A DIVERSE AND WELCOMING STUDENT COMMUNITY
Inclusion is more than just a commitment; it’s at the very core of SP2.
Now and throughout our history, the School of Social Policy & Practice has been dedicated to the principles of anti-racism, anti-oppression, intersectionality, inclusion, diversity, and social justice. That commitment has never been as important as it is today.
Our students, from all identities and experiences, embody these values in both theory and practice. They bring them to life every day by engaging in innovative policy and research, doing work that makes a real difference here in Philadelphia and beyond, and tirelessly fighting for equity and justice.
The Racism Sequence
Learn more about SP2’s Racism Sequence, a groundbreaking curriculum that explores institutionalized forms of racism and discrimination in America, and how it informs the education of our students and the role we play in promoting social justice.
DEI in the Curriculum
SP2’s focus on social justice demands an interdisciplinary, intersectional, and engaged commitment to recognizing and valuing the innumerable identities, experiences, histories, and aspirations that animate our local and global community. This commitment permeates all five of our rigorous degree programs (MSW, MSSP, NPL, DSW, and PhD), helping to bind those programs to SP2’s comprehensive mission: producing the best social service providers, policymakers, and nonprofit leaders in the world.
Students Making a Difference
From working on refugee resettlement policy to exploring the educational experiences of transgender youth, our students are making an impact on the lives of traditionally marginalized communities.
One Book, One SP2
Each year, SP2 selects a book to be read by students, faculty, staff, and alumni prior to beginning the academic year. Throughout the school year, the community is invited to participate in activities and discussions related to that year’s work. One Book, One SP2 underscores our commitment to social justice, and supports Penn’s Compact 2022, which motivates community members to innovate, be radically inclusive, and positively impact their local, national, and global communities.
RESEARCH
Research at SP2
Our students, faculty, and staff engage in ground-breaking research on topics related to identity, immigration, and racism, enhancing the School’s understanding of how personal, cultural, and social factors impact important issues within marginalized communities.
STUdent organizations
Connecting with Peers; Becoming Allies
SP2 is home to student organizations devoted to supporting one another, including the Association of Black Social Workers and the ASW Collective.
The Penn Experience: Racism, Reconciliation, and Engagement
This non-credit asynchronous online course aims to establish common language and concepts for incoming graduate and professional students to facilitate conversations about race, racism, and difference in the classroom and beyond. Using video interviews, presentations, short readings, and podcasts, the course highlights the significance of Penn’s and Philadelphia’s history of racism, Penn’s evolving relationship to West Philadelphia, and Penn’s efforts toward greater engagement and inclusion. Modules also focus on harm, healing and transformative justice; different forms of oppression; gender identity; equity and access to healthcare; and social determinants of health. One module designed primarily for white students addresses the antiracist work that must be done to dismantle white privilege and white supremacy while another module addresses racial literacy and racial stress for students of color.
Launched in June 2020, the course was developed through a partnership between the School of Social Policy & Practice and the School of Dental Medicine. In 2021 (version 2.0 of the course), additional schools/programs joined the partnership. The four course directors are responsible for developing and revising content based on feedback from colleagues and students.
Beverley Crawford, DDS
(she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
Director of Diversity & Inclusion
School of Dental Medicine
Jessie Harper, EdD
(she/her/hers)
Director of Inclusion Education & Social Justice Scholars
School of Social Policy & Practice
Amy Hillier, MSW, PhD
(she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
School of Social Policy & Practice
Arlene Rivera Finkelstein, Esq
(she/her/hers)
Associate Dean for Equity & Justice
Chief DEI Officer
Carey Law School
Each participating school or program implements the course differently, including the timing, modules required, and grade/credit issued. For more information about how the course is implemented across schools, please reach out to the specific school contact.
- Carey Law School: Arlene Rivera Finkelstein
arfinkel@law.upenn.edu - Graduate School of Education: Leland McGee
lelandmc@upenn.edu - Master of Public Health Program: Elaine Weigelt
Elaine.Weigelt@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - School of Social Policy & Practice: Amy Hillier
ahillier@upenn.edu - School of Dental Medicine: Beverley Crawford
beverlyc@upenn.edu - School of Veterinary Medicine: Roderick Gilbert
rgilbe2@vet.upenn.edu - Weitzman School of Design: Matt Miller
drmatt@design.upenn.edu
The course content is revised each year to reflect student feedback and new ideas and events at Penn and in the world. Version 3.0 includes 10 modules with an estimated completion time of 10-12 hours. Students are required to complete short assessments, including close-ended and open-ended questions designed to highlight key point and encourage personal reflection, at the end of each module.
These video clips provide examples of the voices and topics included in the course.
In fall 2021, we hired outside consultants Sukey Blanc and Michelle Day to conduct an external evaluation including interviews and focus groups.
We completed an internal evaluation of the course after the first year.
Peer-review manuscripts are under review with the Journal of Social Work Education and Journal of Dental Education.
Penn Today included a story about course in 2021. View it here.
Student-Compiled Resources
SP2 students are always watching, reading, and listening to content that informs the ways in which they view the world, educates them on issues they have not had as much exposure to and inspires them to do the jobs they want to do.
SP2 resources on race, social justice, and inclusion were compiled by Hannah Cao, MSW, 2020-2021 SP2 Race and Social Justice Fellow.
The resources related to antisemitism were compiled by Christine Holmes, MSW, DSW, 2021-2022 SP2 Race and Social Justice Fellow.
Books
- Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America, Peter Edelman
- The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Thinking Critically About Class and Criminal Justice, Jeffrey Reiman & Paul Leighton
- Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance, Edgar Villanueva
- Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out, Ruth King
- Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks
- Laziness Does Not Exist, Devon Price
Podcasts
TV Shows
Movies/Documentaries
Articles/Book Chapters
Franco, D. (2019). This Land Is Our Land: Exploring the Impact of U.S. Immigration Policies on Social Work Practice. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 31(1), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2019.1583956.
Hardy, K. (2013). Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 22, 24-28.
Okun, T. White Supremacy Culture. https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_- _white_sup_culture.pdf.
Taiwo, O. O. Being in he Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference. The Philosopher, 108(4). https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/essay-taiwo.
Related to Antisemitism
National Organizations
- Keshet for LGBTQ Equality in Jewish Life
- Jewish Multiracial Network
- Anti-Defamation League
- T’ruah: the rabbinic call for human rights – Campaigns
- The Jewish Federations of North America
- The National Council of Jewish Women
- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Philadelphia Organizations
- Anti-Defamation League – Philadelphia
- Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
- The National Council of Jewish Women – Greater Philadelphia Section
- American Jewish Committee
For Social Workers
Academic Institutions
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at Penn
- The Society of Jewish Ethics
- The Center for Jewish Ethics
For Students
- The Office of the Chaplain & the Spiritual and Religious Life Center (SPARC)
- SP2 Jewish Student Social Work Alliance
- Student Scholarships – Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Art & Culture
- National Center for Jewish Film
- Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
- Center for Jewish History
Allyship
- Jewish Multiracial Network – Get Involved
- Sharing our Stories, Sharing Ourselves by the Black-Jewish Alliance of the ADL
- Resources in English and Spanish for the Latinx Community – ADL
Recorded Lectures
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at Penn YouTube Lecture Series
- Recordings of Regional Black-Jewish Alliance of the ADL Programs
- Recordings from Anti-Defamation League’s Fighting Hate from Home Series
- Confronting Antisemitism Symposium
Speakers Bureau
- Museum of Jewish Heritage – Speakers Bureau
- T’ruah: the rabbinic call for human rights – Invite a Speaker
Podcasts
- Rethinking Jewish Identity and Jewish Education
- Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust
- “Are Jews White?” Adventures in Jewish Studies, 2018
- “Members of Whose Tribe?” NPR, 2018
- VOCES Podcast
Conceptions of Jewish Identity
- Did Ancient Identity Depend on Ethnicity? A Preliminary Probe (Erich Gruen)
- Proto-racism in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (Benjamin Isaac)
- Race (Audrey Smedley et al.)
- Many Jews of Color and Diverse Jews are Politically Conservative – and Many Voted for Trump (Mijal Bitton)
Conceptions of Antisemitism
- Racism: a Short History (George Fredriksen)
- Antisemitic Myths: a Historical and Contemporary Anthology (Perry & Schweitzer)
- What’s the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism? (BBC News)
- Antisemitsm Uncovered: A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era (Anti-Defamation League)
- Glossary of Extremism (Center on Extremism)
- Living in the Shadow of the Cross (Paul Kivel)
- Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to our Movement (Jews for Racial & Economic Justice)
- Activating Archives, Libraries and Museums in the Fight Against Antisemitism (Center for Jewish History)
- A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism (T’ruah: the rabbinic call for human rights)
Understanding the History of Black-Jewish Relations and Native American-Jewish Relations in the United States
- Why do Black Activists Care about Palestine? (Emma Green)
- Transational Countries of Color: Black Power and Palestine (Michael Fischbach)
- Pan-Africanism and Zionism: the Delusion of Compatibility (Michael Williams)
- Negroes Are Anti-Semitics Because They’re Anti-White (James Baldwin)
- The Jews’ Indian: Colonialism, Pluralism and Belonging in America (David Koffman)
- Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century (Cheryl Greenberg)
Jews and the Construction of whiteness in the United States
- White Jews: An Intersectional Approach (David Schraub)
- The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity (Eric Goldstein)
- How did Jews become White Folks? (Karen Sacks)
- The Soul of White Folks (W.E.B. Du Bois)
- Whiteness of a different color: European immigrants and the alchemy of race (Matthew Jacobson)
- Whither, Whiteness and Religion?: Implications for Theology and the Study of Religion (Rachel Schneider & Sophie Bjork-James)
- White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots (Adam Serwer)
- Jews and White Privilege (Rabbis Jessica Rosenberg & Mackenzie Reynolds)
- Are Jews White? A Judge Tries to Answer the Question in a Messy Lawsuit (Atiya Husain)
- I’m Jewish, and I’m white (Real Talk: WOC & Allies)
- Whiteness, intersectionality, and the contradictions of white Jewish identity, in The enduring, invisible and ubiquitous centrality of whiteness, Ed. K. Hardy (Jodie Kliman)
Cultural Diversity of Jews in the United States
- Books for Adults (Jewish Multiracial Network)
- Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color (Jews of Color Initiative)
- How many Jews of Color are There (Arnold Sheskin and Ira Dashefsky)
- Counting Jews of Color: Are we asking the right questions? (Ari Kelman)
- The Soul of Judaism (Bruce Haynes)
- The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radial Diasporism (Melanie Kaye)
- Black Jews Matter: Solidarity Begins Beyond the Limits of Whiteness (Amanda Mbuvi)
- Celebrating Our Diverse Latin-Jewish Community (Analucía Lopezrevoredo)
Jewish Feminism
- Women’s Liberation and Jewish Feminism after 1968 (Joyce Antler)
- Critical Attention to Race: Race Segregation and Jewish Feminism (Marla Brettschneider)
Antisemitism and Social Work
- Addressing anti-semitism in social work education (Carole Cox)
- Speaking out against hate speech and actions through social work research (Eileen Dombo)
- Race, Racism and Social Work: Contemporary issues and debate (Michael Lavatte & Laura Penketh)
- Are Practitioners Equipped to Work With and Advocate for Members of the American Jewish Community? An Analysis of Discourse-Shaping Periodicals (David Hodge & Stephanie Boddie)
Events
09/27
NPL Lunch & Learn: Core Nonprofit Competencies
This Lunch and Learn Talk provides an overview of key elements of effective nonprofits: Evaluating programs for impact. Human Resources promising practices for staff and volunteers. Board Governance promising practices […]
Events
09/27
After Admission – Getting College Ready
Attendees will gain knowledge about the hidden curriculum and key skills students need in college to graduate. The discussion will also include the quickest way to develop these crucial skills. […]
News
Faculty & Research
09/21
Deans of health schools discuss climate change in their fields
Penn Today highlights SP2 Dean Sara S. Bachman’s participation in a Climate Week at Penn panel alongside deans and leaders from Penn’s four other health schools.