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School Philosophy
 The
School of Social Work at San Francisco State University is located in an
environment which is unique for its concentration of disadvantaged and
vulnerable populations: racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees,
gays and lesbians, single parents, children, disabled and the aged. The
presence in large numbers of any one of these populations at risk in a
metropolitan area would be noteworthy enough alone. However, it is the
concentration of a constellation of such populations that makes the San
Francisco Bay Area unique. This diversity presents both a challenge and an
opportunity to the School of Social Work.
Each of these groups represents a population that is neglected, underserved and
oppressed. Each has been systematically denied or bared access to resources
available to the general population. Each has been denied an equitable share of
society's rights, benefits, privileges and opportunities. The aspirations of
these groups to realize their full human potential have been frustrated by an
indifferent and frequently hostile society.
While the School of Social Work seeks to be responsive to the needs of the
general community, we believe that we have a special mission to respond to the
needs and aspirations of these particular populations at risk in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Therefore, we aim to produce social work practitioners who
will staff programs concerned with the identification and solution of problems
that particularly affect these populations such as institutionalized racism,
sexism and homophobia, poverty and unemployment, substandard housing, inferior
education, inadequate health care, insufficient child care, social isolation,
bureaucratic neglect, and public indifference.
We expect our graduates to strive to increase the accessibility of services for
these populations, to organize them into effective advocacy groups, to assist
them in their own program development, and ultimately, to enable them to
acquire and exercise power on their own behalf. At the same time, our
graduate's work within established human service agencies and institutions to
secure greater responsiveness and accountability to the people they serve.
Thus, our program aims to educate social workers who will render direct
services to people in need and assist communities in their struggle for
self-determination and empowerment.
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