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 Recollections 

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Photo: Public Domain

 

 

This section includes articles written from a variety of points of view, and some personal recollections relevant to the history of American social welfare programs, issues, and personalities.


 

 

 

 

 

  • Current Issues and Programs in Social Welfare - Dr. Jerry Marx, Chair, Social Work Department, University of New HampshireAmerican social welfare, thanks to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Social Security Act of 1935, is furthered currently by two major categories of cash support programs: social insurances? and public assistance. Social insurances are based on the prior earnings and payroll contributions of an individual, while public assistance, commonly known as “welfare,” is based on the financial need of an individual.
  • Current Issues and Programs in Social Welfare: 2001 - 2017Note: This entry is an update to Dr. Marx's previous article, "Current Issues and Programs in Social Welfare." George W. Bush took office as the 43rd President of the United States in 2001. It was only the second time that the son of an American president had later also become president. Bush, a Republican like his father, had defeated Democratic candidate Al Gore from Tennessee in one of the closest and most contested presidential elections in U.S. history.
  • Daniel Coit Gilman's Contributions to Social Work - Harris Chaiklin, Ph.D.This article brings the reader some evidence of social work history that has at the very least been neglected. Most people when asked who are the founders of social work were will mention Jane Addams, Mary Richmond, the Abbotts and maybe Ida Cannon, Charles Loring Brace and S. Humphreys Gurteen. The name of Daniel Coit Gilman is never included in the list of the greats. The case I shall make to you today is that his contributions to helping create the profession were at least as great as those still listed.
  • Defining Community - Harris Chaiklin, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland School of Social WorkUntil the Civil War to be oriented to the community as a social reference was in conflict with Individualism which was the dominant American philosophy. The way these ideas played against each other illuminates an important part of the American experience, one that continues to be active today.
  • Employment Services: A Brief HistoryPresident Warren Harding called a Conference on Unemployment in 1921. This Conference, of which Mr. Herbert Hoover (at that time Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce) was chairman...In commenting on the need for such a service, Secretary Hoover said, "One of the causes of ill will that weighs heavily upon the community is the whole problem of unemployment. I know of nothing [more important] than the necessity to develop further remedy, first, for the vast calamities of unemployment in the cyclic periods of depression, and, second, some assurance to the individual of reasonable economic security--to remove the fear of total family disaster in loss of the job. . . . I am not one who regards these matters as incalculable. . . There is a solution somewhere and its working out will be the greatest blessing yet given to our economic system, both to the employer and the employee."