Frontline Worker Perceptions of the Empowerment Process in Community-Based Agencies‪.‬

Despite the lack of consensus about its I meaning, "empowerment" is a widely used term in social work and other human service professions. It is a key concept in social work and over the past few years has become an important concept in work with disadvantaged and disenfranchised populations. Some describe it as a process. For others it is an outcome or goal, and still others view it as a form of intervention (Dunst, Trivette, & LaPointe, 1992; Gutierrez, DeLois, & GlenMaye, 1995). Because empowerment takes place in different forms, on different levels, and within a variety of contexts and situations, Rappaport (1981) contended, "Empowerment [needs to be] viewed ... as a process of infinite variety" (p. 3). The Social Work Dictionary defines empowerment as "the process of helping individuals, families, groups, and communities increase their personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic, and political strength and develop influence toward improving their circumstances" (Barker, 2003, p. 142). The emphasis in most definitions of the concept is "directed at influencing a sense of control over important life events" (Dunst et al., p. 12). Although many in the social work profession have written about empowerment, few have offered a description of the empowerment process from the perspective of frontline workers in high-risk communities. How do frontline workers enact empowerment principles in their everyday work environments? What do these workers perceive to be the challenges in implementing empowerment interventions with disadvantaged populations? What strategies do they employ to overcome or address individual and situational challenges to the empowerment process? This article examines these questions on the basis of findings from a 2001-2004 qualitative study of the implementation of the Casey Family Resource Center Initiative in four of Casey Family Services divisions.