Social justice forum educates youth, faculty

Community involvement and activism were two main themes of the
second annual “Back to Our Roots: Social Work and Economic
Justice” forum on Tuesday. Both fell under the larger aim of
achieving social justice for poverty-level workers.

“I’m just a worker,” said Dolores Sanchez to
the translator and audience. “But my children and I
don’t go to the park, we go to picket lines.”

Dolores Sanchez is not just a worker; she is one of the head
organizers for the Justice for Janitors union, which helps women
like herself get the pay and benefits they deserve.

As a featured panelist at the forum, Sanchez pleaded to the
audience of over 200 social welfare students and professors to
involve themselves in their communities.

The goal of social and economic justice is to make sure
people’s basic needs are met, said event organizer Mary Brent
Wehrli, a field liaison and professor of social welfare at UCLA.
Some ways to meet basic needs include providing workers with a
higher living wage, affordable housing and health care, Wehrli
said.

Unions aimed at helping poverty-level community members placed
four students in field positions after last year’s forum,
which Wehrli says will be repeated this year.

Keynote speaker Nancy Berlin, a staff member of the Los Angeles
Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, suggested helping
low-wage workers by looking at their individual problems from a
broader perspective.

“Look at the person in their environment,” Berlin
said. “Maybe the reason they can’t pay their rent
isn’t their fault.”

Berlin also stressed that social workers can’t solve
problems by just giving out money. Instead, she suggested placating
clients’ feelings of isolation and helplessness by getting
them involved in events such as rallies and protests related to
their cause. “We have a tendency to victimize our clients,
but nobody wants to be a victim,” Berlin said.

Organizers hope students will realize the importance of
remaining optimistic about changing the current treatment of these
workers.

“Cynicism is a cop out,” said Anneka Scranton, an
event organizer and clinical professor at the University of
Southern California School of Social Work.

“We want students to come out of this event with a sense
that they can participate and make a change,” Scranton
said.

A variety of grassroots organizations set up resource tables
with representatives to help students get involved.

“It’s really important that young adults advocate
and educate themselves because if we don’t, nothing will ever
change,” said Children’s Defense Fund representative
Gabriel Tovar. “The odds are stacked against us, but that
just makes us more creative and passionate,” she added.

The event also included a dinner to promote discussion among
students and faculty, and to provide networking opportunities for
placement in field jobs.

“These events are really important to get everyone
involved with the economic justice movement,” said fifth-year
social welfare doctoral student Kate Cooney.