uman service professionals who work in the community may be expected to develop the skills necessary to engage in outreach, provide education to community members, assume an advocacy role, and influence policymakers. As a human service professional, connecting clients with appropriate community resources can have a profound impact on their health and quality of life. Therefore, you must be aware of the resources in your community, where to refer clients for special help, and what support systems exist in your community. Human service professionals can assume an advocacy role for disenfranchised clients whose background makes it difficult for them to utilize professional assistance; a community perspective emphasizes social change rather than merely helping people adapt to their circumstances.

Assignment Directions

For this assignment you will be creating a 1-page community handout that presents information about resources that address the needs of an at-risk population in your community. The handout can be used to educate your community, influence policymakers, advocate for additional resources, and even bring with you on an interview with a community agency.

Please be sure to address all of the following in your assignment:

• Provide a quote that captures the spirit of a community.
• Describe the community and provide an overview of the demographic statistics of population in the community.
  • Tip: You may begin with the city/town/county website to obtain this information.
• Identify an at-risk population within the community that will benefit from the community resource handout (i.e., community members of color, individuals with physical or developmental disabilities, children at low-performing schools, families of incarcerated individuals, etc.).
  • Examine three reasons as to why this population is considered at-risk (i.e., risk factors may be related to institutional or social conditions within the community, oppression, discrimination, access to care, etc.).
• Describe three specific challenges human service professionals may encounter when working with the at-risk population identified.
  • Examples include: stigma related to the helping process, resistance to receiving outside help, challenges for this population in utilizing professional assistance, lack of trust between the population and helpers, social factors within the community that are barriers in accessing care, and/or institutional or social conditions that contribute to the community problems.
  • Tip: Use the Purdue Global Library and APA in-text citations.
• Explore three local community resources that are available to the at-risk population (i.e., support groups, community health/mental health centers, community service programs, resources that address a particular basic need insecurity, etc.). Please include:
  • a brief description of the resource (1–2 sentences)
  • how clients would access the resources, and
  • a link to the resource website.
• Using your previous assignments as a basis, analyze three professional skills you possess as they relate to work of advocating for the needs of the at-risk population.