comments and not post any yourself. Only participate if you feel comfortable doing so. This social media interaction is very laid back and is a discussion – no right or wrong answers.  We expect that participants will include BSW and MSW students, social workers, writers, bloggers and others.

Remember: always include the hashtag  #macrosw  in all of your tweets sent during the chat.

Please let us know what you learned from the chat – your comments are welcome!

Resources:

The Rothman Report: ACOSA, Education for Macro Intervention: A Survey of Problems and Prospects,  by Jack Rothman, PhD

Article on the ACOSA Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in Social Work:
Good News for Macro Practice? by Charles Lewis