Empowering people, facilitating community development, and contributing to sustainable development: The social work of sport, exercise, and physical education programs

Do sport, exercise, and physical education (SEPE) professionals empower the people they serve and contribute to community development? Do SEPE policies, programs, and practices contribute to sustainable economic and social development, making them worthwhile governmental investments? These questions frame the ensuing analysis. Empowerment-oriented and community-based SEPE programs, and practices may contribute to sustainable development in five related areas. They may enhance human health and well-being across the lifespan; mollify the harms caused by poverty, social exclusion, social isolation, and inter-group conflict; contribute to human capital development, especially in vulnerable youth; develop collective identities, thereby facilitating collective action; and foster social networks and voluntary associations, which animate civil society in strong democracies. To achieve these potential contributions, SEPE professionals will need to develop new capacities and build new institutions. These pervasive changes characterize the social work of SEPE programs, practices, and policies.