LibGuides: Social Welfare Policies & Services: Getting Started

What's In This Guide

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Policy Institutes and More

In addition to this list of selected resources, consider browsing this Think Tank Directory.

AARP Public Policy Institute The Public Policy Institute informs and stimulates public debate on the issues we face as we age. The Institute promotes development of sound, creative policies to address our common need for economic security, health care, and quality of life.
Boston Indicators Project The Boston Indicators Project offers new ways to understand Boston and its neighborhoods in a regional, national and global context. It aims to democratize access to information, foster informed public discourse, track progress on shared civic goals, and report on change in 10 sectors: Civic Vitality, Cultural Life and the Arts, the Economy, Education, the Environment, Health, Housing, Public Safety, Technology, and Transportation.
Brookings Institute The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization, with a mission to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: Strengthen American democracy; Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.
Center for American Progress An independent nonpartisan educational institute dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action.
Center for Social Development The Center for Social Development conducts research that informs how individuals, families, and communities increase capacity, formulate and reach life goals, and contribute to the economy and society. Our principal focus is on families and communities at the bottom of society. Major areas of work include Asset Building, Civic Engagement & Service, and Productive Aging.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is one of the nation’s premier policy organizations working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.
Child Welfare Information Gateway Child Welfare Information Gateway connects child welfare and related professionals to comprehensive information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. We feature the latest on topics from prevention to permanency, including child abuse and neglect, foster care, and adoption.
Children's Defense Fund CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations.
CIA: The World Factbook The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.
Family Caregivers Alliance Resource center for family caregivers; includes policy, services, research and advocacy information.
Friends of Boston Homeless
Guttmacher Institute Guttmacher Institute continues to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights through an interrelated program of research, policy analysis and public education designed to generate new ideas, encourage enlightened public debate and promote sound policy and program development. The Institute’s overarching goal is to ensure the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health for all people worldwide.
HealthCare.gov Great site for health care policy, reform and insurance information.
Homelessness Programs in Massachusetts
HUD State Information
Information for Practice Use IP to connect to emerging scholarship and news in social work and social welfare. Links to clinical trials, grey literature, journal articles, poverty information and more.
Jane Doe Inc.
Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Conference of State Legislatures The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. NCSL is an effective and respected advocate for the interests of state governments before Congress and federal agencies.
National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA)—the bipartisan organization of the nation's governors—promotes visionary state leadership, shares best practices and speaks with a collective voice on national policy. State information and statistics are available here.
Polaris Project Polaris advocates for stronger federal and state laws surrounding human trafficking, conducting trainings, and providing vital services to victims of trafficking.
Rand Corporation
Shared Hope International An advocacy organization working to prevent the conditions that foster sex slavery, restore victims of sex trafficking, and bring justice to vulnerable women and children
Social Programs That Work Covers a full spectrum of social policy (K-12 education, crime prevention, international development assistance, etc.), focusing on interventions across these areas meeting the strong evidence criteria. The site seeks to complement the excellent existing “what works” sites that provide more in-depth coverage of specific policy areas.
Social Work Policy Institute (NASW)
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.
The Community Guide
The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation
The Heritage Foundation Their mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
The Urban Institute
The Why Axis: The Path of Protest The ripple effects of unrest, protest and regime change have been echoing around the Mid-East since before the beginning of the new year, each seeming to start a new chain of events. The Guardian, one of the UK’s leading news-sources, has been steadily doing excellent reporting throughout with live-blogging, social media integration, and generally solid writing. To summarize and centralize the multitude of events across countries, Garry Blight and Sheila Pulham of The Guardain created “The Path to Protest” – an interactive timeline plotting major news events across countries, updated daily.

Using this Social Welfare Policies & Services Guide

As you delve into social welfare policies & services you'll probably find you need different kinds of information to address different parts of your projects.

This guide is designed to connect you to resources in which to find information like historical & socio-political contextual information, demographic statistics, advocacy and non-profit organizations, government programs & legislation, research.

Library Search

Search articles, journals, books, media, and more

Exploring the Issues

These collections can help define your topic, connect you to books, journals, images and related concepts, and will give you multiple, up-to-date opinions on currents events and trends.

Example Searches:

human trafficking

forced OR coercive

Medicaid AND Medicare

Encyclopedia of Social Work Online Database Why search here? To ensure that users have access to the most up-to-date articles, Encyclopedia of Social Work Online will undergo updates on a monthly basis.What's included? 400+ articles, over 200 succinct biographies, scholarly content infused with practical advice for social workers in the field. Limited to 1 concurrent user.
DSM Premium Get to the DSM-5 from here, as well as resources that cover diagnosis and differential diagnosis, case vignettes to bring abstract concepts to life, multidisciplinary treatment guidelines, the latest research – all within a single search and navigation interface that integrates journals and books.
Credo Reference Why search here? Credo Reference is a searchable collection of over 500 reference books across a wide variety of subjects from top publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Wiley and Elsevier.What's included? Use Credo to help define your topic and then use the links on topic pages to discover more in-depth information in books and journals, find thousands of art images and connect your ideas using concept mapping.
Opposing Viewpoints Why search here? Opposing Viewpoints (Gale in Context) contains articles, reports and more that provide different viewpoints on controversial topics.What's included? A list of some of the most hotly-debated topics with links to articles and other resources.
Global Issues (Gale In Context) Why search here? This reference source -- formerly Global Issues In Context -- provides perspectives on national and global current events from international news providers. What's included? Sections: Business and Economy; Health and Medicine; Conflict and Diplomacy; Science and Technology; Environment and Climate Change; Society and Culture; Government, Politics, and Law; and Women, Children, and the Family. Browse by issue or by region.

Reference Books

Policy practice for social workers : new strategies for a new era by Cummins, Linda K
ISBN: 0205022448
Publication Date: 2011

Here are several books from our Reference Collection that will help give you background information on social work topics.

Social work speaks : National Association of Social Workers policy statements, 2021-2023 by Joyner, Mildred C., McClain, Angelo
ISBN: 087101565X
Publication Date: 2021
12th edition
Social work speaks : National Association of Social Workers policy statements, 2018-2020 by National Association of Social Workers
Call Number: HV88 .N126 2018
ISBN: 0871015269
Publication Date: 2018
11th edition
American Governance by Stephen Schechter (Editor)
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
Encyclopedia of American government and civics by Genovese, Michael A.
ISBN: 9780816066162
Publication Date: 2017
Social issues in America : an encyclopedia by Ciment, James
ISBN: 0765680610
Publication Date: 2006
Encyclopedia of social work
Call Number: eBook
Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare by Sowers, Karen M
Call Number: HV40 .C635 2008eb v.1
ISBN: 9780470246764
Publication Date: 2008
Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare by Sowers, Karen M
Call Number: HV40 .C635 2008eb v.2
ISBN: 9780470222591
Publication Date: 2008
Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare by Sowers, Karen M
Call Number: HV40 .C635 2008eb v.3
ISBN: 9780470222638
Publication Date: 2008
Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare by Sowers, Karen M
Call Number: HV40 .C635 2008eb v.4
ISBN: 9780471769989
Publication Date: 2008

Books: In-depth Information on Your Topic

Meet Your Librarian

Lena Kilburn

she/hers/ela

Email Me

Contact:

617-521-2659

Subjects: Children's Literature, Social Work

Helpful Simmons Resources

SocialWork@Simmons
Info for Online Students
Info for Distance Students
Simmons Moodle Get to the online content for your courses, including course reserves, here.
The Writing Center
Get Help Are you stuck? Talk with a librarian to come up with strategies to get unstuck.

Financial Information

Looking for information on an organization's mission, programs, and finances? Try using their Form 990.

Form 990 Finder Through the Foundation Center, you can search for and view Form 990s for non-profit organizations. (Tip: non-profits in Mass are required to file these forms.)
NCCS Web Tools Want to dig deeper and compare non-profits in the same field? Explore the tools from the National Center for Charitable Statistics.