Social work promises systems change. Its pipeline routes people elsewhere.
Macro Pathways is a movement-first professional development organization. We help social workers find, enter, and grow in macro practice.
Illustration: the clinical route is wide and well marked. The macro routes exist, but few people are shown the way in.
The Micro Pipeline in Social Work (MPISW™)
Dr. Patrick M. Taylor named this pattern in his doctoral research at USC. It describes the set of forces that quietly steer social workers toward client-facing roles and away from the systems-level work the profession also needs.
Many people enter social work wanting to change policies, organizations, and communities. The path they are handed points somewhere else.
Four forces that reinforce it
- EducationPrograms and field placements lean clinical early, before students see other options.
- LicensureSupervision requirements keep social workers in clinical practice for years.
- BillingReimbursement rewards direct service, so that is where the jobs are.
- Program designCalling macro work “non-traditional” makes it harder to treat as a career.
Concrete language and a path to build a career
Macro Pathways is the organization’s answer to the pipeline. It gives social workers a way to say where macro practice lives and how to get there.
Original frameworks
Shared vocabulary for macro practice, so students, educators, and employers can describe the work the same way.
Research
Evidence on how many social workers want macro roles and how hard those roles are to find, grounded in a national survey.
Career navigation tools
Practical guidance for social workers at any stage who want to move toward systems-level practice.
Dr. Patrick M. Taylor, DSW, LCSW
Founder and CEO of Macro Pathways. Dr. Taylor is a licensed clinical social worker and a USC Doctor of Social Work graduate (DSW ’26). His own training steered him toward clinical practice, and that experience led to the research behind the MPISW™.
His goal is to expand what macro practice and a macro orientation can look like in every sector and industry.
Recognition
2026 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award from the Association for Community Organization and Social Action (ACOSA), for identifying, naming, and studying the Micro Pipeline.
In the conversation
- Social Work to Wealth podcastThe Micro Pipeline in Social Work. Approved for 1 ASWB CE credit.
- Revolutionary Social Work podcastDisrupting the Micro Pipeline in Social Work.
- Social Justice Origin StoriesThinking Beyond Direct Practice and the Clinical Office.
Join the work
Speaking, training, research collaboration, or a conversation about macro practice: start by connecting.