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Project Hope / Service to the Community and a Learning Experience for Students
For the seventh year in a row, sophomore social work students have had the privilege to participate in this “one amazing opportunity” that allows them to put into practice the interpersonal communication skills they have been practicing in their interviewing skills class. Nine students from the fall 2023 section of that class and two students from a previous class were able to assist hundreds of community members who came to the Osage Center on October 6, 2023, seeking assistance in meeting some very basic needs.
Project Hope is held on the first Friday of October each year as a means of bringing together multiple social service agencies in one place so that many needs can be met at one time on one day. The Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri sponsored the event this year and they estimate that there were around 45 agencies on site for the day and there were approximately 600 persons who received assistance. Southeast social work students were able to assist as navigators, ensuring that the community participants were able to access the services they needed. This allowed students to learn from and work with various social service agencies while building rapport and supportive interactions with the community participants.
This experience epitomizes the basic foundation of social work practice, meeting people where they are and networking with community resources to ensure basic needs are met. In addition to this valuable experience, social work students were able to meet with professional social workers from many of the community agencies who may one day be their colleagues in practice. At least 12 graduates of the SEMO social work program were on-site at Project Hope 2023 as representatives of the participating social service agencies and at least 10 social service agencies who support the SEMO social work program as field practicum sites were on hand for the event.
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