Chapter Highlights

Tonie Protzman, NASW- Alaska’s executive director, said the chapter is building a library of programs that will be on demand and available to all members.

“I think we have the responsibility as part of our social work values to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the profession and the professionals—and meeting the needs of self-care,” says New Mexico Chapter Executive Director Mika Tari.

The Police Accountability Bill signed into law in July 2020 mandates police departments study the utilization of social workers. The NASW Connecticut Chapter sends a paper to all police chiefs in the state that highlighted ways social workers could work with law enforcement, including doing collaborative 911 call responses.

The Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (TSBSWE) on Oct. 12 passed a rule that would have allowed social workers to discriminate against  clients who are LGBTQ or living with a disability. The NASW Texas Chapter rallies social workers and works with allies, including human rights organizations and legislators to overturn the rule. The chapter circulates a petition that garners more than 22,000 signatures. After 15 days of public outcry the Behavioral Health Executive Council (BHEC) votes unanimously to keep in place the original Social Work Code of Conduct rules that include anti-discrimination protections for disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Five Massachusetts health insurance companies and two behavioral health care companies signed an agreement with Attorney General Maura Healey over allegations that they violated mental health parity laws. The companies had been under-reimbursing social workers and other therapists for mental health services. The NASW Massachusetts Chapter was one of the organizations that pushed for the $1 million settlement. “Those working in the mental health field ... have been undervalued and, frankly, taken advantage of for far too long,” Executive Director Rebekah Gewirtz said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools hired 25 new social workers for the 2019-2020 academic year. The NASW North Carolina chapter wrote a letter to the school board in support of the superintendent's funding request to hire 17 social workers. The district instead ended up hiring 25 more. The chapter thanks the Mecklenburg County Commissioners for making mental health and the hiring of more school social workers a priority.

The NASW Illinois Chapter worked hard to get new social work hires written into the Chicago Teachers Union labor contract after the union went on strike October 2019. As of January 14, 2020, the school system had 90 more social workers on staff as compared to the previous year.

The NASW North Carolina Chapter (NASW-NC), after two years of work, successfully pushed the state House and Senate to pass SB537, legislation to save clinical social work licensure. SB537 included eight bills that were merged into one, including required changes to the Social Work Practice Act.

The legislation brought the North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board (NCSWCLB) into compliance with the way North Carolina administers the Association of Social Work Board (ASWB) Clinical Social Work exam. NASW-NC also prevented the legislation from including the addition of the Master Level Social Work Exam requirement for all LCSWAs that NCSWCLB wanted in the bill. NASW-NC said an additional exam would have been financial hardship and delayed entry into the profession for new social workers.

The NASW Michigan Chapter (NASW-Michigan) has been awarded a two-year, $310,000 behavioral health workforce development grant by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. NASW Michigan's project is intended to address a significant workforce shortage in the substance use and co-occurring mental health field.