Serving the Community: Teaching and Researching Community Engagement for Social Justice at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The decline of the welfare state, the erosion of social benefits and growing privatization of social services have exacerbated social problems in Israel, including food insecurity, hunger and abusive employment. The weakness of community organizations and agencies thrusts greater responsibility onto schools of social work to address these problems. In this narrative the author relates his personal experiences during the last ten years in developing and implementing an innovative program that integrates teaching, training, research, and community engagement to promote social justice.