Pay special attention in this reading to the concept of "Distancing" (pg. 20). The deficit notion encourages distancing of the dominant class from the urban, homeless, single parent - making the powerful feel they must rescue the ones "at risk" of failure. Service providers become the "all powerful" determiners of fate of the poor. This creates an "us" versus "them" mentality. Not only does this mentality reinforce the social construction of "good people" (the dominant culture) vs "bad people" (those in need of services), it also marginalizes those people and groups who are perceived as "at risk". How does this concept relate to your site? For instance, in what ways do service providers favor some clients over others?
Even while acknowledging that a true paradigm shift involves more than simply changing language, Swadener attempts to deconstruct titles/vocabulary such as "at risk" that only focus on the individual's role as applied to the outcome of social problems (ie: criminalizing , rather than rehabilitating). Concerning your particular organization, what are societal causes that produce the need for your organization and how might changing the name of the issue your organization is addressing change your organization's approach to the problem?