Pluralism and Social Justice for Children, Youth, and Families

Promoting Pluralism and Social Justice for Children, Youth, and Families For this assignment, you are asked to research, describe, and analyze a program, service, or initiative in your community that is designed to promote advocacy and social justice for children, youth, and/or families, and to imagine what role you might play in this initiative as a CYC practitioner, with reference to your own professional identity, vision of social justice, and social location. The program, service, or initiative should focus on promoting justice for children, youth, and/or families with sensitivity to at least one of the dimensions of diversity you have learned about in this course while exploring the pluralist perspective: i.e., it should be responsive to at least one of the following dimensions: sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, class/socio-economic status, spiritual belief systems, levels of ability, educational achievement, language, age, and/or nationality. Ideally, the program, service, or initiative you focus is located in your community, or a community you are familiar with. However, you may also wish to focus on an initiative that is provincial, national, or international in scope. Whatever your choice, please be certain that you will be able to access enough information about the initiative to describe and analyze it fully for this assignment. While you are not obligated to focus on a topic that relates to the literature review you completed for Assignment 3, your workload may be lighter if you do. Your completed assignment should: Identify and describe the program, service, or initiative you are focusing on: who it serves, its purpose, and the kinds of supports are provided, the surrounding community environment. Identity the dimensions of diversity the program is intended to address, and discuss both the program itself and the highlighted dimension(s) of diversity in relation to relevant literature (e.g., books, articles, chapters, credible websites) on pluralism and/or social justice. Based on your knowledge of CYC practice roles (see Week 4 for possible examples), identify and describe a role for yourself as a professional CYC practitioner within this program, service, or initiative (this could be a role that you know currently exists in the organization, or that you would like to create, if it does not already exist). Articulate your own vision of social justice for children, youth, and/or families, what actions you might take within your chosen program, service, or initiative to further that vision, and what challenges you might face in realizing that vision within the current design/framework of the program, service, or initiative, and in relation to the particular challenges and opportunities presented by the dimension(s) of diversity your initiative is responsive to. Discuss how you might carry out your designated role with children, youth, and/or families in relation to your emergent professional identity and your social location. What aspects of your professional identity and social location (i.e., your diverse identities ) help you to carry out your role and vision, and what aspects might pose challenges for you? How might you address any challenges you identify? Your completed paper should be approximately 1500-1750 words (6-7 typed, double-spaced, 12 pt font pages, plus references). In your paper, you must make reference to at least four course readings or discussions, and to at least two additional relevant books, articles, chapters, or credible websites. Save your assignment as either a Word or RTF document with the filename "Assignment4-yourname" and put it in the Assignment Drop Box. Grading Criteria: Content (20 marks) Clearly identifies a program, service, or initiative focused on social justice for children, youth, and/or families. Describes and discusses at least one dimension of diversity the program responds to, in relation to course readings and other literature. Identifies and describes a CYC practice role the writer might take on in the context of the chosen program, service, or initiative. Articulates a clear vision of social justice for children, youth, and/or families and discusses opportunities and challenges in realizing social justice within the chosen CYC practice role, particular in relation to dimension(s) of diversity. Clearly describes the writer¡¯s professional identity and social location and discusses both in relation to the chosen CYC practice role, the chosen program, service, or initiative, and the writer¡¯s stated vision for social justice. Integrates relevant literature, citing at least four relevant course readings or discussions, and at least two additional books, articles, book chapters, or credible websites. Presentation (10 marks) Structure of paper and presentation of material is clear, logical and congruent. Introduction provides a succinct overview of the intention and structure of the paper. Conclusion clearly summarizes the main points/findings. Spelling, grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, pagination, punctuation and clarity of writing are at a 1st year University level. In-text citations and reference page are complete and adhere to APA Style Guidelines.