Community Forum on the Nonprofit Sector

Monday, April 24 2017 9:00 - 11:00 am

UWM School of Continuing Education
161 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI

The Self-Help Myth: How Philanthropy Fails to Alleviate Poverty
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  • Can philanthropy alleviate inequality?
  • Do antipoverty programs work on the ground?
  • How do we develop a “win-win”?

Through the lens of a provocative set of case studies, The Self-Help Myth discusses how philanthropy maintains systems of inequality by attracting attention to the behavior of poor people while shifting the focus away from structural inequities and relationships of power that produce poverty. Foundation professionals pursue well-intentioned, hopeful strategies that contain specific “theories of change” based on traditional American ideals of individualism and hard work. But when used in partnership with well-defined limits around what foundations will and will not fund, do these ideals become fuzzy concepts that leave relationships of poverty and inequality untouched?

Join Guest Professor Erica Kohl-Arenas for an enthusiastic debate into the root causes of poverty and what the existing philanthropic structure can and cannot do to address them.

Please call (414) 229-3176 for more information.

Prostitution vs. Sex Trafficking: Emerging Issues, Strategies and Best Practices

Tuesday, April 4 2017 5:00 pm

Lubar Hall N130
UWM Campus

Joan Blakey MSW PhD, Chair and Associate Professor, School of Social Welfare, UW-Milwaukee

This presentation focuses on and highlights the main differences between prostitution and sex trafficking, and how these differences impact social work practice. In addition to discussing current strategies being used to address prostitution/sex trafficking, including the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy, and how to work with women who have histories of prostitution and/or sex trafficking, Professor Blakey is also going to discuss action steps for community members and nonprofit organizations.

Policy, Practice and the Challenges of Reform: Case Study from a US Mental Health Court

Tuesday, March 28 2017 4:00pm

Lubar Hall N130
UWM Campus

Paul Brodwin PhD, Professor, Anthropology, UW-Milwuakee

This presentation describes the landscape of institutional reform at the overlap of criminal justice and mental services, and is based on a two years study of a “mental health court:” a specialty court designed to minimize the incarceration of people with severe mental illness. The questions examined in this research include (1) how an explicit ethical imperative (preventing such people from languishing untreated in jails and prisons) become translated into policy reforms, and (2) how that policy is enacted in face-to-face encounters with some of the most marginalized members of our society. At a theoretical level, I study how “care” manifests in the self-conscious agenda for reform as well as the practices of public sector professionals.

Nonprofit Management Graduate Programs Info Session

Monday, April 24 2017 5:30 - 6:30 pm

UWM Alumni House
3230 E Kenwood Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI

Graduate Education Information Session
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Please call (414) 229-3176 for more information.