Group work and community organization, 1956

The annual forum of the National Conference of Social Work held in St. Louis in May, 1956, included papers over a wide range of concerns and developments in both social group work and community organization. Even though some of these papers were not available for inclusion in this publication, the committee was faced with what appeared to be an almost im possible task-to select a few from a great many to make up this volume.

Four criteria were employed in this selection. First, the paper should possess usefulness for the members of the Conference. Whatever its focus or level of presentation, it should be helpful to those responsible for the provision of welfare services. Second, it should have the broadest possible application geographically, culturally, and professionally. Third, it should add to social wel fare knowledge by using new data or by making new interpreta tions. And fourth, it should reflect either current or emerging concerns in the field of social welfare. In addition to applying these internal criteria, the committee tried to keep the entire volume as representative of the many interests in the group work and community organization fields as possible. Since the Confer ence is an open forum, inclusion of a paper does not imply en dorsement by the organization, nor does its omission imply the opposite.