"No Matter What, I Will Not Give Up": Community Practice on the Front Lines of COVID-19

Public Policy Relevance Statement Frontline community social workers were defined as essential workers during COVID-19, playing a significant role in the social services' response to the global pandemic. Findings suggest that whereas community social workers were committed to continue to function on the basis of the professional values of community practice, the lack of recognition of their unique qualities by the local municipalities, together with the dysfunction on behalf of the state, impaired their ability to function optimally in this crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has required frontline health care workers to cope with an unexpected and almost unprecedented emergency situation. Community social workers had played a crucial role during the pandemic, working to alleviate its adverse effects on marginalized communities. The present study investigated community social workers' experiences and hardships in coping with the "age of COVID-19." Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 frontline community social workers in Israel, the findings highlighted three main themes: (a) the hope for recognition and the reality of underutilization; (b) the impact of the dysfunctional state on community social workers; and (c) realizing the core values and activities of community social work practice during the pandemic. Findings pointed to community social workers' professionalism and integrity despite the hardships they endured at the local and national levels. Committing on an altruistic level seemed to be an adaptive coping style, alongside facing "the politics of pandemics." Implications for community practice are outlined.