Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society

The second edition of 'Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society' includes updates on the initiatives laid out in the first edition and sets new goals for the next five years. It also includes new information on the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism, expanding the social work pipeline, commentaries from leading social work organizations, and how interdisciplinary science can best provide a platform to tackle society's most urgent problems.

"Grand challenges" represent a focused method of attacking the most deeply significant problems of a discipline, organization, or society itself. Since the concept was first introduced over a century ago, more than 600 governments, foundations, and professions subsequently adopted this language and approach, often to excellent effect. In 2012, the social work profession launched its own national initiative, with aim of using science, innovation, and new forms of collaboration to accelerate progress toward critically needed social solutions. There was also strong corollary interest in changing the profession itself, introducing new forms of practice and problem-solving. The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare served as the first home of the Grand Challenges initiative in social work; in 2017, as the initiative grew more complex, it became an independent organization"--