Social Work Situation Analysis

The three biggest challenges I faced in pursuing my education were employment, transportation, and housing.
In 2015, the state of Georgia was amount the highest unemployed state in the while many other states are recovering, Georgia's unemployment rate has risen. Some blame the state's laissez-faire (a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering) approach to policy. This may seem surprising, since Georgia was named the best state to do business in both 2014 and 2013 by Site Selection magazine, largely because of its workforce-training program and low tax rates. Nathan Deal, the state’s GOP governor, handily won reelection in November against Jimmy Carter’s grandson by speaking about Georgia as a job magnet.
The state has slashed $8.3 billion from public-school funding since 2003 and passed eligibility requirements for a state financial-aid program that caused a dramatic decline in the number of students in technical colleges (some of those requirements have since been rolled back). The state also passed a sweeping tax-reform bill in 2012 that eliminated some sales taxes and broadened exemptions for the agricultural industry that small towns and counties say have wreaked havoc on their revenues.
“This may be a good place for companies, but not for people actually looking for work."
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA is the principal rapid-transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is the eighth-largest rapid transit system in the United States by ridership. Formed February 17, 1972; 43 years ago as strictly a bus system, MARTA began operating June 30, 1979; 36 years ago (rail) a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting of 48 miles (77 km) of rail track with 38 train stations. MARTA operates almost exclusively in Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties, with bus service to two destinations in Cobb County (Six Flags over Georgia and the Cumberland Transfer Center next to the Cumberland Mall) and a single rail station in Clayton County at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. MARTA also operates a separate par transit service for disabled customers. As of 2014, the average total daily ridership for the system (bus and rail) was 438,900 passengers. MARTA was originally proposed as a rapid transit agency for DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, Gwinnett, and Cobb counties. These were the five original counties in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and to this day are the five largest counties in the region. MARTA was formed by an act of the Georgia General Assembly in 1965. In the same year, four of the five metropolitan area counties (Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett) and the City of Atlanta passed a referendum authorizing participation in the system, but the referendum failed in Cobb County. Without Marta, there would be no Atlanta. The Salvation Army had its first meeting in Atlanta on the corner of Marietta and Spring Street in 1890.
Later in 1893 it established its District Headquarters in Georgia. Today, the Salvation Army is embarking on 125 years of “Doing The Most Good” in Atlanta, Georgia. Since that time the Salvation Army has expanded its services by helping the communities by providing temporary housing and shelter to families, single men and woman, partnering with Ft. McPherson and the Atlanta Veterans Medical Center are providing housing for all qualified military needy veterans. Many of our military men and women returns to face a variety of hardships, including homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, disabilities, and mental illness. Veterans make up 13 percent of the adult homeless population. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs about 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder).
Salvation Army officers and case managers reach out to thousands of veterans in need each year with services such as physical and spiritual healing, rent and utility assistance, recovery from substance abuse, housing, job services and many, many more. The Salvation employs ex-military retirees to help these veterans make their transition smoothly as possible.
In conclusion, although the United States had experienced several depressions before the stock market crash on October 27, 1929, none had been as severe or as long lasting before "Black Thursday" struck Wall Street.
At first, economists and leaders thought this was a mild bump, perhaps merely a correction of the market, or in any case, no worse than the recession the nation suffered after World War I. The same areas were affected, housing, and employment. Those hurt the most were more stunned than angry. Many sank into despair and shame after they could not find jobs. The suicide rates increased from 14 to 17 per 100,000. Protest that did occur was local, not national: "farm holidays," neighbors of foreclosed farmers refusing to bid on farms at auction, neighbors moving evicted tenants' furniture back in and local hunger marches. Did it work? The nation came together as a nation and provided support to one another, as did the world in 2001, when our coast were infiltrate by terrorist
attacks. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him (Jer.17:7). To succeed at whatever God calls us to do, we must learn to be confident; not self-confident, but confident in God. It seems to take forever to learn this truth. Much of our frustration comes from misplaced confidence. You must believe that you will succeed. You may fail on your way to success, but if you trust God, he will take your mistakes and cause them to work out for your good. I have learned that if I don’t believe in myself, I really don’t believe in Him. “He said, I’m in you, but I can only do through you, what you believe me for.”