MAKING A DIFFERENCE - WOMEN OF ACTION IN THE COMMUNITY

This qualitative study documents the contributions of 27 Hispanic wome n who weve identified as being active in the community. Through the us e of the grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis, bei ng active in the community emerged as a dynamic system of making a dif ference, defined as promoting changes to improve circumstances for peo ple; creating, providing, and maintaining tangible human services; dev eloping and sustaining individual and collective approaches to assumin g responsibility for the well-being of self and community; promoting e thnic appreciation within one's own culture and among other cultures; and continuing change efforts. The integrative theme in this article c oncurs with primary components of self-in-relation theory. Because the research was exploratory, the findings point to a broad range of topi cs for further study related to social work education, knowledge, ethi cs, and practice.