For this assignment you may identify a problem in or affecting your agency or clients that requires change and/or social action. The source of the problem may be within or outside your organization. For this assignment you need to discuss the following. 1. Identify the problem, and provide an assessment of the problem. 2. Conduct a force field analysis. 3. Identify a course of action that would address the problem. 4. If you have taken this action, please describe the action steps you took.
I went to Albany to advocate for the many issues affecting the seniors, like busing change, resources, rent freeze, rent assistance, company, crime, elder abuse, elder financial issue. Ect.
This is another paper I did about the organization that you will be talking about and analyzing. The organization is JASA/NORC. Please do additional research.
The setting is the in Rochdale village. Rochdale Village is a housing cooperative and
neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in
Community District 12. Rochdale Village NORC is a supportive social service program
servicing seniors 60 years and older that reside in the Rochdale Village Cooperative. The NORC
program is a concept where all the residents in the housing complex remain in their homes and
the community while growing older. Rochdale village is a social service program along with
JASA/NORC, who offer a comprehensive array of services such as case management assistance,
health care management, benefit and entitlement services, referrals etc., and various activities
such as exercise programs, recreation, trips, educational seminars and outreach all geared to
assist our seniors in maintaining healthy, vibrant and independent lifestyles.
In this class, the social work intern has learned about policy, as well as its history. As a
social worker, if you want to change a policy or influence change and advocating for your client,
first you will need to understand the individual, the system, the policy making process as well as
its history. These policies and issue may be inside and outside of the agency. The agency policies
that are affecting the JASA residents are the eligibility for new clients, such as age. Also, the
issues that I have found inside the agency, is the lack of social workers who speak Creole, the
lack of privacy in the office. We as social workers are required to uphold our code of ethics
which is confidentiality. Also, we have to uphold the HIPAA law and according to the HIPAA
website, this law protects sensitive patient health information, when a professional is assisting a
client with a service. The other policy is about the funding. The NORC’s website states that there
are many professional and collaborative partnership between Rochdale Village Inc., the housing
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entity, Rochdale Village Social Service, Inc., New York City Department for the Aging, Visiting
Nurse Services of New York, our health care provider and other funders and community linkages
all working to address the social and health care issues facing our seniors at the housing
complex. In order to get funding, we need to have a number of participants to have more funds,
however the agency can’t recruit any new participants because they don’t meet the basic
requirement, which is 65 and above. The lack privacy, and the MTA bus redesign are the two
issues I want to draw focus to. These issues at this moment are affecting the seniors and the
resident in Rochdale Village.
` In my internship, as a social work intern I have many duties and responsibilities, such as
assisting client with their issues, leading the Independent Living Group, meeting with clients and
their family, following up with clients who have had a stroke, or in other situations. As a social
work intern working with the senior population, I have found various issues stated and expressed
by the clients to me in our individual session as well as in our group session. According to
JASA/NORC, in order to qualify receive services such as case management and assistance,
health care management, benefit and entitlement services, the perspective client must be 65 and
older and retired. One of The responsibilities that relates to this article is Building Outreach. The
purpose of this program is to recruit seniors building by building in a month’s periods. In
recruiting seniors, the social work intern has found himself rejecting clients who isn’t eligible to
join the program due to the fact that they are under the age of 65, but still retired.
In our agency, we work collectedly, within the Rochdale village service. We have
advisory meeting every week and talk about the program, issues within the departments, and
issues from the outside affecting the residents. For example, the MTA redesign issue is a big
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deal which impacts the agencies as a whole and the Rochdale and JASA office broadcasted the
MTA bus route Hearing for Queens. According to the newspaper, it says that the hearing will
take place on March 12 at August Martin High School. The message associated with this
newspaper stated that affected residents should come and share their concerns or make
suggestions. In our agency, I believe that the clients who lives in Rochdale, as well as the staffs
have the authority or the power to influence change. The forum whereby the resident’s input will
be heard and acted upon is at the Albany Lobbying, which happened two Saturdays ago. The
clients and those who lives in Rochdale went and advocated for themselves. The second outlet
for the clients to address their concerns is the hearing that Rochdale’s Board of Directors is
advertising to its citizens. I believe that the seniors will benefit the most by a change concerning
the MTA Bus redesign.
The MTA proposed a draft plan for those who live in rochdale village. This plan includes
replacing the existing bus # who take the residents and seniors to the subway and bring them
closer to manthathan. According to the MTA, the reason why they are redesigning the buses in
rochdale is because the queens bus network has not substantially changed to meet the evolving
needs of customers. They stated that they have done minor changes to pieces of the network, but
have not kept pace with growth in Queens.
I have spoken with clients and younger residents living in rochdale, and researched
through peerplace, and read the MTA Bus Draft plan. Shortly after, I came to the conclusion that
the younger and young adult population are the one who stands against any changes taking place
concerning this issue. The younger population feels like this issue is not a problem because the
RUNNING HEAD: MIDTERM POLICY ASSIGNMENT 5
buses being replaced and having to walk from buses to buses to get to school is not a problem.
However, I have also interviewed some of the younger population and older adults, I then found
out that they do care because their grandparents will be affected. So, they will advocate for their
grandparents and those who will be Affected at the hearing on march 12 th .
As a social work intern, volunteering with the JASA Agency for a couple of months, in
helping the senior population to age in place, I have built trust with the seniors. If the client has
any concerns with the services, delivery of services they will let me know. In my group, the
seniors told me about the bus redesign and how my presence in representing them will be
appreciated. They invited me to attend the Bus hearing on March 12 th . However, I believe that
my credibility is stronger with the clients then in the JASA agency. The reason is as an intern; I
am at the bottom of the food chain. I’ve heard my supervisor describing her struggles when
advocating for her clients within the agency. Sometimes she always gets turned down. My
supervisor does support my ideas when it comes to my groups. As for attending the hearing with
my clients, she thinks that there are too many bureaucracy and interns can’t really protest. The
JASA policy on intern states that they don’t really want the responsibility of having to pay for
insurance and incidents. In my agency, there are seniors staffs and clients who expressed their
strong opinions about the buses. They are willing to join with me to attend the hearing.
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Reference Page
Health Information Privacy. (2019, January 4). Retrieved from
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html
NORC. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rochdalevillage.com/content/norc
Brakle, S. V. (2020, February 14). Rochdale Village Bulletin Weekly Sheet, pp. 1–4.
PeerPlace. (2020, March 1). Retrieved from https://nyc.peerplace.com/peerplace/logout.do
Queens Bus Network Redesign. (2n.d., February 28). Retrieved from
https://new.mta.info/queensbusredesign
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