By Selena Garrison
As service providers who work with service members from a broad array of racial and ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, and income levels, it is important for Personal Financial Managers (PFMs), Extension educators, and others to understand the impact of social justice on their work and the families they serve. The 2022 Military Family Readiness Academy focuses on identifying barriers to opportunity and will equip family service providers with the skills to identify opportunities for social justice advocacy in their work.
The Academy series utilizes asynchronous courses and live panel discussions to address the intersections between engaging a social justice mindset as a family service professional and the ability to support the well-being of diverse military families.
Asynchronous Courses
Course 1: Introduction to Social Justice Lenses for Family Well-Being This course explores a social justice lens through which family service providers can view prohibitive barriers that negatively impact family well-being.
Course 2: Family Service Providers: Recognizing and Responding to Inequities This course addresses how family service providers can learn to identify and assess impediments to family well-being through a social justice lens and give learners ways of responding to institutional discrimination as it appears in organizational policy and in the management and practice of human services.
Course 3: Social Justice and Military Families The final course of the series addresses the specific work of social justice advocacy among family service providers, in the context of military families and their health and well-being. Incorporating both a personal and professional lens, participants will examine the concept of belonging and inclusion through a framework of self-care, healing, and resilience.
Live Panel Discussions
Social Justice and Social Work (June 15th at 11 am-12:30 pm EDT) Join this discussion to learn how you can become a social justice advocate for your clients. Participants who have completed the first and second courses of the series will find this panel especially beneficial.
Social Justice and Military Families (June 29th at 11 am-12:30 pm EDT) This panel discussion will focus on how social justice manifests within the delivery of services for military families. Participants who have completed the third course of the series will find this panel especially beneficial.
All courses and panel discussions are approved for Continuing Education (CE) credit via AFCPE for AFCs and Fincert for CPFCs. You are also invited to engage with other service professionals in our LinkedIn group.
