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Articles on social welfare

Displaying 1 - 20 of 36 articles.

Forcing people to repay welfare ‘loans’ traps them in a poverty cycle – where is the policy debate about that?

Hanna Wilberg , University of Auckland

Accident or medical, new research shows we need to treat conditions equally to get people back to work

Michelle Cameron , University of Waikato

Technology is far from a silver bullet for solving homelessness or child welfare issues

Aron Lee Rosenberg , Trent University ; Mary Anne Martin , Trent University ; Naomi Nichols , Trent University , and Sarah Cullingham , Trent University

NZ is finally making progress on child poverty – but a ‘no frills’ budget puts that at risk

Kate C. Prickett , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Why some terror campaigns escalate to civil war and others don’t – study reveals surprising new answers

Ibrahim Kocaman , Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ; Isa Haskologlu , American University , and Mustafa Kirisci , DeSales University

Better income assistance programs are needed to help people with rising cost of living

Wayne Simpson , University of Manitoba

Would Kenyan women’s rights be safe under William Ruto? Why they might not be

Awino Okech , SOAS, University of London

Child care centres in South Africa need more support: principals tell of pandemic impact

Catherine Draper , University of the Witwatersrand

Defying Ghana’s lockdown rules wasn’t simply stubborn: here’s what was going on

Festival Godwin Boateng , Columbia University

CERB helped Canadians during COVID-19 — but not the most vulnerable

David Pettinicchio , University of Toronto and Michelle Maroto , University of Alberta

NZ’s unemployment insurance scheme will be the biggest welfare shakeup in generations – is it justified?

Simon Chapple , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Michael Fletcher , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Why is New Zealand’s Labour government trying to push through a two-tier benefit system?

Michael Fletcher , Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

COVID-19 holds lessons for the future of social protection

Katharine Hall , University of Cape Town

How social security could make life better in South Africa after  COVID-19

Stephen Devereux , University of Sussex and Alex van den Heever , University of the Witwatersrand

How to build a better Canada after COVID-19 : Transform CERB into a basic annual income program

Gregory C Mason , University of Manitoba

4 ways COVID-19 has exposed gaps in the US social safety net

Paul Shafer , Boston University and Cecille Joan Avila , Boston University

Mauritius heads into coronavirus storm with strong social welfare buffers

Myriam Blin , Charles Telfair Campus

Coronavirus will have long-term implications for business leaders. Here are the top five

Ralph Hamann , University of Cape Town

AI algorithms intended to root out welfare fraud often end up punishing the poor instead

Michele Gilman , University of Baltimore

Same-sex couples have been in American politics way longer than the Buttigiegs have been married

Anya Jabour , University of Montana

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988: What Social Workers Need To Know About the New 3-Digit Crisis Line Number

The new 988 number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline went into effect July 16, 2022. How does it work, and what gaps in services need to be filled? Jonathan Singer summarizes what social workers need to know. Read more

Jonathan Singer

Articles Practice

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Identifying and Responding to Resistance Around Conversations About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

As the social work profession continues to engage in difficult dialogues about diversity, equity, and inclusion, many are facing resistance to this work. Resistance presents in denial-oriented, disengaged, and derailing approaches. Read more

Ethics Alive! Anti-DEI Laws, Moral Distress, and Student Roles

A concerning trend has emerged as 22 states have introduced or enacted legislation that would restrict DEI initiatives and the teaching of DEI. These laws may present social work educators with a conflict between ethical and legal responsibilities. Read more

Articles Ethics

Mapping the Tech Landscape for Social Workers: Part 2

Lace up your hiking boots, and let’s go on a journey into exciting and complex technology terms and examples of extended reality (XR), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), as they apply to social work. Read more

Articles Tech

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Preparing To Work in and Change Courtrooms and Carceral Settings: The Latest in Forensic and Criminal-Legal Social Work Practice

Forensic social work, also known as criminal-legal social work (or juvenile-legal social work for those focusing on work with system-involved youth), is a growing area of practice. Read more

A Byrd’s Eye View of Self-Care: Sometimes It’s Okay—And, Actually Necessary—To Be “Selfish” and “Lazy”

Why isn’t it okay for me to take a few minutes out of my day and focus solely on myself? Or, be completely disinclined to exert myself for one hour? Why am I expected to be excessively or exclusively concerned with others and constantly in motion? Read more

Articles Self Care

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Tech Advice for Incoming Online MSW Students: What You’ll Need, What You Can Skip

If you’re just starting your online MSW program, congratulations! As you start to plan where you’ll log into your classes and get your tech set up, we’d like to offer you some budget tips to save money and prioritize your spending. Read more

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What About Social Justice? Bridging the Digital Divide Gap

The digital divide is a social justice problem. Social workers must incorporate digital inclusion strategies into their practices by making sure that services, data, and resources are available to all. Read more

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Social Services - Articles

Innovations in public services that promote equity and opportunity ( more )

Getting More Than You Pay For With Pay-For-Success

By Greta Hansen

In laying the groundwork for stronger cross-sector collaboration and outcomes-focused approaches, pay-for-success projects in Silicon Valley are reaping benefits far beyond the success they’ve agreed to invest in.

From Family Data to Neighborhood Outcomes

By Molly McGrath Tierney 6

By offering better early support for struggling families, child welfare services can reduce the need for more serious interventions down the line and improve the wellbeing of whole neighborhoods.

Convenient Care for the Elderly

By Noël Duan

In Japan, minimart chains such as 7-Eleven and Lawson play a major role in providing services for a burgeoning elderly population.

A Question of Outcomes

By Caroline Whistler & John Grossman 2

For more and more social change efforts, the key to success lies in clearly defining the desired results for beneficiaries.

Judging “Poor” Choices

By Corey Binns

Disapproval of welfare recipients who use their benefits to buy “ethical” but costly items is widespread.

Hidden Talent: How Smart Companies Are Tapping Into Unemployed Youth

By Willa Seldon, Katie Smith Milway, Simon Morfit, & Brian Bills 6

Refining the raw talent of the 5.5 million young Americans out of work and out of school provides compelling opportunities for companies, youth, and society—a rare trifecta—that a growing number of corporate leaders are betting on.

After the One Child Policy

By Scott Rozelle & Alexis Medina 1

A pilot project in China aims to give the country’s family-planning agency a new mission: supporting early child development.

Social Impact Bonding

By Thomas Dermine, Matthieu Le Grelle, & Frédéric Simonart 1

In Belgium, leaders of a nonprofit are using a pay-for-success mechanism to fund a program for young migrant job seekers.

Siphoning Off the Safety Net

Review By Angela Glover Blackwell 3

How social services agencies are squeezing revenue from the poor and vulnerable people they’re meant to serve.

Delivering on Digital: The Innovators and Technologies That Are Transforming Government

By William D. Eggers

This excerpt from the newly released book Delivering on Digital looks at how the government in New South Wales, Australia, has used digital technologies and human-centered design to build a welfare system centered around individual children.

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St. Pete firefighters question social services worker idea. The city looks for answers

• Rose Wong Former Times Reporter

ST. PETERSBURG — City leaders announced this month that noncriminal and nonviolent calls will be handled by professionals in social work, not uniformed officers. The proposed program is a response to the demands for police reform from Black Lives Matter protesters.

“Our citizens are asking for change,” St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway told the media during the July 9 announcement. “The city of St. Petersburg and our police department are ready for change.”

But one constituency is not ready: the city’s firefighters and paramedics.

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue firefighter Richard Pauley Jr., president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 747, said the union had “no forewarning” of the city’s plans.

When an emergency is reported to 911, police officers usually arrive at the scene first. They make sure the area is safe for firefighters and paramedics to do their jobs.

But if officers start going to less calls, that could raise the risks faced by other first-responders — such as paramedics encountering a hostile patient who needs medical attention.

In a letter to the union’s 412 members, Pauley explained that fire department leaders will begin discussions with city officials to ensure firefighters are kept safe when responding to emergency calls. He declined to share the letter with the Tampa Bay Times .

He wants to know how much crisis training the social services workers responding to calls will get.

“These are potentially violent situations our firefighters go into,” Pauley said.

But the firefighters’ union isn’t rejecting the program. Pauley said that he’s waiting to find out what the city has planned, and St. Petersburg officials are working on that.

“The prospect of having social services workers instead of armed officers to provide protection for our crews is a concern,” he said. “But we’re not going to have a knee-jerk reaction to something that we don’t know anything about.”

Starting Oct. 1, a new St. Petersburg Police Department program called the Community Assistance Liaison will start sending social services workers and paramedics to 911 calls deemed “non-criminal and non-violent,” said police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez.

The city’s research, she said, shows nonviolent calls are unlikely to turn violent when unarmed first responders arrive. She said that could actually defuse a situation.

“We see that calls sometimes turn violent because police officers are there,” Fernandez said. “If someone without a weapon comes then results may be different.”

Police spokesperson Rafael Lopez said a company will be hired to provide crisis training for social services workers. The city is also still devising how the Community Assistance Liaison teams will operate.

The city had planned to hire 25 more police officers over the next two years by spending $3.8 million to match a $3.1 million federal grant. Instead, the $3.8 million will be used to fund the liaison program. The city will no longer hire the additional officers and gave up the federal grant.

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Police estimate the program will save officers from having to respond to about 12,700 calls each year, about 5 percent of the 259,800 calls the department receives annually, Lopez said.

City officials initially planned to have social services workers respond to calls for “disorderly intoxication,” Fernandez said, but recently decided that officers should still handle those because they have the potential to become violent.

Fernandez said one potential model for the liaison program that St. Petersburg is looking at is the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets program in Eugene, Ore. — also known as CAHOOTS.

Established 31 years ago, the initiative was created by White Bird Clinic, a mental health and crisis service facility, and the Eugene Police Department. After dispatchers decide a call is nonviolent and would be best handled through behavioral health expertise, according to the program’s website, a crisis worker and paramedic are sent to the scene together.

Last year, the Eugene program said it responded to 20 percent of the calls made to 911 and only had to call for police back-up for 150 of the 24,000 calls it handled in 2019. The program says it saved the city $14 million in ambulance and other emergency medical costs by caring for those threatening to harm themselves on-site.

Eugene crisis worker Ebony Morgan wrote in an email to the Times that in the program’s three decades, no staffer or patient has died or suffered a major injury.

When they approach someone who needs help, she said, letting them know that the team is unarmed, and not punitive, helps keep them from reacting in fear.

“We reduce harm and save money …,” Morgan said. “We take a significant workload that was never intended for police officers off of their very full plate.”

Another similar program in Dallas, Texas is the Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team, or RIGHT Care. It was launched in 2018 to serve south central Dallas, which has the highest level of mental health-related calls in the city, said Kurtis Young, director of social work and behavioral health services at Parkland Health & Hospital System.

The program assigns a Parkland psychiatric social worker to the city’s 911 call center to identify emergency mental health calls. A police car with five officers first arrives on scene and leaves when the integrated healthcare team comes and takes over, Young said.

The team consists of a police officer, a paramedic and a social worker assigned to the same vehicle. After the police officer ensures that the scene is safe and no weapons are present, the social worker conducts a “psychosocial risk assessment” and the medic provides any necessary medical treatment.

Young said city leaders and social workers weren’t comfortable responding to situations without officers being there.

“The calls can change very quickly,” Young said. “You don’t know how they’re going to turn out. So we’re not comfortable not having officers there.”

He said turning social workers into first-responders has benefited officers.

“Police officers are learning from our social workers,” he said. “They’re learning that there’s a different way to do things.”

What calls will social services workers answer?

St. Petersburg police say these are the kinds of calls for help the city plans to send social services workers to instead of officers:

Baker Act (Involuntary commitment for mental health evaluation.)

Disorderly Juvenile

Drug Overdose

Homeless Complaints

Intoxicated Person

Marchman Act (Involuntary commitment for addiction.)

Mental Health

Neighborhood Concerns

Neighborhood Dispute

Panhandling

Person with a Mental Illness

Substance Abuse

Suicide Threat

Transporting a Person with a Mental Illness

Coverage of local and national protests from the Tampa Bay Times

HOW TO SUPPORT: Whether you’re protesting or staying inside, here are ways to educate yourself and support black-owned businesses.

WHAT PROTESTERS WANT: Protesters explain what changes would make them feel like the movement is successful.

WHAT ARE NON-LETHAL AND LESS-LETHAL WEAPONS? A guide to what’s used in local and national protests .

WHAT ARE ARRESTED PROTESTERS CHARGED WITH? About half the charges filed have included unlawful assembly.

CAN YOU BE FIRED FOR PROTESTING? In Florida, you can. Learn more.

HEADING TO A PROTEST? How to protect eyes from teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Former Times Reporter

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Guest Essay

This Is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers

By Darby Saxbe

Dr. Saxbe is a clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.

Ever since the pandemic, when rates of teenage suicide, anxiety and depression spiked, policymakers around the world have pushed to make mental health resources more broadly available to young people through programming in schools and on social media platforms .

This strategy is well intentioned. Traditional therapy can be expensive and time-consuming; access can be limited. By contrast, large-scale, “light touch” interventions — TikTok offerings from Harvard’s School of Public Health, grief-coping workshops in junior high — aim to reach young people where they are and at relatively low cost.

But there is now reason to think that this approach is risky. Recent studies have found that several of these programs not only failed to help young people, they also made their mental-health problems worse . Understanding why these efforts backfired can shed light on how society can — and can’t — help teenagers who are suffering from depression and anxiety.

Consider a “social-emotional skills training” school program called WISE Teens. Led by clinical psychologists in training, it consists of eight weekly hourlong classroom sessions in which students learn to manage their emotions with the help of tools and principles drawn from cognitive behavior therapy and Zen Buddhism.

Last month, the journal Behavior Research and Therapy published a study of 1,071 Australian teenagers who were observed from 2017 to 2018: One group participated in WISE Teens; another group participated in a standard health-class curriculum. Compared with the teenagers who got the standard education, the students in WISE Teens reported more depression, more anxiety, more difficulty managing their emotions and worse relationships with their parents. One out of every eight WISE Teens participants appeared clinically depressed after completing the program, compared with one out of every 13 participants who did the regular health classes.

These results are striking but not unique. Last year, an even larger study of a school-based mindfulness program, which looked at more than 8,000 British teenagers in more than 80 schools, found that the program did not improve mental health — and in fact led to worse anxiety and emotional problems, and lower levels of mindfulness skills. Yet another study published last year, which included some 2,500 Australian teenagers, also found that a mental health program made students more distressed.

Why were these programs counterproductive? The WISE Teens researchers suggest, convincingly, that the teenagers weren’t engaged enough in the program and might have felt overwhelmed by having too many tools and skills presented to them without enough time to master them. (The study found that WISE Teens participants who spent more time practicing the skills at home showed some slight mental health benefits — though most of the participants did not engage in home practice.)

But I would venture three additional explanations for the backfiring, all of which dovetail with what other research tells us about youth mental health.

First, by focusing teenagers’ attention on mental health issues, these interventions may have unwittingly exacerbated their problems. Lucy Foulkes, an Oxford psychologist, calls this phenomenon “ prevalence inflation ” — when greater awareness of mental illness leads people to talk of normal life struggles in terms of “symptoms” and “diagnoses.” These sorts of labels begin to dictate how people view themselves, in ways that can become self-fulfilling.

Teenagers, who are still developing their identities, are especially prone to take psychological labels to heart. Instead of “I am nervous about X,” a teenager might say, “I can’t do X because I have anxiety” — a reframing that research shows undermines resilience by encouraging people to view everyday challenges as insurmountable.

It’s generally a sign of progress when diagnoses that were once whispered in shameful secrecy enter our everyday vocabulary and shed their stigma. But especially online, where therapy “influencers” flood social media feeds with content about trauma, panic attacks and personality disorders, greater awareness of mental health problems risks encouraging self-diagnosis and the pathologizing of commonplace emotions — what Dr. Foulkes calls “problems of living.” When teenagers gravitate toward such content on their social media feeds, algorithms serve them more of it, intensifying the feedback loop.

A second possible explanation for why these programs backfired is that they were provided in the wrong place and to the wrong people. The structure of school, which emphasizes evaluation and achievement, may clash with practicing “slow” contemplative skills like mindfulness. And many of the skills taught in these programs were developed for people coping with severe mental illness, not everyday stresses. These tools might not feel applicable to teenagers who aren’t deeply struggling — and on the flip side, their wide-scale adoption might make them seem too generic and watered-down to teenagers who are truly ill.

A third possible explanation is that these interventions offered enough information to highlight a problem, but not enough to fix it. As research has repeatedly shown, the most effective therapies involve not just learning skills but also developing meaningful relationships. Even the most structured cognitive behavioral approaches recognize the value of a strong working therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. Effective therapies often require clients to do hard things: Exposure therapies for anxiety, for example, ask clients to confront fears they’d prefer to avoid. Such interventions work best with steady, consistent, hands-on support from a dedicated therapist.

To be sure, psychologists have done some important and innovative work making mental health interventions more broadly accessible. To cite just one example, Jessica Schleider, a psychology researcher at Northwestern University, has tested several single-session treatments that can be offered online and show promising results in teenagers. But although such offerings fill gaps in our mental health infrastructure, they cannot take the place of more time- and resource-intensive forms of care.

The hard truth is that soaring rates of teenage depression and anxiety present a structural problem requiring structural solutions, including the training of a much larger work force of therapists. In school settings, creating more opportunities for young people to build relationships with adults through smaller class sizes and greater access to traditional guidance counselors might move the needle more than specialized mental health curriculums can. Other, more prosaic-seeming changes like starting school later to encourage sleep, decreasing the homework burden and creating more opportunities for play, exercise, music, arts and community engagement are all empirically supported strategies for improving mental health.

In the meantime, those serving up mental health guidance, both online and at school, should be cautious. It’s critical to keep pace with the evidence and attend to the first principle of all health care providers: First, do no harm.

Darby Saxbe ( @darbysaxbe ) is a clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.

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• v.17(2); 2022 Jul 24

Care services for older persons: A scoping review

Fatemeh gavarskhar.

MSc & MPH in Gerontology, Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Health Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Farid Gharibi

PhD in Health Services Management, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran, Email: moc.liamg@ashibirahg

Elham Dadgar

PhD in Health Services Management, Aligoudarz Faculty of Medical Science, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khoramabad, Iran

Introduction:

With an increasing life expectancy and proportion of older adults, the number of people in need of care services is also increasing. This study aimed to determine and describe various available care services for older persons reported in literature.

English-language articles published between the years of 1990 and 2018 in Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases or search engines were reviewed. The search resulted in 46,927 articles. All selected studies were systematically evaluated and screened based on title, abstract, and full text related to the study’s objective. Finally, 246 articles were included in the study. The care services in older persons care systems were identified from the selected articles and were presented in extraction tables. Final conclusions were made based on the types of services provided and their frequency of citation.

The research results showed that numerous systems exist to provide care services for older adults, including long-term care services, home care services, housing for the aged, day care centres, senior centres, nursing homes, and hospice care services. Regarding older adults’ care needs and the objectives and missions of each care system, different care services, such as personal care, social support services, medical care services, and nutrition services, have been identified in the service packages.

Conclusion:

This study describes the diverse care services available for older persons that have been reported in the literature. Further research in different healthcare systems is required regarding what is most essential and lacking in each setting.

Introduction

The phenomenon of ageing is presently expanding, and the older populations of the world will increase to an expected two billion people by 2050. 1 Currently, Iran is also experiencing a demographic transition, while the population aged 60 years and above has increased from 7.2% in 2006 to 8.2% in 2011 2 ; furthermore, it is anticipated that the older population of Iran will increase from 11 million in 2025 to 30 million in 2050. 3 Whereas the growth of the global ageing population is greater in developing countries than in developed countries, these countries, including Iran, have fewer opportunities to confront old age and its consequences. 4

The cumulative effects of physiological changes during ageing are accompanied by an increase in chronic disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, and dementia; with advancing age, the likelihood of developing comorbidities also increases. 5 The prevalence of disability due to chronic disease is greater among older adults than other age groups, and with the growing older population, the number of dependent older persons who are in need of regular and continuous care services will increase. Furthermore, an increase in the oldest elderly population is accompanied by an increase in disabilities and a rising demand for long-term care services. 6 Limitations in resources, reduced income, financial dependency, physical handicaps, social isolation, mental health disorders, including dementia and depression, result in greater vulnerability in these older individuals. 7

Countries across the world are burdened with the high costs associated with increasing elderly populations and higher incidence of chronic disease. 8 For example, the highest healthcare costs in low- and middle-income countries are related to heart disease, stroke, visual disorders, loss of hearing, and dementia. 9 If individuals remain healthy and independent in their old age and without certain impairments, an increase in the older population will not become a social burden; however, if they do not receive the necessary services and support from community, social security systems, and healthcare systems, higher costs will be imposed on families, and providing care for older people will create limitations for family members to participate in social and educational activities and reduce access to job opportunities. 10 Therefore, various care systems have been developed worldwide with the aim of reducing the negative consequences of ageing and enhancing the health and welfare status of older persons. 10 Various studies indicated that, in less developed countries, the current healthcare systems that provide older adult care services have been inadequately and inefficiently designed. 3

Regarding the growing burden of chronic disorders in later life and to ensure productive ageing, comprehensive healthcare and longterm care (LTC) services appropriate to the needs of the older persons should be provided; these services should be readily available and should result in a reduction in the detrimental effects of disease and enhancement of personal health and quality of life. 10 Preventive policies, enhancing healthcare, and immediate treatment of older adults are of great significance. 3 To achieve these goals, providing and developing comprehensive and targeted plans based on scientific findings is essential. 11

According to a review of the literature, there have been no studies thus far that have evaluated the service packages of various care systems. In addition to identifying the highest priority services in each package, studies in which the relationships between the features of each care system and service recipients were specified were not carried out. This study was designed and implemented with the aim of identifying various older persons care services and their defined service packages and determining the highest priority services and the mission of each care service.

This study is a scoping review in which the keywords used were determined based on pilot studies and utilizing a MeSH system. In order to gain access to articles from a search of related studies in databases, keywords with different combinations of (elderly OR aging OR older OR aged OR senior) AND (care OR service) AND (long term care, nursing home, hospice care, extra care housing, sheltered housing, home care, respite care, assisted living, residential facilities, retirement housing, supportive service, senior centre, day care, health services, housing, administration, organization, characteristics, structure, standard) were used. English-language articles published between the years of 1990 and 2018 in Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases or search engines were reviewed. In addition, the grey literature—which refers to articles that were either unpublished or were published in non-commercial forms (including reports, policy statements, working papers, issues paper, government documents, etc.)— was reviewed. This literature was founded and reviewed from a 'grey literature database' and related governmental or non-governmental departments and agencies that focused on care for older persons.

In this review, key studies cited in other articles that were related to the aim of the current research were also included. The result of this search was access to 46,927 articles. All studies were systematically analysed based on the relevance of the title, abstract, and full text to the research objectives. Finally, 246 articles were included in this study ( Figure 1 ).

The services provided by each older persons care service were divided into main categories. These categories, which referred to the main care systems’ ability to provide delivery of services to older persons, were determined by primary (pilot) search or review. The main categories included personal care, nursing and medical services, social support services, rehabilitation services, and education. In cases where the required services were provided in the articles, they were ranked based on the star system, and the frequency of each service category was separately calculated and arranged in the final table based on the total frequency, in decreasing order. The final conclusions were made based on the types of services provided and their frequencies. The study received ethical permission from the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (IR. TBZMED.REC.1393.250).

Seven main systems of services provided were noted in this review: housing for the aged, home care (HC), LTC, day care centre (DCC), senior centre (SC), nursing home (NH), and hospice care services (HCS). Secondary systems were also referred to by other names, which could be situated in other systems depending on their features and could not be considered separate and independent systems, e.g., supportive services, assisted living, sheltered housing, extra care housing, and housing for the aged; all secondary systems focused on providing housing units for older persons and were categorised as ‘housing for the aged’. Of the 246 articles included in this review, 70 were related to LTC services, 43 to HC, 68 to housing for the aged, 17 to DCC, 15 to SC, 11 to NH, and 27 to HCS. Overall, there were three studies common to both LTC and HC and one study common to LTC and DCC, SC, and housing for the aged. Most of the articles included in the review were published between 2000 and 2015 (86%). Over 50% (136) of the articles were related to the USA, over 8% were related to the UK, 7.3% were related to Japan, 5.6% were related to China and Canada (2.8% each), 2.4% were related to Australia, and 10% were related to Germany, Israel, Taiwan, Turkey, and Korea. The remaining articles were related to countries such as Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, South Korea, Finland, Norway, Malaysia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Singapore, and the World Health Organization (WHO). More than 94% of the included articles were original work, 3% were review articles, and 4% were related to reports or documents extracted from grey literature.

Long-Term Care

LTC represents a wide range of community-based services and programmes provided in healthcare centres, homes, day care centres, or institutions; the services maintain and enhance physical performance, individual independence, and quality of life. LTC also includes informal assistance by family members and friends in caring for older persons. 12

Based on the results obtained from the current study, LTC services included three categories: non-medical services, health-related services, and support services. Non-medical services in LTC included personal care (helping people with activities of daily living [ADL] and instrumental activities of Daily living [IADL]), housekeeping, nutrition services (delivering meals to the home, nutritional consultation, and providing nutritional diets), environment modification (creating a wheelchair ramp, installing auxiliary equipment, and home safety), transportation services, home maintenance, supervision services (full-time supervision by staff, night-time supervision, and relief bells).

Health-related services included medical care (advanced health treatment at home and during daily visits, referral, podiatry, and caring for people diagnosed with dementia), nursing care (periodic evaluation, skilled care services, medication administration, injections, wound dressing, referral, and case management), rehabilitation services (physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, visual care services and audiology, and providing rehabilitation equipment), preventive services (screening programmes for illnesses such as depression, periodic assessment), education and consultation services, and other medical care services (hospital services, radiology, laboratory, and oral health services).

Social support services included recreational and entertainment activities, sports programmes, intergenerational programmes, respite care, financial support to caregivers and group homes for older persons ( Table 1 ).

A review of the literature in this field indicated that personal care, nursing and medical services, social support services, and housekeeping were the most frequent services provided by LTC. Palliative care, supervision, and psychology services were less frequent in this system. Nevertheless, relative heterogeneity was observed across various service packages.

As defined by the WHO, HC includes a set of healthcare and support services provided in homes that can represent a temporary replacement for LTC. These services prevent or delay the hospitalisation of individuals in nursing homes. 13 The Services available in HC comprised nonmedical services, health-related services, and support services.

The non-medical services included personal care (helping older people with ADL and IADL), housekeeping, nutrition services (meal delivery at home, cooking and preparing meals), training classes, transportation, home modification, and home maintenance.

Health services included medical care (home health services, assessment of older adults, therapeutic care planning, providing medical equipment, acute care, and laboratory services), nursing care (setting doctor’s appointments, case management, medication administration, wound care, caring for patients with dementia, skilled nursing care, oxygen therapy, dialysis, tube feeding, and parenteral feeding), rehabilitation services (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and providing rehabilitation equipment), psychology and consultation services, palliative care, and end of life care.

Social support services included family support services, friendly visits, recreational programmes, helping to establish social relationships, accommodations in group housing, providing a home for older adults, helping them find a job, and providing spiritual support ( Table 2 ).

A review of the previous studies indicated that nursing care, personal care, medical services, social support services, and housekeeping were all priority services provided in HC. The services of palliative care, mental healthcare, and home modification were of lesser significance. Nevertheless, relative heterogeneity was observed across various service packages.

Housing for the Aged

‘Housing for the aged’ is a broad term that includes all houses considered to be residences of older individuals. Extra-care housing (ECH), which is the common term in England, includes residential units in which special services are provided to support older persons with mental or physical disorders who require nursing services. Assisted living (AL), a term used in the United States, refers to complexes with a residential appearance designed as an environment far from regulations of institutions. Here, care and support services are provided to assist older people who need help in their daily activities, but do not require continuous care and nursing. 14 The available services in housing for the aged included non-medical services, health-related services, and social support care.

Non-medical care in housing for the aged included personal care (assistance regarding ADL and IADL), nutrition services (general nutrition services and providing warm meals based on a menu), home maker services, ‘around-the-clock’ (i.e., 24-hour) supervision (including remote monitoring, on-site personnel, around-the-clock assistance), entertainment and group programmes (opportunities to take part in group activities such as playing games, having tea and lunch in groups, shopping inside or outside the complex, sports classes, swimming, or recreational activities), respite care, transportation services, and other services such as repair and maintenance (e.g., furniture, changing of light bulbs) and gardening.

Health-related services included preventive services (infection control, screening, vaccination, and environment modification), medical and nursing care services (visits by the physician, nurse, and other health personnel, intermediate care, medication administration, emergency services, ophthalmology services, supervision of health conditions, control of symptoms, pain management, emergency rescue, helping individuals with cognitive impairments and diabetes treatment, and management of chronic diseases), clinical nutrition services (nutrition education and prescribing a diet), psychological counselling, rehabilitation services (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy), palliative care (pain management and setting up advanced directives), and other healthcare (art therapy, music therapy, pet therapy, respiratory therapy, dance therapy, and chiropody).

Social support services included family support programmes, group and social activities, intergenerational programmes, transportation services, education classes, financial and legal counselling, and help with finding work ( Table 3 ).

A review of the literature indicated that personal care, nutrition services, social support, housekeeping services, medical and nursing care were among the priority services provided in housing for the aged. In some cases, services such as palliative care, rehabilitation services, and preventive services, including environmental modification, screening, and vaccination, were also observed.

Day Care Centres

DCCs represent comprehensive, organised, and community-based programmes designed with various health, social, and support services for responding to the disabled individual’s needs. Services are provided at any time of the day (within 24 hours). This type of service was designed for individuals who do not require full time care, to decrease admissions to NHs and LTC centres. The results of the current study indicated that the services available in older persons housing comprised non-medical services, health-related services, and social support care.

Non-medical services included personal care, transportation services, and environment modification. Health-related services included nursing care (healthcare services, case management, medication administration, wound care, injection, oxygen therapy, weight control, blood pressure control, diabetes control, infusion therapy, night-time care, and tube feeding), medical care (medical support, home palliative care at home, chemotherapy, access to a therapeutic team, and radiotherapy), rehabilitation services, psychology services, consultation and education, hospice care, and other therapies.

The social support services of DCCs included family support groups, respite care, consultation, recreational activities, intergenerational programmes, and sports programmes ( Table 4 ).

Studies conducted in this area reported that social support services, personal care, medical and nursing care, and rehabilitation services were priority services delivered in the DCCs. In addition, home modification, hospice care, and psychological services were also observed in the service packages of some of these centres.

Senior Centres

SCs are centres in which various programmes and services are provided, such as nutrition programmes, healthcare programmes, art, recreational and volunteer programmes, transportation services, educational classes, helping staff members, intergenerational programmes, group and social programmes, support services for caregivers, social support, and daily care for older persons.

Non-medical services included personal care (helping older adults with ADL and IADL), nutrition services, transportation, recreational, art and sports programmes, educational classes (cooking and computer), consultation services (financial and legal counselling), and respite care.

Health and fitness services comprised screening programmes (e.g., depression, blood pressure, cancer, vision, hearing, and mammography), daily healthcare, personal training, nutrition services and weight control, special programmes for people with dementia, rehabilitation care, psychology services, personal counselling, and referrals.

The social support services of SCs include intergenerational programmes, cultural programmes, educational classes, support groups and volunteers, respite care, friendly visits, transportation, personal care at homes, and rehabilitation services ( Table 5 ).

Studies conducted in this area showed that social support, training and consultation, nutrition services, fitness, and healthcare were the priority services delivered in the SCs. In some cases, services such as home care and rehabilitation care were also provided.

Nursing Home

This term used in most countries to describe a centre in which support services and nursing are provided in addition to housing services for the older persons who are no longer able to live independently in their houses. Short-term services are also provided to individuals who require nursing care and help in completing daily activities due to chronic disorders. Skilled care services are also provided for the older persons in specialised centres. 15 The results of the current research indicated that services provided in NHs included non-medical services, healthcare services, and social support services.

Non-medical services comprised personal care (assisting older adults with ADL and IADL), meal delivery, and transportation services.

Health services included nursing and medical services (daily curative care, emergency assistance, chiropody, dialysis, injection, fusion therapy, oral hygiene, and dental care services).

Social support services included family support, respite care, and counselling for older persons and their family members ( Table 6 ).

A review of the related literature showed that medical and nursing services, rehabilitation services, social support services, and personal care were among the highest priority services provided in NHs. In addition, hospice care, home modification, and transportation were also observed in some service packages.

Hospice Care

Palliative care includes care provided to the patient and their family with the aim of enhancing quality of life by predicting, preventing, and treating pain and suffering by responding to emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and physical needs while aiming to maintain the patients independence. Hospice care includes supportive care for patients in the final stages of a disease, to maintain the dignity and quality of life of patients who are in the final stages of their lives; this is achieved through relief and control of unpleasant symptoms. HC services comprised nonmedical services, medical services, and social support services.

Health-related services included nursing care (symptom and pain management, medication administration, case management, and providing the required medications), medical services (acute and outpatient care, overall patient assessment, radiology, advanced care planning, providing necessities, and other therapies such as respiratory therapy, music therapy, and message therapy), rehabilitation services (occupational therapy, providing assistive devices and equipment such as walkers and wheelchairs), palliative care services, and psychological services.

Social support included communicating with the patient, supportive counselling, spiritual and palliative consultation, emotional support, respite care, writing wills, support for family caregivers, volunteer services, having sympathy with family members, and bereavement care ( Table 7 ).

A review of the literature indicated that medical and nursing care, social support, spiritual counselling, rehabilitation services, and bereavement care were among highest priority services provided by HC Personal care and certain therapies, such as music therapy and pet therapy, were also reported in some studies.

Regarding the results of the current study and evaluating care services, the most common care provided to the older people included personal care, social support services, nursing and medical services, nutrition, rehabilitation, housekeeping, transportation, education, consultation, palliative and hospice care, supervision, psychological services, environment modification, home maintenance, and preventive services ( Table 8 ).

Nowadays, in developed countries, various care services have been designed and implemented to provide LTC services and to meet the needs of older persons. Regardless of the many similarities between some packages provided by these centres, relative heterogeneity was observed in the services provided by them. This can be due to differences in objectives, subsidiary structures, and the resources available to them. The current research results indicated that housing for the aged, LTC, and HC were among the more diverse and comprehensive services provided, compared with the models.

Housing for the aged, such as AL in the United States and ECH in England, were developed with the aim of helping the older persons to achieve independence, authority, dignity, enhancing social cooperation, and improving quality of life, with emphasis on privacy, having living conditions similar to their home, and ageing in place. 16 , 17 These residential care settings are intended mainly for older persons, individuals who are dependent on others, or have medical and nursing needs, and provide tailored personcentred services to respond to the care needs of the individuals. 18 For this reason, a range of services, including personal care, nutrition services, preventive care, and palliative care, are provided in AL and ECH. Whereas the main objective of housing for the aged is to help maintain individuals’ independence and quality of life, services such as personal care and housekeeping services are included in most service packages; services such as medical and nursing care are of second priority.

HC is rapidly expanding in developed countries, with the aim of reducing the healthcare costs of the older persons in hospitals and decreasing their reliance on NHs. HC services are frequently provided to older persons based on medical and nursing needs and the individuals’ functional limitations in ADL and IADL. 13 , 19 For this reason, a number of services are provided in this structure, including personal care, nursing and medical care, and home modification. One of the special objectives of HC is the prevention of unnecessary hospitalisation and admission to NHs, and services such as medical and nursing care are of higher priority than educational and palliative services.

LTC services are social-based and aim to maintain and enhance physical performance, personal independence, and quality of life.20 Therefore, a range of services are provided in LTC systems, such as rehabilitation services, nutrition services and meals delivery, home modification, and mental health services. The current research findings indicated that LTC services were mainly based on criteria such as age, extent of disability and vulnerability, medical or nursing needs, and individual income. 21 , 22 On this basis, services such as personal care and medical and nursing care were included in most service packages.

In developed countries, only older people with severe problems who cannot live at home are transferred to institutional settings. In Sweden, individuals being treated for chronic disorders, dementia, and severely frail patients are admitted to NHs. In the Netherlands, many NH residents suffer from physical disabilities, dementia, and mental disorders, and they are thus provided with full-time medical and nursing care. Individuals are admitted to a NH after surgery or a severe illness and high-level rehabilitation services are provided. 23 Special units exist in NHs in the United States, such as acute care and a special section for Alzheimer’s patients. 24

SCs are centres created for enhancing the health and welfare of older persons and encouraging them to participate in recreational activities, group programmes, and health and nutrition programmes. 25 Various services such as health and wellbeing, transportation, and rehabilitation are provided for older persons in SCs. Volunteer groups provide most services in these centres. Among the social support programmes is the family member support programme. As the main goal of SCs is to increase welfare and social participation of older persons, social support services are emphasized.

DCCs are centres in which a series of parttime social support services and personal care is provided. Different models of DCC, such as the social model, health model, and specialised model, were created for different groups of older persons. In the social model, programmes are considered for older persons suffering from physical or cognitive disabilities, and include games, art and handicrafts, and discussion groups. In the health model, which is combined with the social group, nursing services are included in addition to the social model activities. In the specialised model, special services are provided for certain groups, such as older persons diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s or mental health disorders. 26 Considering that providing services in various DCC units is social-based, and each group focuses on a specific group of older persons, social support services and personal care have higher priority in most service-providing centres.

HSCs represent support care for maintaining quality of life and dignity of patients and their family members. 27 Hospice services are provided in various centres, such as NHs, patients’ homes, hospitals, special hospice care centres, health service agencies, and social clinics. 28 , 29 The target group of these care services is mainly end-stage patients and individuals with life expectancies of less than 6 months; these individuals and their family members are provided with a series of services, such as spiritual counselling and bereavement care. 30 , 31 Considering that hospice services aim to relieve pain and control the unpleasant symptoms of endstage patients, and also provide mental support for their families, special attention to spiritual counselling and special services for the remaining family members are emphasised. Therefore, medical care, nursing care, and rehabilitation services are of higher priority than other services in these settings. The aforementioned results can be used for prioritising services in case of limitations in resources. LTC and HC services have received more attention in terms of scientific resources, which can be used efficiently to design a proposed model for the care of older persons. Services related to each care system are separately evaluated and reported, and centres providing services for older adults can be proactive in meeting the needs of their recipients based on their priorities and available resources. 10 We believe that the results of this study can represent a guiding point for managers and policy makers in older persons care for the development and implementation of an adequate and evidence-based care structures.

Among the strengths of the current research is the evaluation of a large number of databases and search engines, evaluating the services provided with a division of systems, prioritising the services provided based on their frequency, linking the type and nature of the care system with service recipients, and prioritising identified services. A limitation of this study is that we were unable to determine which care services were most essential but lacking in different healthcare settings; however, we were able to describe the availability of services for older persons as they were reported in the literature. Another limitation is that this study only reported on healthcare services for older persons that were published in the literature and would have excluded many services that were not published.

The results of the current study can represent a beneficial guideline for planners and policy makers in the field of designing older persons care services, based on the identified priorities, the nature and mission of each older persons care system, and needs of the service recipients. In line with localisation and adaptation of the older persons care model, we suggest that the implementation and significance rate of each of the identified factors be studied and assessed by considering specialist opinions. In addition, it is important to obtain the opinions of the service recipients and beneficiaries and to consider them when defining and implementing the final model. Finally, it is necessary to conduct a pilot test to study the satisfaction rate of service recipients and the implementation rate of the defined package, especially considering cost effectiveness prior to its expansion.

This study described the diverse care services available to older persons that have been reported in the literature. The results can assist in selecting care service systems based on older persons’ needs, defining service packages in care systems based on the availability of resources, and providing the required resources, including manpower, physical space, medical or non-medical devices, and materials based on the defined service package. Further research is required in different healthcare systems regarding which service is most required and lacking in the relative settings.

Acknowledgments

The researchers are grateful for the financial support of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interests.

Appendix file

The complete reference list can be found at: https://e-mfp.org/wp-content/uploads/RV1221-Care-Services-for-Older_Appendix.docx

How does this paper make a difference to general practice?

• The service package defined in different systems for providing services to the elderly varies according to the nature of the system and the clinical and social needs of elderly.
• This review identified and prioritized different cares provided in various service systems for the elderly.
• Due to the limited resources available to the health system, and considering the importance of improving efficiency and effectiveness in them, the results of this study can be used in selecting the service providing system for the elderly, defining the service providing package, and optimal use of the available resources.

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Police social worker program launch planned for early 2021

Social service workers won’t hit the streets to respond to reports of non-violent incidents in St. Petersburg until at least next year.

Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin clarified the timeline and funding for the St. Petersburg Police Department’s Community Assistance Liaison program during a city budget hearing Thursday night. After the hearing, the City Council adopted the city’s $671 million operating budget and $99.4 million capital expense budget for fiscal year 2021, which starts Oct. 1.

The budget includes $11.4 million for what Mayor Rick Kriseman said is one of his top priorities, affordable housing. About $600,000 of that is in the general fund, Tomalin said. The rest of the money for affordable housing is included in the capital improvements budget, the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area budget, funding from the federal CARES Act, and other sources, she said.

The Community Liaison Program, dubbed CAL, is a pilot program that will augment the police department by retaining a social service agency to respond to non-violent calls for service. That could include mental health crisis, intoxicated persons and drug overdoses, disorderly juveniles, panhandling, homeless complaints and neighborhood disputes.

Related: Just Getting Started: Public safety and the police

During a budget hearing two weeks ago , about 20 people spoke up in support of the new police program but said it was underfunded.

Tomalin responded to those comments on Thursday night, saying there was some confusion about the timing and funding for the program. Here’s the estimated timeline she laid out:

• Oct. 1: St. Petersburg will issue a request for proposals from outside agencies that can staff the CAL program with social service workers and healthcare professionals.

• Nov. 1: Due date for RFP responses.

• November-December: Evaluations, presentations and negotiations and a vendor selected

• January 2021: Contract will come to City Council for approval

Implementation will take several months. Initially, CAL staff will be embedded with police officers. After about three months, if the program is successful, Phase Two will have the CAL staff meeting officers at a designated location for a joint response.

“After several successful months of Phase Two, the CAL team will respond directly to specific calls that have been screened,” Tomalin said. “Safety will always be the police department’s No. 1 priority.”

Fiscal year 2021 will include $850,000 for nine months of CAL operations, or the equivalent of $1.1 million on an annualized basis, she said.

Despite Tomalin’s explanation at the beginning of the budget hearing, several people called in to the virtual public hearing to say the CAL program needed additional funding to succeed. Some of those callers cited a police officer-involved shooting in St. Petersburg in August in which a man died. The state attorney’s office said the shooting was justifiable homicide and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated the shooting, said it was lawful, but a report released Wednesday by the sheriff’s office said police should have handled the incident as a mental health call and not a criminal matter.

Many of the callers also asked for more money to be set aside for affordable housing programs, and one of the callers, who identified herself as Hannah Tweet, said there were bigger issues involved.

St. Petersburg City Council member Amy Foster

“The struggle over the budget is about a broader struggle for racial justice and reconciliation in St. Petersburg. You have the choice to be a part of it or hold it back,” Tweet said.

Housing and policing are linked, said City Council member Amy Foster.

“There’s definitely a nexus between the two. We have a lot of folks who are unhoused in our community who have interactions with police because of mental health or substance abuse or other issues. That tsunami is coming. It’s only going to get worse,” Foster said.

Foster and several other Council members said they wanted to keep a close eye on both issues and provide additional funding as needed.

In addition to the FY 2021 budget, the council also approved a five-year capital improvements program totaling $666.5 million, and retained the 6.755 millage rate from this year for the upcoming year. The millage rate determines property taxes paid by property owners. Although the millage rate is not changing for the upcoming year, the city expects to collect an additional $13.1 million from property taxes in FY 2021, because property values have increased 9.44 percent citywide.

The FY 2021 budget increases water, stormwater and sanitation rates . It provides about $3.1 million for new city funding for sustainability and resiliency initiatives, and a salary increase for city workers.

Complete budget details are here .

Rose Smith-Hayes

September 19, 2020at8:53 am

This initiative is greatly needed. However, I believe there is great need for training the Social Worker and the Police for this type situation dealing with a violent or non violent Mentally ill person or an Addict that needs assistance. Hopefully less killing will be done.

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African-american history in st. petersburg’s deuces neighborhood.

By Jon Wilson

Barely a mile from St. Petersburg ’s bustling downtown, 22 nd Street South – nicknamed The Deuces – offers a rich story of courage, perseverance, love and purpose.

It once was the busy main street of the Sunshine City’s African-American population.

At its peak during the early 1960s, more than 100 businesses, retail stores, professional offices and entertainment venues thrived on the thoroughfare. Oldtimers have estimated that perhaps 75 percent were black-owned or operated. They served residents in all of St. Petersburg’s African-American communities.

Today, a detailed African-American heritage trail reflects the street’s glory days. Nineteen signs in shiny blue and gold, the colors of the city’s historic black high school, tell of pioneers, the rise of entrepreneurial spirit, the vibrant personalities, the building of a city within a city and the community’s inevitable neighborhood highs and lows

“I think of the trail as a hidden treasure,” said Gwen Reese, president of St. Petersburg’s African-American Heritage Association. “It doesn’t receive the attention that other places do. But it’s an important part of our community. It documents the history, and that leads to the respect and the valuing of the African-American experience.”

Nowadays, 22 nd Street continues its entrepreneurial tradition while basking in a past similar to such storied corridors as Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn and Beale Street of Memphis.

Those boulevards provided cities within cities for people of color, circumscribed by Jim Crow law and custom. St. Petersburg was no different; the races were strictly segregated until passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and for a few years thereafter.

As did streets in other cities, 22 nd provided a refuge. “That’s the only way we could exist with any spirit, because we were not looked on as human,” said the late Peggy Peterman, a longtime staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times ).

On a recent Saturday, four separate tours traversed 22 nd . Guides dispensed history lessons and tourists asked questions about various businesses along the way. They were especially interested in the restaurants: Chief’s Creole Café , Lorene’s Fish House and Callaloo . “Lorene’s has a fish platter to die for,” said one of the guides.

The whole of 22 nd Street is segmented according to tradition and government decree.

The business district stretches between 2 nd and 18 th Avenues South. It includes such enterprises as the Brocante Vintage Market , 3 Daughters Brewing and the Morean Center for Clay , a craft studio situated in the Historic Seaboard Train Station, a city-designated landmark.

The Main Street segment lies between 8 th and 15 th Avenues South. The Main Street program aims to help historic commercial districts regain their old-time bustle.

Recently, Secretary of State Ken Detzner designated Deuces Live Main Street the Community of the Month.

“Deuces Live is a community filled with a rich history and culture,” Detzner said. “They have taken admirable steps to preserve its charm and revitalize the area through initiatives like the I-275 underpass improvement project that highlights the beauty of this historic community.”

Night lights sparkle on the underpass, which is also decorated with murals.

The heart of the street lies between 5 th and 15 th Avenues South. Its influence – current and historic – extends to either side of 22 nd Street, especially along Ninth Avenue South.

These 10 core blocks contain such icons as the Manhattan Casino , the old Mercy Hospital site, and the Royal Theater , one of only two theaters that admitted African-Americans during the Jim Crow era.

Newer elements include the Midtown Campus of St. Petersburg College and the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Center , a medical facility on the old hospital site that provides outpatient care for the entire community. Its lobby contains photos and artifacts dating to the Mercy Hospital opening in 1923. Mercy closed in 1966 as segregation began to end.

Along Ninth Avenue South are historic churches and Happy Workers Day Care Center . Happy Workers dates to 1928-29 and is credited with being Pinellas County’s first social services center. It is still in operation.

Placards along 22nd St. South, St. Petersburg, describe the history of St. Petersburg African American community. This one can be seen in front of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum.

- Scott Keeler for VISIT FLORIDA

Another Ninth Avenue feature is the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum , which opened in 2006 and has expansion plans. A couple of blocks away on Ninth is Jordan Elementary , a 1925 school built when 22 nd Street was a dirt trail in the country but beginning to grow. When it opened, about 1,100 youngsters and 21 teachers filled the classrooms.

Visible from either 22 nd Street or Ninth Avenue is the sprawling Jordan Park public housing complex. The original complex was built in two stages between 1939 and 1941 and was the state’s largest public housing endeavor with 446 units. It was considered a prestigious address for members of the black community and considered a step toward home ownership.

Both the school and the residential area are named for Elder Jordan, who came to St. Petersburg in about 1906 and through careful planning and saving, accumulated money to buy property.

During a recent tour, Heritage Association president Reese related how Jordan lent the city of St. Petersburg money during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Reese said he was able to do so because he would not put his money in banks that the Depression ended up killing.

A statue of Jordan is planned near the interstate underpass, portraying him in a pose that welcomes visitors to the neighborhood.

With St. Petersburg city government’s encouragement, Reese was the driving force behind the African-American Heritage Trail, which depicts a century of history – 1868 to 1968 – that developed along 22 nd Street and along 9 th Avenue South. Guided tours featuring many of the stories are available, but the trail easily can be self-guided. A roundtrip walk on both trail sections combined is about two miles.

The street’s history sheds light on the overall St. Petersburg story. African-American workers built the railroad that put the city on the map, and they provided much of the craftsmanship that built the resort city’s downtown during the 1920s boom years.

The Woodson Museum regularly puts on events all year, a recent one being a collard greens festival. Live music takes place at Chief’s Creole Café and at the Manhattan Casino , which houses the Callaloo restaurant and its Southern-Caribbean fusion cuisine.

Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy took a chance a few years ago when they decided to open Chief’s in the shell of an old grocery store. It was a time when 22 nd Street’s revival was struggling to emerge. Now it is gaining momentum.

“We are bringing the ‘neighbor’ back into the ‘hood,’ Elihu Brayboy said.

Others are picking up on the vibe. Next Stepp , which provides pregnancy services, recently sponsored a heritage day. The Johnnie Ruth Clarke center has community events such as back-to-school days when youngsters receive supplies. Amy’s Beauty Supply has regular product demonstrations called “natural hair meet-ups.”               

Art walks take place on the second Saturday of the month. On second and fourth Saturdays, the Royal Theater features movies; doors open at 2 p.m. and in a tribute to “Deuces,” the shows start at 2:22.

“The community in and of itself is getting more active,” Farrell said.

To arrange a tour of 22 nd street…

(727) 537-0449 or email [email protected]

For more information…

• African-American Heritage Trail,   stpete.org/parks_and_recreation/african_American_heritage_trail.php
• Carter G. Woodson Museum of African-American History,  woodsonmuseum.org
• Johnnie Ruth Clarke Community Health Center, chcpinellas.org/johnnie-ruth-clarke

PLACES TO REMEMBER

St. Petersburg

St. Pete Beach

Clearwater Beach

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