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Social Workers in Congress

119th Congress

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the United States, with 54 Chapters in every state, and Washington DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our members are practitioners, educators, researchers, and policy makers who work with individuals, families, and communities in numerous settings to address challenges such as child abuse and neglect, poverty, chronic illness, substance use disorder, mental illness, and disaster recovery.

NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of social workers; to create and maintain standards for the social work profession; and to advance sound social policies that support the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

Social workers possess a continuum of knowledge about human needs and behavior, services delivery, systems that affect individuals and groups and the effects of public policy. Social work has a rich history of policy and decision makers including Harry Hopkins, Frances Perkins, Whitney M. Young, Jr., and Dr. Dorothy I. Height. NASW is proud that the social work perspective continues to be represented in the halls of Congress.

U.S. Congresswoman
Sylvia Garcia (TX-29)


Sylvia Garcia

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia was elected to Congress in 2018 as one of two first Latinas to be elected to Congress from Texas. Prior to coming to Congress, Garcia served as a Director and Presiding Judge of the Houston Municipal System, City Controller of Houston, Harris County Commissioner's Court, and State Senator in Texas.

The eighth of ten children, Garcia saw her parents struggle to raise her and her siblings. Garcia's parents taught her that with hard work and a good education, she could accomplish anything. As a result of these lessons, Garcia dedicated herself to success at school. She earned a scholarship to Texas Woman's University in Denton, where she graduated with a degree in social work and political science. Garcia then received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston.

In her fourth term, Garcia is serving as the Vice Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee and as a member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. She is the new chair of the Congressional Social Work Caucus and a member of several other caucuses and task forces including the Democratic Women’s Caucus and the House Democratic Caucus Poverty Task Force.

U.S. Congresswoman
Hillary Scholten (MI-03)


Hillary Scholten

Elected to Congress in 2022, Congresswoman Hillary Scholten is the newest social work member of Congress. She is the daughter of an elementary school teacher and a reporter/assistant sports editor. Scholten says that her mother’s work in high poverty schools didn’t just keep her family in touch with the lives of struggling families and students but, also exposed her to the injustices that prevent Americans from getting ahead.

These early experiences with what she calls a “rigged” system for the wealthy and well-connected are what motivated her to attend and complete law school at the University of Maryland after earning her bachelor’s in social work. She clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals in the second district and worked for the Department of Justice under the Obama Administration.

Congresswoman Scholten, now in her second term, serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure and Small Business Committees. She is also a member of the Equality Caucus and the Black Maternal Health Caucus.


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