The Southeast Missouri State University students of Generalist Practice III (SW323) will host a workshop at the John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center at the River Campus on March 8. The workshop, entitled “The 12 Grand Challenges and How They Affect SE Missouri,” is geared toward social work or social service professionals but is open to the public.

According to the website for Continuing Education at Southeast, participants of the event will receive a same-day certificate for four contact hours or Continuing Education Units.

“[The event] is for everyone and it’s all about raising awareness,” social work major Landon Cook said. “A lot of professionals in the field of social work don’t even know about the grand challenges.”

“The 12 Grand Challenges are the 12 issues or dynamics that have been identified that if we have a focused effort on, we could significantly change the landscape of social services, specifically people living in poverty, equality and injustice issues,” full-time instructor in the Department of Social Work Dana Branson said.

The 12 Grand Challenges were developed in 2013 by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, Branson said. Some of the challenges include ending homelessness, closing the health gap, stopping family violence and eradicating social isolation.

Cook will graduate from Southeast in December 2017 and says he went into social work to help the community of Pemiscot County, where he grew up. Cook plans to return to his hometown of Caruthersville, Missouri, to begin finding resources to fight poverty and other community issues.

Cook is one of the 10 students that make up SW323, the class responsible for putting together the workshop.

The idea for the event at Southeast began with Dr. Cathy McElderry, who is an associate professor and the chair of the Department of Social Work, Cook said.

The workshop will feature two guest speakers from Washington University, licensed clinical social workers, Lissa Johnson and Annie Greer, as well as a presentation of each challenge by the students of SW323.

Registration for the workshop will take place on March 8 from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m., and the workshop will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost of the event is $20. All proceeds will help fund a trip to Student Advocacy Day in Jefferson City, Missouri, for the students of SW323, where the students will present the grand challenges to members of Congress, Cook said.

“We’re hoping that people will see the need to change the way we address certain social problems, like poverty,” Branson said. “If you can change the trajectory of just a couple of social issues, the outcome can be astronomical.”

For more information on the workshop or the 12 Grand Challenges, please visit http://www.semo.edu/continuinged/ceu.html or contact Dana Branson at dbranson@semo.edu or (573) 986-7396.