Project Leaders
Alice K. Butterfield, PhD
Alice K. Butterfield is a Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. She is an author of The Dynamics of Family Policy (2010, Lyceum Books). Her international research includes the emergence of the nonprofit sector and child welfare organizations in Romania, and participatory community development in Ethiopia. Since 2001, she has been involved in the first-ever MSW and PhD programs at Addis Ababa University. She is P.I. of the Gedam Sefer Community University Partnership in an urban slum neighborhood and the Integrated Community Development and Child Welfare Training Project in Ethiopia. Dr. Butterfield is the author of more than 35 journal articles on homelessness, international social work, and community development, and co-editor of University-Community Partnerships: Colleges and Universities in Civic Engagement (2005, Haworth Press) and Interdisciplinary Community Development: International Perspectives (2007, Haworth Press). She is a member of the Council on Social Work Education Commission on Global Social Work Education.
- Selected Publications
- Kebede, W., & Butterfield, A.K. (2009). Social networks among poor women in Ethiopia. International Social Work Journal, 52(3), 357-374.
- Butterfield, A.K., Tasse, A., & Linsk, N. (2009). The Social Work Education in Ethiopia Partnership. In C.E. Stout (Ed.), The New Humanitarians: Inspiration, Innovations, and Blueprints for Visionaries, Volume 2 (pp. 57-83). Westport, CT: Praeger.
- Butterfield, A.K., Kebede, W., & Gessesse, A. (2009). Research as a catalyst for asset-based community development: Assessing the skills of poor women in Ethiopia. Social Development Issues, 31(2), 1-14.
- Butterfield, A.K., & Chisanga, B. (2008). Community development. In T. Mizrahi & L. Davis (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Social Work, Volume I (pp. 375-381). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Butterfield, A.K. & Alemu, T. (2006). Adoption in Africa. In K.S. Stolley & V.L. Bullough (Eds). The Praeger Handbook of Adoption, Volume 1 (pp. 66-70). New York: Praeger Publishers.
- Butterfield, A.K. (2007). The internationalization of doctoral social work education: Learning from a partnership in Ethiopia. Advances in Social Work, 8(2), 1-15.
- Butterfield, A.K., Tasse, A., & Linsk, N. (2009). The Social Work Education in Ethiopia Partnership. In C.E. Stout (Ed.), The New Humanitarians: Inspiration, Innovations, and Blueprints for Visionaries, Volume 2 (pp. 57-83). Westport, CT: Praeger.
- Contact Information
- Alice K. Butterfield, PhD, Professor
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Jane Addams College of Social Work
- 1040 West Harrison Street (M/C 309)
- Chicago, IL 60607 USA
- akj@uic.edu
- http://www.aboutsweep.org
- University of Illinois at Chicago
Richard L. Kordesh, PhD
Richard L. Kordesh has focused his career on public policy design and its impact on community development. He has over 25 years of experience in university teaching, planning, research, and consulting devoted to strengthening distressed communities. He is the author of Restoring Power to Parents and Places: The Case for Family-Based Community Development (iUniverse Press). Dr. Kordesh is Principal Investigator, Housing as a Productive Family Asset, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005-2006, a project which studied home-based enterprises in a variety of urban and rural settings and made recommendations on how public policies can strengthen them. He is a leader of a new urban horticultural enterprise, "Sweet Beginnings," which provides transitional jobs for ex-offenders in Chicago's impoverished North Lawndale neighborhood. He also directed Illinois Workforce Advantage, an innovative, place-based community development project focusing on nine rural and urban communities, involving eighteen state agencies, and based in the Governor's Office. He has published many articles and policy papers addressing children, family, and community development issues.
- Selected Publications
- Kordesh, R.S. (2006). Restoring power to parents and places: The case for family-based community development. NY: iUniverse, Inc.
- Kordesh, R., & R. Constable. (2006) Policies, programs and mandates for developing social services in schools. In R. Constable, J.P. Flynn, S. McDonald, & C.R. Massat, (Eds.). School social work: Practice and research perspectives (pp. 123-144), Chicago, IL: Lyceum Press.
- Kordesh, R. (2000). Esperanza Familiar: A university-community partnership as a social learning network. Cityscape, Winter, 75-90.
- Kordesh, R., & R. Constable. (2006) Policies, programs and mandates for developing social services in schools. In R. Constable, J.P. Flynn, S. McDonald, & C.R. Massat, (Eds.). School social work: Practice and research perspectives (pp. 123-144), Chicago, IL: Lyceum Press.
- Contact Information
- Richard S. Kordesh, PhD
- Visiting Senior Associate
- Great Cities Institute
- College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (M/C 107)
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- 412 South Peoria Street, Suite 400
- Chicago, Illinois 60607-7067
- kordesh@uic.edu
- Visiting Senior Associate
James L. Scherrer, MSW, PhD, LCSWD
James L. Scherrer is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at Dominican University. He is also a Visiting Instructor at Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a position he has held for 18 years. He has worked in the child welfare field for the past 41 years. His international experience has included exchanges with social workers in Hamburg, Germany, Birmingham, England, Durban, South Africa and Casablanca, Morocco. He served on these exchanges as the expert consultant on child welfare issues. He has taught courses at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, on counseling and child and family practice and has served as the advisor for Masters of Social Work students' theses that have studied child welfare issues. He is the chairperson of the Committee for the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Illinois and led the 20th Anniversary Conference on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. He is the Child Welfare Expert for the Community Development and Child Welfare Project in Ethiopia. He is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Global Social Work Practice.
- Selected Publications
- Scherrer, J (2009). Adoption: The way forward. NASW Illinois Chapter Social Work Networker. 47(6): pp. 7-9
- Scherrer, J. (2006) Public child welfare. In Social work speaks: National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements 2006-2009 (pp. 301-304). Washington DC: NASW Press.
- Scherrer, J. (in review). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as policy and strategy for social work action in child welfare in the United States. Social Work.
- Scherrer, J. (2006) Public child welfare. In Social work speaks: National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements 2006-2009 (pp. 301-304). Washington DC: NASW Press.
- Contact Information
- James L. Scherrer, PhD, LCSW
- Dominican University
- Graduate School of Social Work
- Priory Campus
- 7200 W. Division St.
- River Forest IL 60305
- jscherrer@dom.edu
- Dominican University