Introduction to Community Advocacy

3 credits · Undergraduate

(1 hrs Lecture | 2 hrs Seminar/Discussion) The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the War on Poverty that followed gave rise to a North American advocacy movement. With growing concern that people living in poverty required representation to fully assert their rights, storefront law offices opened in impoverished neighbourhoods and Canada's Legal Aid program was developed. This course examines the history and forms of advocacy from individual to public interest, and different models for providing advocacy services. It explores the role that advocacy plays in influencing public policy, particularly with respect to various social and benefit entitlement programs aimed at responding to urban poverty.