NASW continues to broaden its strategies to encourage the creation of a social work reinvestment commission, including through passage of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795, S. 686). The proposal directs the secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Social Work Reinvestment Commission to provide independent counsel to Congress on policy issues associated with recruitment, retention, research and reinvestment in the profession of social work. As of early April, the bill had 84 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and 12 co-sponsors in the Senate. Besides an ongoing ...

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Participants at the Metro Washington, D.C., National Professional Social Work Month event included, from left, Bernice Harper, Cassandra Henry, David Weaver and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Yarvis. Social work was celebrated locally, nationally and around the world in March, also known as National Professional Social Work Month. U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., a social worker, introduced a resolution that unanimously passed in the House calling for special recognition of the people who “dedicate their time, energy and lives to assisting individuals, families and communities.” The declaration honored “the more than 600,000 peop...

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NASW’s second annual social work practice conference, “Social Work’s Critical Role in End-of-Life Care,” has added more presenters. The conference, scheduled for Aug. 4 in Boston, is in collaboration with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The event will immediately precede NHPCO’s special topic conference “Developing the Care Continuum: Innovative Models to Meet the Unique Needs of Parents/Families,” taking place Aug. 5-7. The Aug. 4 conference will benefit social workers who provide professional psychosocial services to clients and families affected by serious and life-limiting...

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President Barack Obama has nominated two NASW members for key administration positions. Beatrice “Bea” Hanson has been nominated to be the director of Office of Victims of Crime in the U.S. Department of Justice. Hanson is the chief program officer for Safe Horizon, a nonprofit crime victim assistance agency in New York City. According to a White House statement, Hanson oversees more than 600 professionals who provide services to more than 350,000 people affected by violence annually. She directs the organization’s services and support for victims of child abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence, rape and other vio...

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NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark will lead a People to People Social Work Delegation to Russia in August. The professional exchange will continue the Social Workers Across Nations, or SWAN, initiative at NASW, promoting greater understanding of the profession among countries. “Social work is a global profession,” Clark said. “Around the world, social workers have a common core of values, yet social work may be practiced differently in other countries. There are usually similarities in social problems, but the focus of concern can differ within borders and within cultures.” Russia is the world’s larg...

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Perspective From Abroad I have been following the health care reform efforts and am not surprised that within the social work community there is an opinion (Letters, January and February News) that has no basis in fact, but rather swings towards the conservative/right-wing ideology. Living abroad in a social democracy (Germany) and having universal health care (not free but paid for by the employer and employee), I see little evidence of the “dependence” that is often talked about. Yes, health care costs for coverage will involve additional costs. We as a society need to move away from the idea that we can have something for noth...

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NASW President James J. Kelly presented Valli Kalei Kanuha with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Social Work Research at a Feb. 19 ceremony in Honolulu. Declaring her among the “brightest and best” social workers, Kelly said Kanuha received the award because her body of research has informed, shaped and advanced the social work profession. In addition, “her work has influenced policy, practice and services provided to the diverse constituencies with whom she has worked over her career,” Kelly said. Kanuha, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii Manoa, said she is an “activist-r...

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Jeri Miller of the National Institute of Nursing Research discusses her workgroup’s findings during the symposium. Hospice researchers, practitioners and policymakers gathered in March for the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute symposium called “Hospice Social Work: Linking Policy, Practice and Research.” Hospice social work, like most social work fields of practice, is in need of more research to demonstrate its effectiveness as a member of the hospice care team, said SWPI Director Joan Levy Zlotnik. “As hospices are implementing the revised federal conditions of participation, this is an impor...

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Shortly after signing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at a White House ceremony March 23, President Barack Obama dashed to the U.S. Department of the Interior, a few blocks from the executive mansion, to address a throng of health care reform advocates. Among the crowd was NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark. “It was a celebration,” Clark told NASW News. She said representatives were in attendance from just about every group NASW worked with over the previous year to shape and help deliver on health care reform. “The president gave credit to the audience for helping bring about reform,” sh...

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Ethiopian women affected by HIV/AIDS benefit from skills training through vocational support groups like those provided by the Wegen Aden Ethiopia Association in Addis Ababa. Here, a group of women review the day’s sales ledger. The reality of more and more people in Ethiopia living with HIV presents new opportunities and challenges for social workers in the East African country, says Evelyn Tomaszewski, NASW’s senior policy adviser on human rights and international affairs. She told the NASW Newsthat improved access to antiretroviral medications and increased prevention messaging have had a profound effect on Ethiopia, where...

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