Review of \u3cem\u3eSocial Investment and Social Welfare: International and Critical Perspectives.\u3c/em\u3e James Midgley, Espen Dahl, and Amy Conley Wright

James Midgley, Espen Dahl, and Amy Conley Wright (Eds.), Social Investment and Social Welfare: International and Critical Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing (2017), 272 pages. $135.00 (hardcover)

Human Rights-based Social Investments

Human rights provide a normative framework for social policy. Social investments are required for a state to realize the rights of its people. For example, the human right to health requires a well-funded system of health care infrastructure with a well-trained workforce of health care professionals. However, the implications of human rights for social development policies have not been examined. This paper attempts to fill in this gray area by exploring a rights-based approach to social investment. Human rights-based approaches to poverty, health, mental health, child welfare, and older adults are analyzed for their implications for social investment policy proposals. This paper provides underpinnings for human rights-based arguments for social investment policies, adds specificity to rights-based proposals, and furthers the connection between human rights and social development

Reconciliation in a Community-Based Restorative Justice Intervention

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are among the primary means for promoting reconciliation in communities recovering from violent conflict. However, there is a lack of consensus about what reconciliation means or how it is best achieved. In a qualitative study of the first TRC in the U.S., this research interviewed victims of racial violence who participated in the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC), a community-based restorative justice intervention. Findings reveal that participants conceptualized reconciliation as a multileveled process, that different concepts of reconciliation influenced assessments of the success and limitations of the GTRC, and indicate how community-based restorative interventions can be improved to contribute to reconciliation in a local setting

\u3cem\u3eHumanitarian Aid Work: A Critical Approach.\u3c/em\u3e Carlos Martin Beristain.

Book note for Carlos Martin Beristain, Humanitarian Aid Work: A Critical Approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. $ 59.95 hardcover

\u3cem\u3eChild Soldiers: From Violence to Protection.\u3c/em\u3e Michael Wessells.

Book note for Michael Wessells, Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. $45.00 hardcover

\u3cem\u3eIntroduction to Social Welfare and Social Work: The U.S. in Global Perspective.\u3c/em\u3e Katherine Van Wormer.

Book note for Katherine van Wormer, Introduction to Social Welfare and Social Work: The U.S. in Global Perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2005. $76.95 paperback

Adaptations of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the North American Context: Local Examples of a Global Restorative Justice Intervention

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are restorative justice mechanisms for addressing human rights violations and injustice at the macro level. Mainly applied in the Global South, they have only recently been adapted within North America. The Greensboro, NC TRC was launched by grassroots and community-based organizations in 2004 to examine the causes and consequences of a 1979 incident of racial violence. The Canadian TRC was established in 2008 to address the legacy of colonial policies of assimilation and the forced schooling of indigenous populations. Through a comparison of these two cases, this paper will investigate how the North American context shapes the nature of the problems that these TRCs address, how they are organized, their relationship to the legal system, the role of civil society, and their relationship to poverty and reparations. Implications for social work, restorative justice and the potential for additional TRCs in North America are discussed

“Children Can’t Learn on an Empty Stomach”: The Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program

The year 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party and their revolutionary approach to urban Black suffering in America. However, like many other social welfare contributions of the Black American community, the Black Panther Party’s social programs remain largely unexamined within the social work literature. To reclaim the social welfare contribution of the Black Panther Party, this paper examines the Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program and discusses its relevance to contemporary social work. Key aspects of the Free Breakfast Program are reviewed, including the historical context of the formation of the Black Panther Party and the breakfast program’s mission and funding, as well as reactions to the program. In conclusion, implications are presented for how social work can best support contemporary movements for Black community empowerment and social justice

Social Investments, Asset Building, and Social Development— The State of the Art: A Special Issue in Honor of James Midgley

First Paragraph: Social investment and social development approaches seek to promote human well-being by harmonizing social welfare with economic development (Midgley, 2014). Social development emerged from diverse traditions, including postcolonial social policy, international development, and institutional approaches to the welfare state; over the last two decades this approach has risen to prominence as a key policy and practice perspective around the globe. The social development perspective has yielded policy innovations and catalyzed practice models such as developmental social work (Midgley & Conley, 2010). From the 1995 World Summit on Social Development, subsequent Millennium Development Goals, and the current Sustainable Development Goals, social development is likely to remain integral to the global agenda. Uneven recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis and rising inequality alongside historic advances in economic development emphasize the critical role of social policy in balancing growth with social investments into peoples’ social welfare. These conditions call for further examination of the benefits of social investment policies and practices

Adaptations of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the North American Context: Local Examples of a Global Restorative Justice Intervention

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are restorative justice mechanisms for addressing human rights violations and injustice at the macro level. Mainly applied in the Global South, they have only recently been adapted within North America. The Greensboro, NC TRC was launched by grassroots and community-based organizations in 2004 to examine the causes and consequences of a 1979 incident of racial violence. The Canadian TRC was established in 2008 to address the legacy of colonial policies of assimilation and the forced schooling of indigenous populations. Through a comparison of these two cases, this paper will investigate how the North American context shapes the nature of the problems that these TRCs address, how they are organized, their relationship to the legal system, the role of civil society, and their relationship to poverty and reparations. Implications for social work, restorative justice and the potential for additional TRCs in North America are discussed