The Mid-Atlantic Anti-Oppression Social Work Coalition (MAASWC) is seeking proposals to address the conference theme, Defining Anti-Racist Social Work.

We encourage a range of expressions of knowledge, from traditional didactic workshops (which will be 45 minutes in length) to expressive artistry (e.g. visual art, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, song, dance, etc.). In addition to live presentations, we will offer an online arts gallery for artistic representations that speak to antiracist themes and practice. 

The two kinds of proposals we are seeking:

Conference Presentations: These will be presentations of about 45 minutes that will make up the content of our two conference days.  Presentation proposals should be submitted no later than June 4, 2021. See details and instructions for submission below.

Arts Gallery: If you would like to submit a piece of art (e.g. visual art, film, poem, song, dance, etc.) for display on our website and/or to present during the conference, you can fill out this short proposal form by September 10, 2021. Art proposals should be related to the theme of antiracism and/or antiracist social work practice.  If you indicate that you would like to present your piece at the live conference, we will contact after we receive your proposal to discuss how we may feature it in our schedule.  

Conference Presentation proposals should be aligned with any one of the four proposed themes listed below and detailed at the end of this Call for Proposals. They include:

1. Integrating Macro and Micro: Working the Full Social Work Continuum
2. How Policy Drives Oppression and Socially Engineered (Structural?) Trauma
3. Interfacing Between Service Provision and Movement-Building
4. Creating a Culture of Anti-Oppression in Social Work Organizations

Contact Information and Deadline: Proposals should be submitted online via this form by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on June 4, 2021.

Presentation Formats: The Conference is open to many presentation formats.  In your proposal, please describe how you plan on presenting your material.  Possible formats may include:

• Didactic Presentations. These are usually in lecture format, accompanied by slides or images.  Didactic presentations can include one or more presenters
• Group Symposium. In group symposiums, multiple people take turns presenting around a specific topic or theme.  A symposium session may end with a facilitated discussion to tie presentation threads together
• Panel. In a panel, there are several people with knowledge or perspectives on a similar topic that engage in discussion with each other.  Usually, a moderator is chosen to facilitate and focus the discussion.  If you would like to do a panel presentation, please name a moderator in your proposal
• Interactive Workshop. An interactive workshop combines the presentation of ideas with learning exercises that engage the presentation audience.  If you would like to do an interactive workshop, please provide information about the kind of learning exercises that you will include in your presentation
• These are just some examples.  If you have another format you would like to use, please describe it in detail in your proposal.  Feel free to be creative.  

Proposal Information: Proposals must include the following information. Proposal form can be found by clicking here or going to the conference website:  –

1. Name(s), affiliations, and email addresses of the presenter(s)
2. A listing of the Conference Theme you are selecting
3. A brief description of the Presentation Format in which you hope to participate (200 words or less)
4. A listing of 3-5 learning objectives for attendees of the presentation
5. A minimum 250 word summary of your chosen topic with a clear description of the problem being addressed, the points you intend to make, and the activities (if any) with which you intend to involve your audience
6. Submission of all of the above to by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on June 4, 2021.

Themes for Proposals

As you develop your proposal for the conference, please do so by aligning it with one of the four themes listed below:

Integrating Macro and Micro: Working the Full Social Work Continuum

What does multi-level antioppressive, antiracist social work practice really look like? Honoring our commitment to social justice, how can social workers at all levels of practice join with clients on the individual, family, or group level to examine structural racism, intergenerational trauma, and the consequences of social policy - while respecting the client’s priorities and the limitations of time? What does antiracism mean on the macro level within policy analysis and development? This workshop seeks to equip workers across practice sites with practical skills for advocating for human rights and human dignity from an explicitly antiracist perspective.

How Policy Drives Oppression and Socially Engineered Trauma

Instead of questioning why things are so bad, most social workers are trained to help clients adapt to bad things. But why, for example, are our communities so racially segregated? How do social and economic policies reflect structural racism and individual and collective biases? What are the specific laws and policies at local, national, and organizational levels that create trauma for people of color? How do we bring an intersectional lens to our understanding of policy and socially engineered trauma? Examples of issues to be discussed include, but are not limited to: poverty, educational inequity, income disparities, genocide, slavery, reparations, etc. This workshop has two goals: to provide participants with knowledge about the key social and economic policies that create the problems we struggle to solve, and to challenge social workers to share this information with their clients.

Interfacing Between Service Provision and Movement-Building

The current historical moment requires us to ask: are social workers content to ride on the coattails of psychology by delivering billable services, or are we committed to doing the work required by our Code of Ethics? Despite paying lip service to social justice, social work has not developed avenues for challenging the racist power structures which dominate society. But what role can social workers play in building grassroots political movements? In this workshop, we will hear from on-the-ground activists and organizers who are building power to challenge racism. How can we build bridges so that offering clients “referrals” to movements for social justice becomes a basic social work activity?

Creating a Culture of Anti-Oppression in Social Work Organizations

The Social Work Code of Ethics defines a set of core values which create the foundation of social work practice. They include social justice, dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships. But in order for these values to show up in direct practice, they must first be modeled at multiple levels of the organization. How does an organization identify and socialize these values into the organizational culture? What roles do leadership, organizational policies and processes, and organizational messages play? What does an organizational culture of anti-oppression look like? How will an organization know it has been successful?