About the Program

The Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW program is an innovative response to a long-standing need for an MSW program in the Greater Rochester area. The program is the first public/private partnership in social work education. This collaboration between The College at Brockport and Nazareth College of Rochester provides students with the best educational experience from two of the area's finest academic institutions. The MSW program focuses on the delivery of collaborative, community-based practice using an integrative practice model that stresses a strengths-based, empowerment oriented, interdisciplinary teamwork approach to social work practice. The program is a direct response to community, student, and agency needs and provides opportunities for graduates of the program to be on the cutting edge of new directions for social work practice. The GRC MSW program was accredited by the Council on Social Work Education in November 2003.

The GRC MSW program provides opportunity for advanced professional study and emphasizes demonstrated mastery of knowledge as well as practice skills. The primary goals of the program are to:

1. Provide advanced social work education incorporating theoretical knowledge and critical thinking within an advanced integrated practice framework; emphasizing an ecological strengths-based community collaborative, empowerment model of practice to promote social and economic justice.
2. Educate social work practitioners who are ethical, critical thinkers engaged in ongoing inquiry and life-long learning.
3. Develop practitioners who provide autonomous social work practice and leadership in health, human service, and other community organizations, as well as in diverse communities to assist high need or at-risk populations.
4. Infuse a critical understanding of culturally competent and gender sensitive advanced practice in working with diverse groups, and to adapt social work knowledge and skills to meet the needs of disenfranchised and historically oppressed groups.
5. Promote and support research and knowledge development to improve the effectiveness of social work practice, policies, and programs.
6. Promote the health and well being of individuals, families, groups, and communities by advancing social justice in a changing environment and in a global society.

About the Community

Campuses & Resources

As a student of the GRC MSW program, you will take most of your classes at The College at Brockport, SUNY MetroCenter located in the heart of downtown Rochester. The location is a purposeful demonstration of the program's commitment to the community and affords us the opportunity to use community-based experiences in your education. Rochester has a rich social welfare service delivery system with many agencies located in close proximity to the MetroCenter. Students benefit from the exposure to agency administrators and practitioners who serve as guest lecturers in the classroom or as colleagues in community-based assignments. Your easy access to these agencies and social workers is one of the hallmarks of our program.

As a student at both The College at Brockport and Nazareth College of Rochester, you may use any of the services or facilities at any of the campuses. This makes available to you computer resources at several locations and the vast library holdings at the home campuses, student services (health, career development, writing centers, etc) from both campuses support your educational endeavor.

The City of Rochester, New York

Rochester is the third largest metropolitan area in New York State. As a major urban center, it contains nearly a third of the county's population of 1,081,000. Like many Northeastern cities, Rochester has experienced a downturn in its economic base and faces many challenging social problems. The GRC MSW Program is uniquely positioned to contribute to the community's betterment through its curriculum, its collaborative relationships with community groups, and its scholarly research. This affords a social work student incomparable opportunities to learn.

As a student, you may find Rochester a great place to live as it has been recognized as one of America's "Most Livable Cities." The community now boasts eight colleges/universities, 65 visual and performing arts groups (including one of the top 20 U.S. orchestras), 11,000 acres of parkland and 11 library branches in the city alone, plus six TV and 11 radio stations. Rochester is surrounded by beautiful suburban areas, rolling countryside and farmlands, as well as villages such as Pittsford and Brockport that preserve a small-town atmosphere. Because of its reasonable size, the Rochester area is easy to negotiate by car or by public transportation.

As a diversion from your studies, there is no lack of entertainment opportunities in Rochester. On any given Friday night could find you listening to jazz at a local coffee house or watching a Shakespearean play performed by a national touring company. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra brings world-class talent to the city, and live theater is available at Geva and the Auditorium Theatre. The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Memorial Art Gallery, and the Rochester Museum and Science Center (including the Strasenburgh Planetarium) are worthwhile destinations on a Saturday afternoon. Other attractions include the scenic High Falls area, the Highland Park's world-famous lilac collection, the Susan B. Anthony House and the Seneca Park Zoo. Nazareth College's Arts Center is recognized as the leading local venue for culturally diverse performing groups, and is home to Garth Fagan Dance and nationally recognized Bach Children's Chorus. Rochester's wide selection of restaurants reflect the ethnic diversity of our region serving African, Caribbean, Chinese, Ethiopian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Thai, Turkish, and vegetarian cuisine.

About the Curriculum

Foundation Curriculum

The foundation year prepares students to deliver services from a generalist perspective. The generalist perspective embraces viewing problems holistically, utilizing multi-method and multilevel approaches, based on an eclectic choice of theory incorporating the dual vision of the profession on private issues and social justice concerns. Within the MSW program our conceptualization of generalist practice includes a focus on community-based collaboration, empowerment, interdisciplinary teamwork, and a strengths-based perspective. The MSW program specifically focuses on the social worker and client system partnering together to address the identified challenges. Client systems range from micro systems (individuals, couples, families, and groups) to macro systems (organizations, institutions, communities, regions, and nations). The generalist perspective employs a problem-solving model that assists the social worker in making ethical decisions, practicing culturally competent interventions including advocacy, brokering, and case management. At the completion of the foundation year, MSW students are prepared to work across fields using multiple methods from direct practice to social policy and community planning.

The curriculum areas of social work practice, social welfare policy and services, research, human behavior and the social environment, and field practicum in the first year provide the foundation content. Program outcome objectives for knowledge and practice skills within these content areas include a base in values and ethics, populations-at-risk, social and economic justice, and diversity. Knowledge and practice skills are developed in a collaborative approach to service delivery that is emphasized and integrated throughout the core foundation year and in the advanced second-year curriculum.

Concentration Curriculum

The concentration year builds on the generalist framework by applying the integrated practice perspective, a refinement of the generalist perspective. The integrated practice perspective allows for the development of advanced intervention skills in working across the five client systems: the individual, family, group, institutions, and community. Collaborative and empowerment skills that prepare students to work within an interdisciplinary and interagency community-based practice are emphasized. In integrated practice, social workers engage in a partnership with the client system to provide interventions that mobilize the client system to higher levels of competency.

Family and Community Concentration

The family and community practice concentration prepares students to plan, develop, and implement family-focused services from a collaborative, community-based perspective. The concentration is based on a strength-and-empowerment philosophy with primary focus on agency-based work with vulnerable and at-risk populations. Students will become familiar with federal, state, and local trends, policies, and programs in community-based intervention and preventive services related to families. Students will explore theories of family practice, including traditional family therapy, family preservation, empowerment strategies for families, and working with multi-needs families. Students will also explore theories of community development, including traditional models of community organizing, theories of local social development, and models of community enhancement. The goal of this concentration is to prepare students for leadership roles and practice in agencies serving high-risk and high-need families from a community perspective. The concentration provides students with the requisite knowledge and skills to work with children, families, communities and organizations to promote and preserve family well-being in the context of promoting, developing, and maintaining healthy community life. Emphasis is placed on developing advanced practice intervention strategies that foster collaboration and partnerships between and among various community agencies and organizations in the design, implementation, and evaluation of family support services. Students in this concentration are specifically prepared to practice in community-based programs such as schools, community centers, mental health centers, residential and day treatment programs, public assistance, preventive, protective and other agencies serving families and individuals within families.

Interdisciplinary Health Concentration

The healthcare concentration prepares independent practitioners who are skilled in promoting health and wellness. The traditional medical model's deficit orientation is challenged and the graduate students are trained in a family systems model of care that incorporates problem-solving approach that integrates policy, technology, and practice. Family-centered care recognizes the family as the expert in the needs of the affected family member and positions team members as collaborators in this care. From the family-centered knowledge base, students are then pushed to understand community interventions from a public health perspective that enfolds the community's role in promoting well being. The contemporary managed care environment has radically influenced the healthcare delivery system at all levels of care. Students in this concentration are specifically prepared to practice in comprehensive healthcare facilities, specialized healthcare facilities, public health clinics and programs, medically based senior health care facilities and programs, wellness and preventive healthcare and mental health programs.

Graduates of the program will provide leadership across multiple systems and at different levels within the systems. This perspective is brought to bear on specific target systems/populations within the concentrations of Interdisciplinary Health Care, and Family and Community Practice. Expected competencies are: an ability to synthesize and apply a broad range of knowledge; an ability to practice with a high degree of autonomy and skill; and an ability to refine and advance the quality of professional practice and that of the larger social work profession. The outcome objectives of preparing practitioners who can analyze, intervene, and evaluate in ways that are highly differentiated, discriminating and self-critical assure coherence between the foundation year and the concentration year.