Who I am:
In the textbook “Social Work & Social Welfare”, race is defined as “the category of people who share a common descent and genetic origin that may be distinguished by “certain physical traits” or “interests, habits, or characteristics” (Kirst-Ashman p.66). Also within the textbook is gender. Gender is defined as “the social and psychological characteristics associated with being female or male” ( Kirst-Ashman, p.66). Finally, ethnicity, also found within then textbook, is defined as “the affiliation with a large group of people who have common racial, national, tribal, religion, linguistic, or cultural origin or background” (Kirst-Ashman, p.66).
My name is Christian Butz, I am 19 years old as of July 21st. I am a white male and my ethnicity is French, German, and Irish.
My Family:
I have two siblings, a brother named Matt and a sister named Hope. I am the oldest then there is my brother who is 15 years old and my sister who just turned 4 years old in April. My siblings and I both have the same race and ethnicity since we have the same parents. I have two parents, my mother and father. My mother’s name is Bobbi and my father’s name is Terry. My father is 42 years old and my mother is 36 years old and had me at the age of 17 years old. My father’s race is white and his ethnicity is German and Irish. My mother’s race is white and her ethnicity is French and Irish.
My family isn’t necessarly that different from those within our community. One thing that is unique to my family is that I have split parents so my siblings and I travel between two difference houses. Though this isn’t a necessarly uncommon thing it is unique to my community considering those around us are older in age or young families. Another thing that makes us unique is that we have a large family. Most of my family lives relatively close to each other so we are within a close distance, that is not the case for others in our community. One thing that makes us similar is that we are all very social with eachother, that being said we all communicate with one another. Another similarity is we all help one another out. Regardless of age my community helps each other out whether it is a snow storm or just lending an extra hand.
My community:
In the textbook “Social Work & Social Welfare”, community is defined as “ a number of people who have something in common with one another that connects them in some way that distinguishes them from others” (Kirst-Ashman, p.133). I would consider my community to be a suburban community. I live in Salisbury township which boarders two cities, Allentown and Bethlehem and the borough of Emmaus. According to a website called “Data USA” Salisbury has a population of 858 people and a poverty rate of 8.33% and 396 people are employed. Salisbury’s median household income is $35,938. “The population of Salisbury, PA is 98% White, 1.4%Two+, and 0.58% Hispanic. 0.97% of the people in Salisbury, PA speak a non-English language, and 100% are U.S. citizens.” (Hidalgo C., 2014).
Community Resources:
My community is full of many types of social instituations and is in close relations to my house. There is a fire station called the Eastern Salisbury Fire Department that is a distance of .4 miles from my house and is located at 100 E Emmaus Ave. The closest health center is 7.1 miles away and is called the Lehigh Valley Hospital located on South Cedar Crest Blvd. There is also a rehabilitation center that is within 2 miles of my house called Good Shepard Rehabitilion center. Economics wise there are various companies such as Weis, Giant and Redners that are located within 7.5 miles of my house in various directions. There are also forms of employment through fast food industries such as Wendy’s, McDonald’s and even Checkers. Salisbury is also home to a well known media station called WFMZ which is located in South Moutain which is a distance of 2.1 miles from my house. Salisbury also has its very own Falcon Press which is written by the community about issues and events that occur within the community. Salisbury also has a school system which has two elementry schools, which then goes into one middle school and one highschool. The graduating class contains about 100-200 students. Salisbury high school is 0.6 of a mile away from my house. Finally, there are many religions within the community and churches nearby. Many of the churches nearby are within the city of Allentown, however are a distance of 1.3 miles from my house. The churches located in close relations to my house are Jerusalem Lutheran Church and St Paul Catholic Church.
Values:
According to a website called “Tulane University, School of Social Work” the six social work core values are service, social justice, dignitity and worth of a person, importance of human relationships and integrity. My core value would have to be social justice. This is something I find inportant due to the fact that homelessness, discrimination and harrassment is something I will incounter being out in the field as a police officer. I find that many people in these postitions find it hard to have a voice and that is why I advocate for them inorder to help them have a voice in this world.
Social issue and values:
An article on wfmz called “Salisbury residents ask township for assistance with exploding deer population” written by Louis Gombocz, talks about the increase in deer population within Salisbury township and the effects it has on those in the community. The article states the it has caused many hazards some that can have health effects. These animals are populating the roads and causing dangerous accidents. The community talks about how this increase in deer popuation effects the whole community and township of Salisbury and that the deer have no fear of them making it reckless and allowing them to get into anything. I chose this article because it seems to be an issue that many have encountered. Growing up in Salisbury I know it is a populated area consisting of both back roads and main roads that are consitantly filled with cars at every hour of the day. I found this to be important because of the fact that I have experienced seeing these deer, however I had not realized it was something that my whole community was experiencing as well.
Reference Page:
Gombocz, L. (2018, August 25). Salisbury residents ask township for assistance with exploding deer population. Retrieved from http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/salisbury-residents-ask-township-for-assistance-with-exploding-deer-population/785503320
Hidalgo, C. (2014). Salisbury, PA. Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/geo/salisbury-pa/
Kirst-Ashman K. Karen (2013) Social Work & Social Welfare Belmont, California: Brooks Cole
Social Work: Core Values and Ethics. (2018). Retrieved from https://socialwork.tulane.edu/blog/social-work-values