Melvin Delgado

Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Older Adults discusses two converging problems: the aging baby boomer generation and the large percentage of the American population in prison. This book focuses on the treatment, reentry, financial challenges, medical issues, and policy implications of the aging population in prison.

Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Older Adults discusses two converging problems: the aging baby boomer generation and the large percentage of the American population in prison. This book focuses on the treatment, reentry, financial challenges, medical issues, and policy implications of the aging population in prison.

Urban Community Practice provides an orientation to urban community practice as a core method for all practitioners. Readers will learn a common framework and practical skills for planning and implementing change in communities and organizations. This book emphasizes principles including social and economic justice and empowerment through an examination of racism and other intersecting oppressions, constituent-led change efforts, and an asset-based orientation to practice in urban settings and other social environments.This textbook is designed for courses that provide the knowledge base and skills needed to conduct community and organizational assessment, including power analysis and use of demographic and other data; development of strategic action plans; and use of partnerships with non-traditional settings, coalitions, and other constituencies to effect social and organizational change.

This book offers a new vision on urban gun violence that focuses on public space-centered concepts, events, and research. It builds on our existing knowledge base by viewing a "slice" of this problem through celebratory and solemn occasions and how violence at these events and spaces reflects on the state of urban gun violence. Understanding this context serves to inform us on how best to address this social phenomenon. Gun violence in the United States is a salient national problem with virtually no day that goes by without it occurring, particularly in urban public spaces, making it a significant social event. This book uniquely presents an urban- and event-focused context for gun violence. It also draws attention to marginalized urban communities, merging urban public spaces, events, intersectionality, social justice, and gun violence, introducing a unique window to better comprehend this violence as a national issue and bringing profound consequences when it transpires in a public event. To examine the context of public spaces and events in gun violence, the author organized the book's ten chapters in three sections: Part I: Conceptual Foundation sets the foundation for a multifaceted perspective. Part II: Celebratory and Solemn Events expands the gun violence arena. Part III: Implications for Research, Education, and Practice. Urban Public Spaces, Events, and Gun Violence: Block Parties, Funerals, Mother's Day, and Other Community Events expands the context of gun violence beyond the street scene to include public settings and events, and helps in achieving a comprehensive understanding of this public health problem and how best to solve it. The book is essential reading for practitioners, academics, and researchers in public health, social work, criminal justice, and community practice.

This book provides a unique foundation upon which to view how the involvement of the death care sector offers a potential route to take in practice and research in reaching urban communities of color dealing with gun-related deaths. Gun violence in the United States is a salient national problem with virtually no day that goes by without it occurring. Where gun violence occurs, in turn, must be examined to facilitate understanding of how context influences the significance of the shooting. In the case of this book, the context is urban and death care sector (funeral homes, cemeteries, and houses of worship). Understanding how these settings shape public reactions help inform us as to how best to address this social and public health problem in the nation's urban centers and its consequences for communities. The book addresses five interrelated goals that weave together a variety of themes to produce a vision and guidance needed for a new practice arena: (1) ground readers in the latest statistical information on urban gun violence in this country; (2) review existing approaches to preventing and intervening in community gun violence with a focus on cities; (3) uplift the importance of the death care industry in meeting the needs of families and friends of gun victims. Attention is also paid to how funeral homes have expanded their vision of services to aid their community; (4) provide readers with details and insights into how to develop collaborative projects with systems of care through a series of case illustrations; and (5) put forth community practice, education, and research recommendations for how best to prepare future practitioners wishing to work with the death care sector on other related community issues to better serve urban communities. The Death Care Industry and Urban Gun Violence is a must-read for community psychologists, social workers, public health practitioners, community educators, sociologists, community medical providers, criminologists, and urban planners, as well as academics and students in these fields. Policy makers will also find the book of interest.

Functioning churches are an integral part of a community, not only for the active members of a congregation, but in providing myriad other services to the broader population - from food, housing, and other charitable outreach to hosting local events, to serving as election polling locations. So what happens when a church closes? Declining religious affiliation, accelerated modernization, and a number of other demographic, ecological, economic, and political factors mean that church closures are increasingly common in the United States. When the Lord's House Closes examines the forces behind these closings and provides community-centric recommendations for repurposing church buildings. With a focus on cities and communities of color, Melvin Delgado's analysis highlights the rewards and challenges of urban church repurposing. With the aid of case studies, this book considers whether, and how, community needs and interests can be factored into decisions for how a closed church might be used.

This book offers a new vision on urban gun violence that focuses on public space-centered concepts, events, and research. It builds on our existing knowledge base by viewing a "slice" of this problem through celebratory and solemn occasions and how violence at these events and spaces reflects on the state of urban gun violence. Understanding this context serves to inform us on how best to address this social phenomenon. Gun violence in the United States is a salient national problem with virtually no day that goes by without it occurring, particularly in urban public spaces, making it a significant social event. This book uniquely presents an urban- and event-focused context for gun violence. It also draws attention to marginalized urban communities, merging urban public spaces, events, intersectionality, social justice, and gun violence, introducing a unique window to better comprehend this violence as a national issue and bringing profound consequences when it transpires in a public event. To examine the context of public spaces and events in gun violence, the author organized the book’s ten chapters in three sections: Part I: Conceptual Foundation sets the foundation for a multifaceted perspective.Part II: Celebratory and Solemn Events expands the gun violence arena.Part III: Implications for Research, Education, and Practice. Urban Public Spaces, Events, and Gun Violence: Block Parties, Funerals, Mother’s Day, and Other Community Events expands the context of gun violence beyond the street scene to include public settings and events, and helps in achieving a comprehensive understanding of this public health problem and how best to solve it. The book is essential reading for practitioners, academics, and researchers in public health, social work, criminal justice, and community practice.

Through participatory strategies, the proposed book seeks to tap into community spirit to convert urban blight to sites of urban pride and in the process reduce gun violence.The past decade witnessed increased practice and scholarship focused on urban open and green spaces across the country, which are often uplifted as having a multitude of social, psychological, health, and economic benefits for residents. These spaces have often emerged from vacant lots and distressed properties that have been torn down because of the safety hazards they present. A review of the literature on vacant lot effect on health found they influence a wide-range of conditions, including attracting gun violence (Sivak, Pearson, & Hurlburt, 2021).Enhancing green spaces, such as parks and gardens, where they exist, or introducing them where they do not through conversion of lots, has taken center stage in urban communities of color as a means of addressing a range of social problems, including reducing various forms of violence (Peréa et al., 2019). In instances where vacant lots are converted to green spaces, the benefits can be significant. Urban green space environments promote trust, democratic principles, and resiliency (Hoffman, 2019). This goal, as a result, is worthy of attention for urban-focused researchers, practitioners, and academics.This book seeks to accomplish six goals: (1) present a state of the art picture of vacant lot and distressed properties conversion; (2) use of case illustrations to concretize values and practice techniques; (3) identify the rewards and challenges of undertaking this form of practice on urban gun violence; (4) identify specific values and principles undergirding urban practice and vacant lots; (5) provide readers with a grounding on the major strategies for reducing urban gun violence to serve as a backdrop for vacant lot conversion; and (6) identify a series of research and practice principles that can guide gun violence reduction interventions.

Through participatory strategies, the proposed book seeks to tap into community spirit to convert urban blight to sites of urban pride and in the process reduce gun violence.The past decade witnessed increased practice and scholarship focused on urban open and green spaces across the country, which are often uplifted as having a multitude of social, psychological, health, and economic benefits for residents. These spaces have often emerged from vacant lots and distressed properties that have been torn down because of the safety hazards they present. A review of the literature on vacant lot effect on health found they influence a wide-range of conditions, including attracting gun violence (Sivak, Pearson, & Hurlburt, 2021).Enhancing green spaces, such as parks and gardens, where they exist, or introducing them where they do not through conversion of lots, has taken center stage in urban communities of color as a means of addressing a range of social problems, including reducing various forms of violence (Peréa et al., 2019). In instances where vacant lots are converted to green spaces, the benefits can be significant. Urban green space environments promote trust, democratic principles, and resiliency (Hoffman, 2019). This goal, as a result, is worthy of attention for urban-focused researchers, practitioners, and academics.This book seeks to accomplish six goals: (1) present a state of the art picture of vacant lot and distressed properties conversion; (2) use of case illustrations to concretize values and practice techniques; (3) identify the rewards and challenges of undertaking this form of practice on urban gun violence; (4) identify specific values and principles undergirding urban practice and vacant lots; (5) provide readers with a grounding on the major strategies for reducing urban gun violence to serve as a backdrop for vacant lot conversion; and (6) identify a series of research and practice principles that can guide gun violence reduction interventions.

Gun injuries are a social and public health phenomenon that has profound consequences on victims, their social network, and neighborhood. Deaths resulting from gun violence represent just one piece of this puzzle while injuries (visible and invisible) make up a considerable other part. Solving such a large and multi-faceted public health issue is an arduous task. The Silent Epidemic of Gun Injuries explains the effects of injuries from gun violence in the United States. Through case studies and statistics, Melvin Delgado explores the physical and emotional effects of gun injuries as well as their social, cultural, and economic impact on communities. Further, he explains how communities and social work professionals can respond to the epidemic of gun injuries.

While the concept of cities and places of refuge, or sanctuary cities, is as ancient as history itself, the past few years has given rapid rise to a new, related phenomenon in the U.S.: the anti-sanctuary city movement. As of 2018, over 500 U.S. municipalities and several states have adopted anti-sanctuary city policies. How do we explain the rapid rise of this movement? This book examines the social, political, and racial underpinnings of this radical new movement, and what members of targeted communities can do to counteract its corrosive effects. This book accomplishes five goals:Conceptually and descriptively gives form to the anti-sanctuary movement.Identifies trends and reasons for successes and failures of this movement.Draws lessons for social justice advocates in countering this movement.Presents a series of cities illustrating how and why this movement has unfolded in certain geographical areas.Presents recommendations for anticipating the evolution of this movement and countering its destructive impacts in communities where the anti-sanctuary is taking root.

While the concept of cities and places of refuge, or sanctuary cities, is as ancient as history itself, the past few years has given rapid rise to a new, related phenomenon in the U.S.: the anti-sanctuary city movement. As of 2018, over 500 U.S. municipalities and several states have adopted anti-sanctuary city policies. How do we explain the rapid rise of this movement? This book examines the social, political, and racial underpinnings of this radical new movement, and what members of targeted communities can do to counteract its corrosive effects. This book accomplishes five goals:Conceptually and descriptively gives form to the anti-sanctuary movement.Identifies trends and reasons for successes and failures of this movement.Draws lessons for social justice advocates in countering this movement.Presents a series of cities illustrating how and why this movement has unfolded in certain geographical areas.Presents recommendations for anticipating the evolution of this movement and countering its destructive impacts in communities where the anti-sanctuary is taking root.

Gun violence occurs in urban areas more than it does anywhere else, and youth of color in these areas are disproportionately impacted in the United States. How can we approach this? What can we do to stop this from happening in the first place? In addition to trying to bolster the barriers one must cross to acquire a gun, we must also focus on the communities struggling with this abuse. In this book, Melvin Delgado approaches this nationwide issue with a specific focus on the victims: detailing the primary issues surrounding gun violence, what social workers can do about it, and why it is critical for those in the field to get involved. Delgado identifies the current strategies used by social workers, providing professionals with the tools necessary to identify key problems before they escalate enough to lead to violence. He also discusses ways to reshape the education social workers receive to make sure they keep these racial injustices in mind in their approaches. Self-help organizations can intervene and potentially reduce the number of gun-related deaths that occur in cities nationwide, but we too often do not look to them after a shooting. Urban Gun Violence presents opportunities for improvement based on the work done by urban self-help organizations in the past. Building off of these organizations from across the US--from Louis D. Brown Peace Institution in Boston to the Community Justice Reform Coalition in San Francisco--Delgado illustrates how social workers can advocate for minority communities impacted by this lethal weapon. With chapters spanning everything from how people obtain guns--legally and illegally--to lessons from the field, the book outlines the path toward successful intervention.

The helping professions and social scientists traditionally seek concepts and paradigms that can be used in shaping research and services focused on marginalized populations in the United States. Various perspectives have garnered attention across disciplines with intersectionality as a recent, salient example. However, state-sanctioned violence--built upon the foundation established by Intersectionality--introduces a purposeful socio-political agenda that is carried out by various levels of government to subjugate a group due to its beliefs, physical characteristics, and/or social circumstances. This book provides a conceptual foundation on state-sanctioned violence; critiques how this perspective holds relevance for social work research, education, and practice; examines specific examples of how and where state-sanctioned violence is manifested; and projects potential developments into the near future.

Community Health Workers in Action proposes support and expansion of the role of community health workers in meeting the health needs of marginalized groups in United States cities (although their potential reach is not limited to any one group or geographical section). Given the health inequities that continue to touch the lives of millions of people of color across the country, these professionals' efforts--which translate to innovative, community-centered responses designed to reach particularly vulnerable populations--are quite timely. In order to truly understand the topic of health care, one must first explore its historical contexts, socio-cultural factors, and the ways in which values play a critical role in shaping a worldview of the right to quality care. This book offers readers a window into the dynamic field that continues to expand in highly creative and cost-effective ways, which ultimately shape one major piece of the complicated puzzle that is health care in America.

Trauma has unfortunately become an all-too familiar occurrence in the lives of children, with a majority of youth experiencing a traumatic event before the age of 18. With the rise of school shootings and recent March for Our Lives, this timely book will address intervention strategies for social workers and counselors to combat this negative phenomenon. Urban Youth Trauma focuses on urban violence and guns, while due attention is also paid to other forms of trauma in order to ground violence-related trauma within the constellation of multiple forms of trauma. Violence, and more specifically that related to guns, is very much associated with urban centers and youth of color. Divided into three parts, this volume traces the roots of urban youth trauma. Parts I and II provide context and foundation for the problem and intervention strategies. Part III takes the reader through a variety of intervention strategies directly related to the community's assets. The strength of Urban Youth Trauma's lies in its focus on the community itself as the key to survival, resilience, and change.

Trauma has unfortunately become an all-too familiar occurrence in the lives of children, with a majority of youth experiencing a traumatic event before the age of 18. With the rise of school shootings and recent March for Our Lives, this timely book will address intervention strategies for social workers and counselors to combat this negative phenomenon. Urban Youth Trauma focuses on urban violence and guns, while due attention is also paid to other forms of trauma in order to ground violence-related trauma within the constellation of multiple forms of trauma. Violence, and more specifically that related to guns, is very much associated with urban centers and youth of color. Divided into three parts, this volume traces the roots of urban youth trauma. Parts I and II provide context and foundation for the problem and intervention strategies. Part III takes the reader through a variety of intervention strategies directly related to the community's assets. The strength of Urban Youth Trauma's lies in its focus on the community itself as the key to survival, resilience, and change.

The term "sanctuary city" gained a new level of national recognition during the 2016 United States presidential election, and immigration policies and debates have remained a top issue since the election of Donald Trump. The battle over immigration and deportation will be waged on many fronts in the coming years, but sanctuary cities - municipalities that resist the national governments efforts to enforce immigration laws - are likely to be on the front lines for the immediate future, and social workers and others in the helping professions have vital roles to play. In this book, Melvin Delgado offers a compelling case for the centrality of sanctuary cities' cause to the very mission and professional identity of social workers and others in the human services and mental health professions. The text also presents a historical perspective on the rise of the sanctuary movements of the 1970s and 2000s, thereby giving context to the current environment and immigration debate. Sanctuary Cities, Communities, and Organizations serves as a helpful resource for human service practitioners, academics, and the general public alike.

The focus on Latinos in the United States has generally overlooked key social-economic-political dimensions that are not only growing in importance, but may ultimately hold an important key to how well this group does in the immediate and distant future in the country. The approximate ten-year period since this text's initial publication has witnessed an increase in scholarship and new social-political-economic developments regarding this population group. Social Work with Latinos, Second Edition captures these advances and adds to the existing body of work in this area. In particular, this revised edition provides an up-to-date demographic profile; identifies the rewards and challenges for the development of social work interventions focused on Latinos; includes a conceptual foundation from which to develop social work strategies for outreach, engagement, service-provision, and evaluation; features a series of case illustrations to highlight how cultural competency/humility can unfold to better reach this population group; grounds the Latino experience within a social, economic, cultural, and political context; and provides recommendations for social work education, research and practice.

There is no denying that friendship, however narrow or broad the definition, is dynamic and highly responsive to socio-cultural and environmental factors. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice highlights the greater importance of friendships in circumstances where youth have been marginalized and have limited access to instrumental resources that restrict geographical mobility or curtail their movement to limited public spaces (in which they are validated, and even liked or admired). Youth friendships are not limited to peer-networks; they can cross other social divides and involve adults of all ages. Indeed, community practice and asset assessment approaches are increasingly focusing on the relevance of strong peer relationships and networks as strengths upon which to build. Friendships, therefore, are a community asset and as such could be included as a key aspect of community asset assessments and interventions. Community organizations, schools, religious institutions, and other less-formal groups provide practitioners with ample opportunities to foster urban youth friendships. This book seeks to accomplish four goals: (1) provide a state of knowledge on the definition, role, and importance of friendships in general and specifically on urban youth of color (African-American, Asia and Latinos); (2) draw implications for community practice scholarship and practice; (3) illustrate how friendships can be a focus of a community capacity enhancement assets paradigm through the use of case illustrations; and (4) provide a series of recommendations for how urban friendships can be addressed in graduate level social work curriculum but with implications for other helping professions. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice is a must-have for community practitioners, whether their focus be social work, recreation, education, planning, or out-of-school programming.