JUST SOCIETY
Network
Leadership
NETWORK CO-LEADS
Michael Spencer, PhD
Presidential Term Professor
University of Washington
mspenc@uw.edu
Martell Teasley, PhD
Dean & Professor
University of Utah
martell.teasley@utah.edu
LOOKING BACK
The Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism was formalized in 2020. Network co-leads
and members of the wider GCSW community have been working for the past five years
to establish the foundation for this effort. Among other actions, they have:
• Spoken out about social work and racism,
including on the Social Work Podcast on the
question of "What role do social work deans
& directors play in addressing the legacy
of racism and white supremacy?" and on
U Rising about social work's commitment
to anti-racism
• Participated in the inaugural conference
of the Collaboration on Race, Inequality,
and Social Mobility in America, "Race at
the Forefront: Sharpening a Focus on Race
in Applied Research"
• Cosponsored a Congressional briefing
on "Black Lives Matter: Social Work
and the Future of Policing" along with
the Grand Challenges to Promote Smart
Decarceration and Achieve Equal
Opportunity and Justice for All
• Cosponsored a Social Work Leadership
Roundtable Town Hall on Racial Equity
LOOKING AHEAD
A book on the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism will be published by Oxford
University Press in 2021. The book is edited by network co-leads Martell Teasley and
Michael Spencer, and their colleague Melissa Bartholomew, and includes authors
representing each of the other 12 Grand Challenges. In addition to publishing the book,
members of the Grand Challenge have articulated the following objectives for the next
several years:
• Focus on evidence and practice-based
research that cultivates innovation to
improve the conditions of daily life of people
impacted by racism and facilitates systemic
change on the individual, organization,
community, and societal levels
• Advance community empowerment and
advocacy for eradicating racism and white
supremacy through solutions that create
sustainable changes
• Foster the development of an anti-racist
social work workforce that promotes
access to resources and opportunities and
encompasses transdisciplinary collaboration
• Promote teaching and learning within
social work education programs that
examines structural inequalities and white
privilege, and their impact on individual
and group outcomes
• Develop a policy agenda for eradicating
racism and white supremacy from
institutions and organizations, where
structural racism is evident and causes
the most damage
• Examine the profession of social work
itself with respect to rooting out racist
policies and practices
Succeeding Together
We want to hear about your efforts to #EliminateRacism!
Tag us on Twitter - @GCSocialWork - to share your work and inspire others!
#Up4theChallenge | #EliminateRacism
An Impact Report at Year 5 of the 10-Year Initiative | 27