Abstract: And so we believe that every individual is a person of worth with basic human rights and be essential human responsibilities. But, we also believe that God works in and through people in the person of the Holy Spirit. How do we take our secular freedom and our spiritual freedom and combine them through the Holy Spirit to serve the people who come to us who so often have lost touch with their faith, their hope and their God?

Topics:

• Why do we care about religion and its impact on society number? What is our responsibility as Christian social workers to the common good of the society?

• Will it benefit us, will it benefit our families, or is it just a one-way street − and where does it lead?

• What practical scientific theoretical, or artistic gap does us being Christians address? What does it matter the religion of the social worker or does it matter at all?

• What we do as Christians that is different than a secular social worker in our job?

• Is it our responsibility to ensure that people are saved by proselytizing or do we just make sure they are housed, clothed, well-fed and cared for health-wise and mental health-wise? Suppose they don't want Jesus?

Learning Objectives: As a result of this presentation participants will be able to:

• Describe at least 2-3 ways that social work and Christianity have similar goals and purposes

• Articulate the contributing role that unconditional love plays in support of effective practice for Christians in social work

• Describe the importance of Christian social workers both growing their relationship with God as well as more fully understanding the various religions of their clients to provide sensitive social work practice

Primary Audience: Social workers and related professionals; social work students; human services professionals; clergy

Content Level: This conversation will be geared for those who are working in the field already; primarily those who see people and guests (or they may call them clients) on a daily basis, administrators, and case managers

Number of Continuing Education Contact Hours: 1.0

Bio Information: Elisabeth Omilami is the CEO and President of one of Atlanta's most historic human service organizations Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless. She is also a stage, film and television actress with over 30 years of experience as an artist. Mrs. Omilami is also an activist and her voice can be heard across the globe around such issues as poverty, hunger and shaping policies that do not deny the poor access to equal opportunity. She has been a foot soldier in the civil rights movement from a very early age and this exposure to people who live their lives "for a cause" more important than they are, has shaped her life and continues to inform her decisions today.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Omilami and her husband Afemo, Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless has expanded to a year round human services organization with programs that touch over 180,000 people per year. HFTH’s  "Homeless Prevention" program is an award winning program. Their disaster relief activities have recently been commended by the Governor of Georgia and reach far beyond Georgie to Alabana and Tennessee. HFTH operates the largest Foodbank in the region that supports families directly with nutritious emergency food. 

The Omilami’s, assisted by thousands of volunteers produce “HFTH Holiday Dinner Festivals” held on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday and Easter Sunday -massive events that feed thousands and include a free medical clinic, all-you-can-eat hot plates of food, haircuts and barber/beauty services, clothing, toiletry and personal grooming product distributions, a children’s party for hundreds of youth including an educational component and much more. "To meet the basic needs of the working poor so they can have income left over at the end of the month to pay their bills and stay in their homes", is a purpose and a calling that she has given her life for.

Additionally, her work on the international stage has led to a school in the Philippines, medical missions every year on Haiti and the financial support of an orphanage in Uganda.

As an actress she can be seen most recently in "The Blind Side" and in the Lifetime TV special "Marry Me" and will co-star at the Alliance Theatre in the World Premiere of "Broke" this fall. An accomplished playwright, Elisabeth Omilami's original play "There is A River In My Soul" will experience a revival next year and she is working on providing arts programs for the underprivileged through her 'Summer ArtsCamp". She is proud of her two children Awodele and Juanita and loves working with her husband actor  Afemo Omilami, of 35 years daily in their ministry to the poor and needy of the world.
 

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Abstract: This presentation will address the essence of Dr. Parker's work: a commitment to translate what we know about aging successfully to those who need to hear it...not just the scientific community, but that we honor Christ and His Church by sharing our understanding of the “truth” from science using the infrastructure provided by congregations, who must learn to partner across denominational lines. Dr. Parker believes that seniors/Christian elders can lead the way in rebuilding our communities in a Nehemiah- like manner.

Topics/Outline:

Learning Objectives: As a result of this presentation participants will be able to:

• Articulate the role spirituality plays in successful aging

• Describe 2-3 challenges faced by faith communities to develop and sustain ministries that promote seniors' successful aging

• Conduct an examination of their own lives using life review as the context, and through this process, learn how to help their senior clients do the same

Primary Audience: Social workers and related professionals; social work students; human services professionals; clergy

Content Level: Basic/intermediate

Number of Continuing Education Contact Hours: 1.0

Bio Information: Dr. Michael Parker is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and is currently Professor of Social Work and Center for Mental Health & Aging at the University of Alabama (UA) and Associate Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care and Center for Aging at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Parker holds a BS in economics and an MS in psychology from Auburn University & a Doctorate from the University of Alabama. His geriatric & gerontological training includes completion of a National Institute of Aging (NIA) Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan and selection and training as a John A. Hartford Geriatric Scholar. He is a licensed LCSW with Private Independent Practice certification.

·     • Full highlights of his 20-year career military career are described in the Congressional Record of the United States. During Desert Storm, he was involved in hostage release missions into Lebanon and Syria, and among other duties, he served as the Drug and Alcohol Consultant in Europe, which included professional oversight for 95 outpatient clinics, six inpatient programs, 37 adolescent programs, a drug testing lab, and six counselor training schools. His military honors include the Order of Military Medical Merit and the Legion of Merit.

·     • During Dr. Parker’s 12-year academic career, he has: received private and public external research funding as the primary investigator or co-investigator totaling over $4.5 million & published over 50 peer- reviewed journal articles and 25 chapters on successful aging, elder care, and faith and health. In their recent book, A Vision for the Aging Church: Ministry to and from Seniors, Drs. Houston and Parker believe that Christian elders can lead the way in rebuilding “the walls” of our communities in a Nehemiah-like fashion. They summarize years of research with congregations, address ageism in the modern church, and offer theological perspectives and sustainable, evidenced based programs that can be implemented through partnerships across denominational lines that tap into regional academic institutions. Dr. Parker remains committed to the development of sustainable methods that translate research for  older persons and their caregivers (successful aging conferences, aging in place initiatives, disaster planning, parent care readiness & life review programs, etc.). He has presented over 100 professional talks, and his community planning work has been recognized by the Rockefeller Institute of Government & other national organizations. His NIA-funded longitudinal research with 1,000 community-dwelling residents over the age of 65 has generated a series of articles that have helped explain, confirm and translate the importance of positive spirituality in the health of older Americans. Nationally, he has served as: a member of the Gerontological Society of America & Hartford Scholars selection committee, a National Mentor for Hartford Scholars, the chief architect for the Veterans Affairs Hartford Scholars Program, a grant reviewer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Faith in Action Program, and a behavioral scientist for the US Army and Air War Colleges, & the US Air Force Chaplains Institute. His federally patented, web based parent care readiness program, is being employed by the human resource departments of three major universities to assist employed elder caregivers and to help retirees to organize their long term care plans. Feasibility studies with the parent care program have been completed with congregations in effort to develop sustainable programs that translate the latest research.

·     • At UA, he has been the recipient of the Frank R. Egan Award for teaching and exemplary practice and the Office of Community Affair’s Award for outstanding community based research. His honorary memberships include: Phi Alpha Honor Society in Social Work, Pi Tau Chi National Religious Honorary, and Psy Chi National Psychology Honorary. His current research includes a Department of Defense funded study of active duty RNs who have experienced trauma, submission of a National Institute of Health grant on elder caregiving, & the establishment of a Faith & Successful Aging Institute that helps communities organize successful aging conferences and partnered programs. He is currently working on Veterans for the Ages, a book intended as an encouragement to contemporary veterans to live lives of significance after their military service, using the exemplary, post Civil War lives of two military heroes. For his upcoming sabbatical, Dr. Parker has accepted a research fellowship at the University of Edinburgh’s Seminary to study how the Scotts support seniors in their congregations.
 

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Abstract: This workshop will look at social work in the context of Community Development. It will focus on social work as a tool to help lift communities out of poverty. Social workers are angels in our society that are often misunderstood by recipients of their work, as well as by others who see them as “bleeding hearts.” We will take social work theories and apply them to community development.

Topics/Outline:

1. Systems Theory
   a) How you interact with your environment; b) You are in transaction with environment; c) Equilibrium; d) Family - generational breaks needed

2. Behavior and Social Theory

   a) Learn through acting on environment, which is your teacher; b) Street knowledge vs. book knowledge; c) Churches need to be in environment to affect for good

3. Psychodynamic Theory
   a) Inner and outer coming together to impact emotional development; b) Projects that matter − Connecting of spirit and daily life; Murals instead of old fences, Green My Hood

4. Psychosocial Theory

   a) Age appropriateness and development; b) There are stages of development that are helpful for youth development; c) Can’t only deal with kids - our urban ministry is so kid focused we lose teen and adult interest

5. Transpersonal Theory

   a) Spiritual approaches can help development, b) Jesus followers − Spiritual direction; Principles of Prayer, Study, Reflection

6. Social exchange/construction/symbolic interaction theory

   a) What’s just; b) Equal interaction; c) How power is used and perceived

7. Christian Community Development

   a) Look at issues of the common good; b) Who is my neighbor?

    

Learning Objectives: As a result of this presentation participants will be able to:

• Compare and contrast several social work theories

• Describe 3-4 basic concepts of faith-based social work

• Articulate several key strategies for empowering communities through faith-based social work

Primary Audience: Social work students; human services professionals; clergy; social workers and related professionals

Content Level: Geared toward entry level/BSW and students

Number of Continuing Education Contact Hours: 1.0

Bio Information: Leroy Barber has dedicated more than 20 years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism, and living what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”

Leroy starts projects that shape society; in 1990, burdened by the plight of Philadelphia’s homeless, he founded Restoration Ministries, to serve homeless families and children living on the streets. In 1997, he joined FCS Urban Ministries, to serve as the founding Director of Atlanta Youth Academies, a private elementary school, to provide quality Christian education for low-income families in the inner city.

He is currently the President of Mission Year, a national urban initiative introducing 18-29 year olds to missional and communal living in city centers for one year of their lives, and Executive Director of FCS Urban Ministries in Atlanta.  Rev. Barber is the co-pastor of a church plant, Community Life Church; and on the boards of Word Made Flesh and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). Leroy is the author of New Neighbor: An Invitation to Join Beloved Community, and Everyday Missions: How Ordinary People Can Change the World and was also chosen as a contributor to the groundbreaking book UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters.

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