Call for Papers: Celebrating, Protecting and Preserving the Kindness in Our Work
After focusing for several years on the mindset, capability and performance required of CSWB professionals in every discipline, it is fair to say we have put a lot of pressure on and shared a considerable body of knowledge about what all of you must bring to your work every day.
We believe it is time we also turn our eyes outward beyond our own system roles to take an honest and critical look at the disturbing and chaotic public policy context that increasingly challenges the very value and impact of your tireless efforts. While CSWB professionals do their level best every day to bend the system toward evidence-based solutions, while always bending the arc of justice toward social equity and inclusion, these very concepts are facing unprecedented threat levels. Sometimes in brutally evident ways, at other times snuck under the subtleties of fiscal imperative, or even buried in interpersonal attitudes on the front line, it is hard to ignore that a rising tone of meanness is trying to have its day.
We believe there is a special responsibility for those who conduct research and those who have the ability to share well-informed knowledge and expertise, especially that which relates to supporting the quality of life for everyone in the communities in which we live and serve. We cannot let this moment in time go unaddressed.
In his recent editorial to open our year-ending issue, our Editor-in-Chief celebrated the continuing and inevitable kindness that shapes your work in all CSWB sectors. He also cautioned, however, that for this kindness to endure, it is high time we also explored the unkindness that is rising in many of the most influential arenas that shape the context of that work. He put it this way, “Who, or what, or by what conspiratorial forces does our glass keep running empty?” And, he challenged us all to consider “ How can we continue to deliver and sustain well-informed and effective solutions in the face of increasingly cruel and unkind public policy currents that threaten human security, overtly and covertly, at home and abroad?”
We invite you to join in this critical analysis. We are not out to fix blame, to name names, nor to choose sides. On the negative forces, we simply must deconstruct the phenomenon. But, let us also ensure the glass stays full by shining a very bright light on the positive work and the innovative programs, and on the passionate leadership of CSWB professionals that preserves it all.
If you are working as an academic or practitioner in the fields of health, education, social services or justice, or across the intersections of all of them, we would like to hear how your work and insights can shed new light on these often-avoided but increasingly urgent considerations. We would be thrilled to receive articles that help our readers to make sense of the current context. And we welcome those which also offer powerful insights and strategies for successful influence and compelling proof that supports solid, helpful, and sustainable public policy in any or all of the sub-topics shown below. Our usual review processes will continue to apply, and accepted papers will be featured in our upcoming regular issues, along with our regular flow of diverse selections.
Our article categories include Original Research (peer-reviewed), Reviews (peer-reviewed), Practice Guidelines (peer-reviewed), Social Innovation Narratives (peer-reviewed), Commentaries, Records of Proceedings, Editorials and unique Food-for-Afterthought perspectives. To learn more, view our Author Guidelines.
We hope you will join us in contributing to this theme, and we look forward to receiving your works throughout the coming year.
