This book explores how social work can navigate and shape the rapidly evolving dynamics of race, ethnicity, and culture. At a time when national debates and global changes are intensifying, this book provides a much-needed intellectual space to critically examine the current landscape and envision a future that aligns with social work’s core values of justice, equity, and inclusion.

Through a collection of thought-provoking chapters, the book delves into the challenges and opportunities that race, ethnicity, and culture present for social work practice, research, and education. Each chapter offers a reflective and critical appraisal of the present while proposing creative, preventive, and innovative solutions to promote racial and social justice. The authors encourage readers to embrace future thinking—an equity-centered, proactive approach that empowers us to co-create a more just and inclusive world rather than passively accept one dictated by external forces.

This book is an essential resource for students, social work practitioners, educators, and researchers interested in racial and social justice, cultural competence, equity-centered practice, and innovative approaches to social work education.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.