Post in your Journal a brief description of the human services administrator and the example of social change you selected from this week’s video. Then, based on the example you selected, explain how human services organizations can contribute to social c

“Social Change” Program Transcript HOLLY HOEY: So Maurice, as we talk abou t social change, I k now there's a story b ehind how you go t into this field . I can j ust sense y our passion an d enthusiasm for wh at you do.

MAURICE WILLIAMS: We ll, I've always h ad an interest i n the hu man condition.

M y undergrad w as in psychology, so we st udied a lot abou t the mind, human behavior. I've always been inquisitive . I wan t to know; ho w did we ge t here, who are we, why are we so different, wh y are we so alike, what makes us who we are ? An d so, literally, that's wh y I got into i t.

Now, as I started working in the field though, I saw that, wow, it 's not abou t bei ng inquisit ive. There 's really a lot o f needs ou t here for pe ople. There's a lot of pai n out here . It's a lo t of trau ma, a lot of grief, a lot of loss. And I co me from a fam ily tha t has always bee n very community focused.

And so I got into working wit h people wit h disab ilities. An d then next, I worked with adults who were on assistance, tenants assistance . And then I ende d up working with ch ildren. And now it 's like, "Wow, t here it is." Childre n have such a vul nerab ility, bu t such a purity. I can connect wit h them, because ch ildren always remin d me th at we all were one of t hem at one t ime. An d I'm fortunate enoug h to h ave gotten i nto a fie ld that keeps me focuse d on, like Ho lly asked, What am I going to do good t oday? Who am I going to h elp? Not rea lly save, but who am I going to hel p progress further in their life." HOLLY HOEY: What a bout you Andre a?

ANDREA INGRAM: We ll, I gr ew u p in a large fa mily, a lot of kids, an d I was in the middle. So middle childr en, we do a lo t of m ediating an d all this kin d of stuff .

B ut, I also grew up with a very k een sense of justice an d fairness. Whe n there are seven kids in the f amily, you learn that life is no t fair. An d my parents h ad a strong sense of justice also, and were great examples.

So wh en I went ou t into the world, I felt an obligation, a responsib ility to tr y to make life better for pe ople that didn't h ave it as well as I did. Because to me, it 's a s ense of justic e and f airness to include p eople in the mainstre am who are left o ut, for wha tever re ason. Th ey're left ou t because o f poverty, they're left ou t because of me ntal illness, or there are left out because o f their person ality. They're just left ou t because of re lationships.

So it 's just because of, I think, being raise d with a keen sense o f fairness and justice an d wanting to h ave an impact o n that. I foun d that I r eally love d crisis work, because when peop le are in crisis there 's suc h energy there an d motivatio n to make things different. And th ere's a re al o pportunity to make things differen t and to make so me really significant changes an d r each so me really significant resolutions in your life that really might pu t you o n a differen t path.

HOLLY HOEY: I say th at I'm in this field by default. But it worke d out to my benefit, be cause I absolute ly love what I do. I wasn 't a midd le child, but I've always been a m ediator. Always. "Are you OK? Is every one OK? Let's make sure everybod y gets along." And so that 's just my personality.

But I h ave a degree in interior design. And so I di d design work for five years.

And I rac e walked a maratho n for Leuke mia Society, an d we had to raise mo ney.

Here we go . Here goes my life story. And I h ad to raise m oney, which I found to be so simple . And pe ople k ept sayin g, "How are you raising all that m oney?" An d I said, "It 's because I belie ve in i t." If I cou ld talk abou t it and I believed in it, and I re ally had a case for why I was raisin g money, I found it to be very e asy.

And so here g oes my career change . I loved it. And I said, "I'm not fulfilled in my previous job." And I just said, "I'm going to make a life change." And it w as the best chan ge that I made. An d 12 years later, here I am. I love it at United Way.

And I just f eel that I connect the dots. That 's my job. I connec t the dots. I co nnec t the dot s with my volu nteers, wit h donors, to peop le that nee d help. And United Way does the same thing with partners. And I just f eel that that 's where my sk ill set is. If I can bring these peop le togeth er to ef fect change, I've done my job.

So we're t alking about how our organizati ons influence soc ial change . And I think th is is ac tually the most e xciting part to d iscuss, because being at United Way for over 1 2 years, I think that my job every d ay is ext reme ly rew arding an d fulf illin g.

Wh at United W ay of Central M aryland does is to again, mob ilize the communit y t o impro ve peop le's lives. We are touching the lives and changing lives as it re lates t o helping p eople sust ain their lives, to stabilize, an d then getting them ou t o f tha t spiraling poverty and getting them to self-sufficien cy. My job is to educate and co mmunicate and inform individuals about the most pressing ne eds i n this co mmunity.

MAURICE WILLIAMS: I, like y ou, Ho lly, believe that soc ial chan ge is very, very importan t for our organizatio n as well, the Williams Life Cen ter. We service peop le who are born into the number one institution, the first instit ution tha t the y'll ever be a part of, whic h is the fa mily. Unfort unately, the ir families fall apart for wha tever re asons, neglect , abuse, drugs, inc arceration. Some fa milies and so me parents wan t to take care o f the kids, bu t they just d on't have the resources an d the capabilities to do so. And so we a t the Williams Life Center bring them in. So me children co me into our program an d they 've alread y lost a l ot. And maybe the y're now 14 already when the y co me into the syste m, and s ome of t hem h ave a long w ay to go. An d they may falter an d they may not be su ccessful i n the program that we pro vide to the m. But th en there are o thers, whic h far outwe igh the on es tha t don 't make it, that will co me in and al though t hey have the emotion al baggage that the y have, an d the traumas that they 've experienced, we watc h them grow a nd we watch them become connecte d to a family.

And that is so rew arding, because we see th at as our dut y to ensure th at these childre n, no matter wha t their previous life would h ave been like, that when the y co me to o ur agenc y we're going to take care o f them, bottom line. We're going to take care o f them. And i f they're in an environmen t that is not m eeting the stand ard, we move th em. And th en tho se that aren't m eeting the stand ard, but we c an work wit h them to ge t them higher, we do that . And so that's how we b elieve we affect soc ial change. Because th is is anot her child who may not grow u p to be an a buser h imself.

ANDREA INGRAM: We ll, to me, soc ial chan ge is very person al. You talked about volunteers. Yo u talke d about your f amilies and the kids. I think large chan ge starts wit h one person, an d it goes from th at perso n to their family, to the ir congregation.

An examp le that I wou ld like to talk a little bit a bout is, we do a lo t of services for peop le with me ntal illness. An d they're in our shel ter programs, but we also h ave a m obile crisis team and we go out wit h the po lice. We also do so me training with the Po lice Departmen t on how to b etter man age situations with a person w ho's perhaps h aving a psyc hotic ep isode, may be beh aviorally out of contro l, resulting in some family conflict , and so fort h.

There's one perso n that we respon d to all the time . When she 's not i n treatment, it c an be prett y outrag eous, including ch allenging the po lice, very co nfrontation al.

It coul d eve n be sexu ally oriented. When the po lice went to lunch at this day progr am, there she was. And it w as at a point in her life where she w as in treatme nt. And the police were just a mazed. They sat down wit h her, were able to talk wit h her, see her when she is in treatment an d is doing we ll. And were eve n ab le to t alk to h er abo ut, ho w should w e behave when we co me out an d you're in crisis? So th at she c ould eve n have some input into how the po lice an d the mob ile crisis te am wou ld respon d to her.

That one thing transfers to other police officers, transfers to ho w they act wh en the y respon d to other peop le who are h aving a mental healt h crisis. Because the y c an see t he perso n behin d the crisis. And when you see the person behind the crisis, yo u handle it a li ttle differently. So th at to me is soc ial change, one person at a t ime.

MAURICE WILLIAMS: When we think of social change, som etimes I think we think o f somebod y standing b ehind a p odium sayin g, "Let 's do it ," an d there 's h undreds o f thousands of p eople out there o n the lawn listen ing. Bu t it's really one person at a t ime. And sometimes, in our jobs, we have to remind ourselves how important wh at we d o really is.

I w as in Walmar t two weeks ago, and a foster fam ily came up to me and said, "Hey, Mr. Williams." An d I turned around an d it was a 16-ye ar old who I had place d there over a year ago with her foster mother. An d the 16-year old has a so n who w as born abou t a year or so ago. The son w as born wit h extreme he alth ne eds. And so working wit h this child, she broke down. She said, "I'm i n twelfth grade. My ch ild is sick." The ch ild was in the hospit al for like three mon ths at a time . And we said to her, "We will help yo u through this. We're going to ensure that you gradua te. W e're going to ensure that this bab y is take n care of." And we s tuck with her.

And so when I walke d aw ay after we spoke, I looked back at them again and I sa id to myself, "Wow, that could have never happene d had we not re ally worked to k eep this girl together, to kee p this baby together, to kee p this f amily together." So sometimes, little glimpses w ill co me that says, "You know wh at Maurice, wh at you g uys do is really important." And so it is one individual at a time. It really is.