Students will implement a policy advocacy activity (letter writing, lobbying, wo

Students will implement a policy advocacy activity (letter writing, lobbying, working on a campaign, etc.) The policy and policy advocacy activity must be approved by the instructor in advance. If the student changes the activity after initial approval is granted, the student must obtain approval of the new activity prior to turning in the assignment or the assignment may not be accepted. Required Assignment Headings (These are all main sections and would be considered first level headings per APA.) Title (followed by introductory paragraph) Policy Background Historical, Theoretical, and Ethical Influences Formulating the Plan Policy Advocacy Activity Reflection Conclusion References 1) Preparation and Professional Writing (40 Points) This 4-6 page paper (not including title page or references) requires a minimum of three scholarly sources. Scholarly writing in the School of Social Work requires the accurate use of the most current APA Edition. Students must use Times New Roman 12-point font. An abstract is not required for this assignment. It is acceptable and preferable for you to write this assignment in the first person because you are describing activities you engaged in during the completion of your project. Professional papers include introductory and concluding paragraphs. Submission requires a scholarly level of writing that includes cited research to back up assertions. 2) Policy Background (10 points) (K) Describe how you selected your policy. Why are you interested in this policy? Briefly summarize what the literature or other professional or scholarly sources have to say about this policy. 3) Historical, Theoretical, and Ethical Influences (50 points) (K) Articulate relevant historical, theoretical and ethical influences on this topic/policy. Be sure to address all three of these influences. Using an anti-racist and anti-oppressive perspective, analyze how the chosen policy impacts service delivery and/or access or otherwise affects well-being considering these influences. Be explicit about how BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) individuals and other historically marginalized groups such as the LGBTQIA+ community, people with (dis) abilities, etc. are negatively or positively impacted by your chosen policy. This section is another place where you will use scholarly sources to support your comments. 4) Formulating the Plan (20 points) (S) Discuss how you formulated your policy advocacy plan. Explain how your plan is aligned with the targeted practice setting (local, state, federal, global). Include relevant collaboration with individuals, colleagues, groups, or communities. What are your goals for this plan? How would achieving these goals advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice? Make sure to address all of these areas of justice. 5) Policy Advocacy Activity (20 points) (S) Describe your policy advocacy activity, being explicit about interactions with colleagues, clients, or the community during the process. What action(s) did you take and why? How might these actions help to achieve your stated policy advocacy goals? 6) Reflection (30 points) (C/A) Reflect on what you learned about policy advocacy through the implementation of this activity. What specific policy advocacy skills did you learn and how did you learn them? What have you learned about the role social workers play in anti-racist and anti-oppressive policy development? How might you fulfill this role differently next time? How will you incorporate what you have learned about policy advocacy into your future social work practice? 7) Video narrated professional presentation (30 points) (S) The presentation containing 6-10 slides will be completed using VoiceThread. Additional directions about how to do this and where to post the presentation link will be provided in class. The presentation should briefly summarize your paper and policy advocacy activity. Include content that covers all required areas of the paper as described above. This presentation must include proof of your activity; this could be a complete copy of the letter/email you sent along with a screenshot showing the email was sent, an email from a collaborating colleague verifying your activity, a photo of you engaged in the activity, etc. The date of completion is also required in this proof. If you aren’t sure what to submit, check with your instructor ahead of time. You must provide proof of the project in your presentation if you want the possibility of full points on the summary of activity portion and presentation portion of the rubric. NOTE: The advocacy activity must be an activity the student engages in during the semester they are taking this course; students may not submit this assignment based on previous work and no credit for this assignment is given for work that has been used in other courses.