Dr. Dorothy I. Height, a renowned civil rights leader and a vital force in the struggle for human rights and equality in the United States for more than half a century, died April 20 in Washington. “Words cannot express our sorrow in learning about Dr. Height’s death,” said Elizabeth J. Clark, NASW’s executive director. “She, like pioneer social workers Jane Addams and Frances Perkins, made lasting change in the lives of thousands, while shaping some of the most important social shifts in American history.” NASW News will have coverage about Height’s life and achievements in the June issue.

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In celebration of National Professional Social Work Month, the George Mason University Department of Social Work hosted a conference in March called “Diversity and Professional Practice: Exploring Cutting-Edge Issues for Policy and Practice.” Rita Webb, NASW senior policy adviser, was among the guest speakers at the Washington event. Webb talked about NASW’s efforts to reduce racism and, in particular, the development of the guide “Institutional Racism and the Social Work Profession: A Call to Action.” It was produced by a task force under the guidance of former NASW President Elvira de Silva as part of her &l...

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April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This provides an opportunity to highlight multiple programs and strategies that focus on prevention: making sure children have access to health care, home visit programs for young children, and advocacy efforts that bring attention to the need for resources to support and strengthen families and to keep children safe. There are critical roles for social workers in all three domains. Home visitation: Helping children and families has always been a major objective for the social work profession. The good news is that the Obama administration supports of child welfare initiatives and calls for fun...

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Hospice workers, as well as health care institutions treating children disabled by the Jan. 13 earthquake that devastated Haiti, will receive more than $20,000 that the NASW Foundation received through its Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund following the earthquake. The NASW Foundation is partnering with the National Hospice Foundation in supporting Holy Angels Hospice in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles, Haiti, and Boston-based Partners In Health. All three organizations had staff, including social workers, in Haiti to provide palliative and end-of-life care to severely injured victims of the 7.0-magni...

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NASW Oregon handed out awards at its Social Work Month event. From left: Lucrecia Suarez, Social Worker of the Year; Kristine Nelson, Lifetime Recognition; and Dr. Margaret “Peg” Miller, Public Citizen of the Year. National Professional Social Work Month was celebrated from coast to coast in March. NASW chapter leaders and others were busy hosting advocacy days, award and recognitions ceremonies as well as attending proclamation speeches and promoting social work through the local media. It was all done to help highlight this year’s theme, “Social Workers Inspire Community Action.” The NASW News invited chap...

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Social workers participated in an expert panel convened by NASW recently to develop standards for social work practice with family caregivers of older adults. Among the participants were, from left: Nora O’Brien, Sandra Edmonds Crewe and Joann Damron-Rodriguez. NASW seeks members’ comments on draft standards for social work practice with family caregivers of older adults. Members can expect the draft standards in May and will have 60 days to submit comments. Development and dissemination of the standards, made possible by a grant from the AARP Foundation, is part of a three-phase initiative of the John A. Hartford Foundation t...

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The demand for cancer care in the near future will far outpace the workforce trained to help people with the disease, experts say. NASW is joining the campaign to address this problem by encouraging non-oncology social workers and social work students to strengthen their core understanding of cancer. The association is taking part in the C-Change Cancer Core Competency Initiative. The goal is not to duplicate efforts by oncology professional organizations, but to strengthen the cancer knowledge and skills of the non-oncology health workforce. NASW is a member of C-Change, a coalition working to leverage the expertise and resources of its ...

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Two cancer organizations merged recently to become the largest employer of social workers who provide psychosocial oncology support. The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club Worldwide pooled their resources to become the Cancer Support Community (CSC). Both organizations have established solid, reliable reputations in the cancer community and share a commitment to quality, integrity and services based on the best research available to move the two organizations’ agendas forward. Licensed oncology social worker Vicki Kennedy is vice president of program development and quality assurance at CSC. She said the two organizations join...

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NASW and the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute participated in the 27th annual conference of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD) in Atlanta. The theme of the March conference was “Promoting a Culture of Social Justice: Social Work and Social Change.” Elizabeth J. Clark, executive director of NASW; Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of SWPI; and Freddie Avant, immediate past president of BPD and associate dean, professor and director for the School of Social Work at Stephen F. Austin University, conducted a joint presentation called “Social Work Policy Institute: A National Think...

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NASW urged justices to support same-sex couples’ right to marry and students’ right to an education in separate friend-of-the-court briefs recently in California and North Carolina. In the matter of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, NASW, its California chapter and several other prominent organizations asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to invalidate Proposition 8, a ballot initiative approved in 2008 by California voters that amended the state’s constitution “to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” NASW contends that denying same...

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