_________ Dawn Apgar, PhD, LSW, ACSW, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ. Lori Zerrusen, MSW, LSW, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Social Work at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, and full-time clinician with adults and children. Copyright © 2024 Authors, Vol. 24 No. 1 (Spring 2024), 175-186, DOI: 10.18060/26953 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Examining the Views of Master of Social Work (MSW) Graduates on the Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society Dawn Apgar Lori Zerrusen Abstract: Despite the social work profession’s unified commitment to identify and address widespread societal problems, there have been few scholarly articles that have focused on the Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society (“Grand Challenges”). While half of social work academic programs have reported incorporating content about the Grand Challenges initiative into curricula, there have not been any known empirical studies about whether graduates have interests in these areas or feel prepared to address the identified concerns. This quantitative study of master’s-level social workers indicates that the vast majority are unaware of the Grand Challenges and are not working on most social problems identified. Despite strong interest in addressing the Grand Challenges generally, the primary professional foci of social workers are limited to a few issues. There are significant overall relationships between professional interests, perceived competency to work on the problems, and views on the likelihood of the profession making progress on addressing the Grand Challenges. Results have significant implications for social work education as practicum placements and work opportunities need to be developed in key areas if the profession wants to have desired societal impacts. Keywords: Grand Challenges, professional interests, competency, knowledge, curriculum, MSW, social work, social problems, practicum In 2012, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) envisioned the Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society (“Grand Challenges”). The AASWSW identified 12 consequential societal dilemmas that the profession should address within the next decade, including ensuring healthy development for all youth, closing the health gap, stopping family violence, advancing long and productive lives, eradicating social isolation, ending homelessness, creating social responses to a changing environment, harnessing technology for social good, promoting smart decarceration, reducing extreme economic inequality, building financial capability for all, and achieving equal opportunity and justice (Barth et al., 2022). Since this original announcement, AASWSW has acknowledged the ills of systemic racial discrimination and firearm-related assaults by adding eliminating racism and preventing gun violence as additional Grand Challenges (Grand Challenges for Social Work, 2023a). The AASWSW viewed the Grand Challenges as an opportunity to uphold and promote the social work profession and to create innovative forms of practice and problem-solving (Ferraro, 2015). The original, and current, Grand Challenges Leadership Group includes some of the nation’s leading scientists, educators, and policy experts in social work who have worked to develop strategic partnerships with social work’s national organizations, interest groups, and academic entities (Grand Challenges for Social Work, 2023b). about:blank ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK, Spring 2024, 24(1) 176 Addressing the Grand Challenges necessitates creativity, shared effort, and enthusiastic participation by social workers, in conjunction with engagement of their colleagues in education, psychology, sociology, health, medicine, engineering, environmental studies, and governmental affairs to research, advocate for, make policy recommendations for, and design curricula to solve some of the most consequential problems affecting society (Eisenhardt et al., 2016; Nurius et al., 2017). The Grand Challenges are formidable but obtainable goals. Although difficult to achieve, the Grand Challenges aimed to motivate and excite social workers and others to formulate comprehensive and coordinated responses to these global concerns (Bent- Goodley, 2016). The social work profession is unique as its practitioners operate in numerous systems, in a variety of roles and diverse communities, with individuals as they move through the life course (Cederbaum et al., 2018). As a result, social workers obtain a comprehensive understanding of the significant issues affecting individuals, families, and communities using both biopsychosocial and ecological perspectives (CSWE, 2022). Additionally, social workers are trained to comprehend the impact of current policies, regulations, and laws on human well-being and act as change agents to create a just society (Gehlert et al., 2017). Social workers have the opportunity to significantly impact the Grand Challenges and be leaders in interdisciplinary collaborations to solve problems that negatively affect people, especially those who are marginalized and oppressed (Ferraro et al., 2015). This article fills a gap in the existing literature as it provides quantitative data from Master of Social Work (MSW) graduates on their knowledge about, interests in, and perceived competency to work on the Grand Challenges. Additionally, it examines their optimism about the profession’s likelihood of making progress on addressing these social problems in the next five years. Ensuring adequate numbers of graduates are committed to and proficient in working in these areas is essential if social work is going to have a significant impact in remedying the social problems that it has identified as most detrimental to societal well-being. Literature Review Grand Challenge Movements During the last century, interdisciplinary partnerships have been used to address intractable problems that have severe consequences for society. In 1900, German mathematician David Hilbert first conceptualized grand challenges when he unveiled 23 unsolved math problems, which would absorb mathematicians’ attention across the next century and inspire advancement in mathematics (Barth et al., 2022). Since this time, grand challenges initiatives have been used to call out critical issues and priorities within professions that need solutions and require concentrated effort and strategies (Baron & McLaughlin, 2017). Many professions, companies, and foundations have initiated grand challenges to work on serious issues that impact target populations and communities (Teixeira et al., 2021). These efforts have typically been inclusive, engaging researchers, providers, educators, and Apgar & Zerrusen/ GRAND CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS 177 advocates in comprehensive planning to work toward ameliorating these concerns. For example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation used grand challenges—open requests for grant proposals—in 2003 to focus attention and effort on pressing global health and development problems for those most in need (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2023). In 2008, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) spearheaded a grand challenges initiative seeking to energize and entice a new generation of engineering students into the profession (Mote et al., 2016). Specifically, the NAE wanted the profession to become more inclusive and diverse, as well as close the gap between academia and engineers working in the discipline. Members of NAE and deans of engineering schools identified a collection of priorities affecting the engineering profession (Mote et al., 2016). Ensuing work on these concerns assisted in narrowing the gap between practice and research within educational institutes by having students and researchers collaboratively find creative solutions (Mote et al., 2016). Through the years, private and public organizations have identified grand challenges as a mechanism to encourage a discipline to take on society's greatest needs (Barth et al., 2022). Grand challenges initiatives further encourage interdisciplinary collaboration as a way to stimulate innovation and solve long-standing problems with the goal of achieving the fullest impact (Bent-Goodley, 2016). Organizations, including governments, the United Nations, academies, and foundations, have sponsored grand challenges initiatives (Cederbaum et al., 2018). Current grand challenges initiatives can be found in medicine, science, and economic and social advancement. Grand Challenges in Social Work The goal of the Grand Challenges is to unify, galvanize, and mobilize those within and outside the social work profession to elevate consciousness about serious issues that affect society (Eisenhardt et al., 2016). To achieve this objective, the social work profession must enhance the way it communicates its current and potential influence on communities to the public (Ferraro et al., 2015). Social work professionals have firsthand understanding of the underlying contributors to the Grand Challenges, making them essential in design of the remedies (Gehlert et al., 2017). The Grand Challenges initiative gives social workers a language to instruct individuals regarding the profession's benefit to the most pivotal issues facing society (Nurius et al., 2017). Social workers need to work to increase community awareness of these social problems and clearly define the importance of prioritizing them in order to eradicate widespread and longstanding challenges such as crime, poverty, and violence (Bent-Goodley, 2016). The Grand Challenges initiative highlights the importance of social work and the valuable role that social workers can and do play in addressing social problems. The Grand Challenges initiative also provides an opportunity to dialogue with students who are entering the profession so that they can see how their professional practice connects to others to address broader social problems (Gehlert et al., 2017). This initiative charges social workers with being change agents within communities and not accepting the status quo (Baron & McLaughlin, 2017). Social work’s leadership in identifying the most urgent and important societal concerns demonstrates profession-wide resourcefulness and the ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK, Spring 2024, 24(1) 178 capacity of the profession to understand the complexity of social, psychological, and economic issues that result in disparities and dysfunction (Rine, 2016). To ensure that all those entering the profession are knowledgeable about and prepared to tackle the Grand Challenges, there is a need for early career support (Nurius et al., 2017). Social workers, especially those new to the profession, must have a clear call to action as well as access to leadership development to collaboratively address the Grand Challenges (Gehlert et al., 2017). Progress Made to Date Since 2016, significant progress in addressing the Grand Challenges has been made in the areas of training, practice, research, and policy. For example, approximately 60 social work schools have designed and executed novel teaching advancements and imaginative classroom ideas focused on addressing these pressing issues. Major initiatives in the United States and other countries have been shaped by research conducted and policies recommended by members of the Grand Challenges’ community (Barth et al., 2022). For example, a co-leader of the Grand Challenge to Reduce Extreme Economic Inequality has advocated for baby bonds legislation, which authorizes the establishment of state-funded trusts for children in families with low income; such legislation was passed in DC and Connecticut in 2021 (Grand Challenges for Social Work, 2022). Additionally, a lead researcher for the Grand Challenge to Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment has worked in India to help women build, repair, and sell solar-powered lamps given the country’s inconsistent electricity access and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls (Snyder, 2023). Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem of social isolation. To combat this issue, multiple educational offerings, such as workshops and symposiums, have been held to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on human well-being with substantial resources devoted to remedying its effects (Barth et al., 2022). Workforce Implications To address the Grand Challenges, the social work profession needs to develop and implement a strategy to prepare incoming social workers with the skills necessary to confront these issues (Eisenhardt et al., 2016; Flynn, 2017). Specifically, social workers need to lean more heavily on research to find solutions, work collaboratively on interdisciplinary teams, and learn to put the knowledge gained from research into practice (Cederbaum et al., 2018). Researchers from social work and other disciplines need to collaborate in a more significant way to fully understand the intersectionality of critical social issues (Ferraro et al., 2015). Additionally, social work researchers need to share ideas with practitioners to ensure that findings are rapidly put into practice (Bent-Goodley, 2016). Researchers must also be careful to structure their work with an understanding of the realities faced by communities experiencing these issues in more significant ways (Nurius et al., 2017). To make progress, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers need to increase communication, collaboration, and teamwork (Eisenhardt et al., 2016). Presently, training of master’s and Apgar & Zerrusen/ GRAND CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS 179 doctoral-level social workers is deficient in ensuring that social workers have the transdisciplinary science skills needed to design and execute the research required to address these complicated problems (Gehlert et al., 2017). Social workers should engage in the Grand Challenges effort as their clients are likely to be significantly impacted by one or more of these problems. The Grand Challenges provide an opportunity for the social work profession to expand society’s understanding of its work by engaging in transdisciplinary teams and ensuring that social work values are central to developed interventions (Teixeira et al., 2021). Through the work on transdisciplinary teams, social workers gain understanding of theories and techniques used by other disciplines, adding to their skillset (Cederbaum et al., 2018). These theories and techniques strengthen social workers’ perspectives and enable social workers to leverage these approaches to positively impact the health and welfare of individuals, families, and communities (Eisenhardt et al., 2016). Essential to realizing this vision is ensuring that social workers at all stages of career progression are engaged in addressing the target social problems. Particularly important is making certain that those entering the profession have interest in and competency to address the Grand Challenges, as the strong commitment and skillset of early career social workers will be needed if real world change is to occur in the future. Method Data were collected from 102 MSW graduates who attended one of six different licensure preparation programs in June 2021 sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers. These programs were virtual and hosted by six different states across the United States. Representation included a program in each of the regions: Pacific, North Central, Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast. While registration was not limited to only social workers in the states of the sponsoring organizations, the vast majority resided and worked in these states as program advertising was targeted to these areas. A total of 145 attendees completed the survey, but the 33 students who attended were excluded as the focus of the study was on those who had already obtained their graduate degrees. Twenty-nine of the excluded students were enrolled in MSW programs, while four were working to obtain BSW degrees. Another ten social workers were excluded as they were not MSW graduates: nine had BSWs as their terminal degrees and one had a doctorate in social work and it was unknown if the individual possessed a MSW. Thirty-eight percent of MSWs in the final sample (n=102) had BSWs in addition to their MSW degrees. In their graduate programs, the majority (66%) focused on working with individuals or families as a specialization, and a quarter (24%) reported an advanced generalist course of study, with the remainder (10%) educated on working on the mezzo or macro levels exclusively. Additional demographic data were not collected from attendees so there is no way to know the age and racial/ethnic diversity of the sample, despite the broad geographic representation. The target audience for these licensure preparation courses were those studying for the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Masters exam or those with at least two years post-master’s experience studying for the Clinical exam. A total of 70% were employed as ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK, Spring 2024, 24(1) 180 social workers at the time of the survey. The employment foci for those who were employed as social workers are seen in Table 1. The practicum placement foci for these employed social workers are also depicted. Correlational analyses shows statistical significance between practicum and employment foci of social workers when using the 13 Grand Challenge domains. The 14th Grand Challenge, to prevent gun violence, was not included as it was announced after the completion of the study and, therefore, had not been formally incorporated into AASWSW publications, with only topic lead investigators identified at the time of this writing (Grand Challenges for Social Work, 2023a). Table 1. Distribution of Employment and Practicum Placement Foci of Employed Social Workers in Rank Order of Employment Focus (n=65)1 Grand Challenge Focus n (%) Current Employment Practicum Placement2 Advancing long and productive lives 22 (34%) 19 (30%) Ensuring healthy development for all children 18 (28%) 23 (36%) Closing the health gap 7 (11%) 6 (9%) Creating social responses to a changing environment 4 (6%) 5 (8%) Stopping family violence 4 (6%) 0 (0%) Achieving equal opportunity and justice 3 (5%) 4 (6%) Ending homelessness 3 (5%) 2 (3%) Eradicating social isolation 2 (3%) 0 (0%) Promoting smart decarceration 1 (1%) 2 (3%) Reducing extreme inequality 1 (1%) 0 (0%) Building financial capability for all 0 (0%) 1 (2%) Harnessing technology for social good 0 (0%) 0 (0%) Eradicating racism 0 (0%) 2 (3%) 1 4 social workers who were employed as social workers were excluded from the analysis as they had missing data or indicated more than one focus. 2 1 social worker was missing a response (n=64). Survey Social workers were asked to complete a brief survey that assessed their knowledge about the Grand Challenges, as well as identified their practicum and work experience addressing one or more of 13 social problems. Questions on the survey focused on determining the professional interests and perceived competency of social workers to address the Grand Challenges. Additionally, social workers were asked their opinions about the likelihood of the profession to make progress on tackling each of the Grand Challenges in the next five years. First, social workers were asked their levels of interest in working to achieve each of the 13 Grand Challenges. Interest was assessed on a four-point Likert scale with values of 1 (not interested at all), 2 (slightly interested), 3 (somewhat interested), and 4 (very interested). Reliability testing indicated that all 13 items were interrelated and created a strong index of professional interest with a Cronbach alpha of α=.882. Social workers then selected one Grand Challenge as a primary career focus. Apgar & Zerrusen/ GRAND CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS 181 Next, social workers rated the extent to which they felt that the social work profession could make progress toward addressing each of the 13 Grand Challenges. Opinions were assessed on a three-point Likert scale with values of 1 (no progress), 2 (some progress), and 3 (significant progress) could be made. Reliability testing indicated that all 13 assessments of progress were interrelated and created a strong index of optimism about the ability of the profession to address the Grand Challenges with a Cronbach alpha of α=.897. Lastly, social workers were asked about their perceived competency to address each of the Grand Challenges. Perceived competency was assessed on a four-point Likert scale with values of 1 (not competent at all), 2 (a little competent), 3 (somewhat competent), and 4 (very competent). Reliability testing indicated that all 13 assessments about perceived competency were interrelated and created a strong index of competency to address the Grand Challenges with a Cronbach alpha of α=.904. Human Subjects Approval The study was approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board (protocol #2021-188) in March 2021. Study Limitations There are limitations to the study as findings are limited to the experiences of a convenient sample of social workers who attended six licensure preparation programs virtually sponsored by six different state chapters of a professional organization. Research with larger samples is needed in the future. Results Descriptive statistics indicate that the vast majority of social workers (86%) were unaware of the Grand Challenges. More than half of those who were aware of the Grand Challenges (57%) had learned about them as part of their formal social work education. More than a third (36%) had heard about them via social media or the internet. Fourteen percent were informed of the Grand Challenges by a social work supervisor or colleague. Only one social worker had attended a continuing education program on the Grand Challenges. As depicted in Table 2, the primary professional interest of the majority of social workers (68%) was addressing one of three Grand Challenges – ensuring healthy development for all children, achieving equal opportunity and justice, and advancing long and productive lives. Far fewer (1-6%) were interested in eight of the remaining challenges. None of the social workers sampled wanted to focus their professional careers on building financial capacity for all or eradicating social isolation. However, there was moderate to strong interest overall to work on 11 of the 13 Grand Challenges. Harnessing technology for social good and promoting smart decarceration did not meet the threshold for some interest overall. ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK, Spring 2024, 24(1) 182 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics on the Professional Interests of Social Workers in Rank Order by Primary Professional Interest (n=93) 1 Grand Challenges Primary Professional Interest General Interest in Working to Address2 n (%) Mean (SD) Ensuring healthy development for all children 26 (28%) 3.4 (0.87) Achieving equal opportunity and justice 19 (21%) 3.7 (0.61) Advancing long and productive lives 17 (19%) 3.5 (0.72) Closing the health gap 6 (7%) 3.3 (0.79) Ending homelessness 6 (7%) 3.3 (0.80) Eradicating racism 5 (5%) 3.7 (0.63) Creating social responses to a changing environment 5 (5%) 3.3 (0.76) Stopping family violence 3 (3%) 3.6 (0.63) Reducing extreme inequality 2 (2%) 3.4 (0.75) Promoting smart decarceration 2 (2%) 3.0 (0.99) Harnessing technology for social good 1 (1%) 2.8 (0.90) Building financial capability for all 0 (0%) 3.4 (0.76) Eradicating social isolation 0 (0%) 3.3 (0.82) 1 Nine social workers were missing data for these questions. 2 Interest was assessed on a four-point Likert scale with values of 1 (not interested at all), 2 (slightly interested), 3 (somewhat interested), and 4 (very interested). Table 3 indicates the perceived professional competencies (in rank order) and beliefs that the profession can make progress to address the issue in the next five years. Social workers indicated little to some competence in addressing all 13 Grand Challenges. They had the least reported competence in promoting smart decarceration and the most perceived ability in ensuring healthy development for all children. With regard to social workers’ opinions about the likelihood that the profession would make progress on achieving the Grand Challenges, there was some, but little, overall variability. Overall assessments indicated the belief that some progress would be made with the least optimism associated with building financial capacity for all and the most linked to ensuring healthy development for all children. Relationship Between Interest, Perceived Competency, and Making Progress Indexes to assess professional interest, perceived competency, and the likelihood of the social work profession making progress towards achieving the Grand Challenges, were strongly related to one another. The strongest relationships were between perceived competency and the likelihood that the profession would make progress, r (86) = .48, p = .001, and professional interest and perceived competency to address an issue, r (86) = .45, p = .001. A weaker positive relationship, though still statistically significant, was found between professional interest and optimism about the profession making progress, r (88) = .29, p = .02. Apgar & Zerrusen/ GRAND CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS 183 Table 3. Descriptive Statistics on Perceived Professional Competencies (in Rank Order) and Beliefs That the Profession Can Make Progress to Address the Issue in the Next Five Years Grand Challenges Mean (SD) Professional Competency1 Profession’s Ability to Make Progress2 Ensuring healthy development for all children 3.0 (0.91) 2.3 (0.53) Advancing long and productive lives 2.9 (0.87) 2.1 (0.62) Achieving equal opportunity and justice 2.8 (0.86) 2.2 (0.56) Stopping family violence 2.8 (0.89) 2.1 (0.20) Creating social responses to a changing environment 2.7 (0.81) 2.3 (0.56) Eradicating racism 2.6 (0.90) 2.1 (0.64) Eradicating social isolation 2.6 (0.87) 2.0 (0.56) Closing the health gap 2.5 (0.88) 2.1 (0.57) Ending homelessness 2.4 (0.97) 2.0 (0.56) Reducing extreme inequality 2.4 (0.98) 2.0 (0.67) Harnessing technology for social good 2.3 (0.94) 2.1 (0.68) Building financial capability for all 2.3 (0.95) 1.9 (0.63) Promoting smart decarceration 2.2 (0.95) 2.0 (0.55) 1 Fourteen social workers were missing data for these questions (n=88). Perceived competency was assessed on a four-point Likert scale with values of 1 (not competent at all), 2 (a little competent), 3 (somewhat competent), and 4 (very competent). 2 Twelve social workers were missing data for these questions (n=90). Opinions were assessed on a three-point Likert scale with values of 1 (no progress), 2 (some progress), and 3 (significant progress) could be made. Examination of the relationships between professional interest, perceived competency, and optimism about making progress for each of the 13 Grand Challenges yielded interesting results. For all 13 Grand Challenges, there were significant positive relationships between professional interest and perceived competency to address the concern. For all but one – creating social responses to a changing environment – perceived competency was positively related to beliefs that the profession would make progress to address the concern in the next five years. However, for 7 of the 13 Grand Challenges – achieving equal opportunity and justice, eradicating racism, creating social responses to a changing environment, stopping family violence, reducing extreme inequality, harnessing technology for social good, and building financial capability for all – professional interest was not significantly related to optimism that the profession would make progress on addressing the problem in the next five years. Discussion Study findings indicate a lack of knowledge about the Grand Challenges initiative by the vast majority of social workers, even among those who also possessed undergraduate social work degrees. Data collected on the employment foci of those working after graduation indicates about half are focused on ensuring healthy development for all children or advancing long and productive lives. Closing the health gap was also a focus for about ten percent of those working in the profession. Many Grand Challenge areas had ADVANCES IN SOCIAL WORK, Spring 2024, 24(1) 184 no or few graduates addressing them. Since employment foci were significantly related to practicum experiences, schools of social work should ensure sufficient numbers of students have training in the identified underrepresented areas. Expanding practicum experience opportunities in these chosen areas may increase social workers’ interests in working on these issues professionally. The current ability of the social work profession to engage adequate numbers of practitioners to address many of the identified social problems is questioned by these data. Social workers had moderate to strong professional interest in all but two of the Grand Challenges – promoting smart decarceration and harnessing technology for social good. The vast majority were dedicated primarily to focusing their professional careers on three issues – ensuring healthy development for all children, achieving equal opportunity and justice, and advancing long and productive lives. Research indicates that innovative pedagogy focused on the Grand Challenges can increase interest in reducing the number of people who are imprisoned and embracing a more effective and just approach to public safety (Apgar & Zerrusen, 2024). Social work curricula, including practice placement availability, must be examined to raise student interest in smart decarceration and harnessing technology for social good. Additionally, the predominant desire of social workers to focus their professional work on only a few major concerns identified by the profession must be examined. There is broad interest in the other areas but social workers may be limiting their primary focus due to awareness of professional positions, advancement opportunities, professional status, or other factors. Research into the reasons that social workers choose to primarily focus their careers on only a few Grand Challenges, despite strong interest in others, needs to be conducted. Particularly interesting was the discovery that professional interest, perceived competency, and optimism that the profession can make a difference in a chosen area were significantly related to one another. Perceived competency of all problems (except creating social responses to a changing environment) was related to optimism about the profession to make progress in the chosen areas. These associations may result from social workers generalizing their own competencies to others, resulting in optimism about the profession to make progress toward achieving desired aims overall. It is interesting that there was not a significant linkage between perceived professional competency and views about the profession to make progress in creating social responses to a changing environment. Social workers felt somewhat competent in working on this problem and very optimistic about the profession making progress in this area, despite the lack of a significant relationship between the two. Further investigation into this anomaly is needed. The direction of the causal relationships between professional interest, perceived competency, and optimism about making changes are unknown as interest may drive perceived competency or vice versa. However, social workers’ interests were not related to their views about whether progress by the profession would occur in seven of the 13 areas. Social workers have been trained to work on systemic, longstanding societal problems so their professional interests in these areas appeared not to be deterred by their lack of optimism. Apgar & Zerrusen/ GRAND CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS 185 Findings have significant implications for social work graduate education. There is a consistent significant relationship between interest and perceived competency of MSW graduates. MSW programs can focus on educational specializations or concentrations as per the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE, 2022) accreditation standards. The profession may be wise to encourage and provide pedagogical resources to programs choosing to focus on one of the social problems identified by the Grand Challenges. Currently CSWE allows programs to choose their own foci, resulting in a broad range of specializations (i.e., geographic areas, populations, methods, and so on). Linking these specializations to the Grand Challenges thorough accreditation policy would likely increase knowledge about this initiative, as well as further strengthen the relationship between social work education and practice priorities. While there has been criticism in the literature about the uncontrolled growth of MSW programs (Apgar, 2020), there are many Grand Challenges that have little or no interest as primary professional foci despite social workers being somewhat interested in addressing them. A concerted effort should be made to attract social workers into these practice areas as they have been identified as critical problems facing society. While professionals are interested and appear competent to tackle serious societal ills, this study highlights the need to make them aware of the Grand Challenges initiative and create strategies to enhance the profession’s workforce in these areas if social work is going to make the impact that it desires. References Apgar, D. (2020). The fate of the Master’s in Social Work (MSW) degree: Will the practice doctorate replace it as the profession’s flagship credential? Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 40(5), 411-430. Apgar, D., & Zerrusen, L. (2024). 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Email: dawn.apgar@shu.edu https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4004 https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614563742 https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614563742 https://doi.org/10.1086/690564 https://doi.org/10.1086/690564 https://doi.org/10.1086/690659 https://doi.org/10.1086/690659 https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/webinar/baby-bonds-in-context-a-systems-approach-to-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap/ https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/webinar/baby-bonds-in-context-a-systems-approach-to-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap/ https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/grand-challenges-for-social-work/announcing-the-grand-challenge-to-prevent-gun-violence/ https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/grand-challenges-for-social-work/announcing-the-grand-challenge-to-prevent-gun-violence/ https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/about/history/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2016.01.025 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2016.01.025 https://doi.org/10.1086/690562 https://doi.org/10.1086/690562 https://doi.org/10.1086/690562 https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hlw028 https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hlw028 https://nihrecord.nih.gov/sites/recordNIH/files/pdf/2023/NIH-Record-2023-10-13.pdf https://doi.org/10.1177/1044389420972488 https://doi.org/10.1177/1044389420972488 mailto:dawn.apgar@shu.edu