The 2011 National Professional Social Work Month theme promotes the role of social workers as positive agents of change.

Celebrated each March, the theme for next year is “Social Workers Change Futures.”

“There are 640,000 professional social workers in the United States who have dedicated their careers to either helping people transform their lives or improving environments that make such change possible,” said NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark.

NASW and its chapters will use this theme as a cornerstone to promote the message that social workers improve the fabric of society by serving as advocates for people who need help addressing serious life challenges, Clark said.

National Professional Social Work Month is an opportunity to educate the public about the many ways social workers help their communities and stand up for others, said Gail Woods Waller, director of NASW Communications. She said the association will develop a media and community outreach toolkit to help members, schools of social work and other social work organizations promote the National Professional Social Work Month theme on a local level. This toolkit will include information about NASW’s ongoing National Public Education Campaign, which seeks to increase consumer education, student recruitment and media influence.

A social media campaign is also in the works, Waller said.

“We plan to use Twitter and other websites. We will be asking social workers to send short messages that explain how they have made a positive change in someone’s future during March,” she said.

Another highlight to the month will be World Social Work Day, celebrated next year on March 15. The International Federation of Social Workers coordinates this effort.