Photo right: NASW-NYC Chapter President-elect Sandra Bernabei, right, talks during the symposium with social worker Kerron Norman, vice president of community-based programs at Andrus, a New York-based organization that offers programs to children and families. NASW’s Social Work Policy Institute convened a two-day national think tank called “Achieving Racial Equity: Calling the Social Work Profession to Action” at the NASW national office in November. Sixty social work leaders, administrators and educators, as well as policymakers and racial-equity experts came together to discuss and examine the issue of racial equ...

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U.S Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., speaks during the Capitol Hill briefing (photo right), “Understanding the Intersection of Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect,” in December on Capitol Hill. NASW sponsored the event. NASW sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing in December to discuss how child abuse and neglect and poverty often co-occur, and the importance of finding solutions to prevent both. The briefing, called “Understanding the Intersection of Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect,” was well-timed for the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, which was recognized in January. The panel included Angelo McClain, NASW ...

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NASW CEO and NASW Foundation President Angelo McClain, photo right, presents the NASW Foundation Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award to Kathy Ell at a ceremony held at the University of Southern California in November. The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual who has had a significant impact on national health or mental health public policy, professional standards or program models. Ell, who has been an NASW member for 49 years, is the senior researcher for the USC Center for Innovation and Research for Veterans and Military Families, and co-director of the Office of Community Engagement of the USC Clinical and Tran...

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The NASW National Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification adopted the following slate for the 2014 election. Members eligible to vote must hold NASW membership in good standing as of Feb. 15, 2014. Voting will be entirely electronic, and your email address must be current in order to submit your vote. To update your email address, please contact our member call center at 800-742-4089. Candidates’ information will be published in the March issue of the NASW News and on NASW’s website, www.socialworkers.org. Campaigns must be conducted in accordance with the NASW Elections Standards and Procedures for National Lea...

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A secretary of labor in former President Bill Clinton’s administration and a chief diversity officer and divisional vice president of a major drug store chain will be among the keynote speakers at NASW’s 2014 National Conference. Social Work: Courage, Hope & Leadership, will take place in Washington, D.C., July 23-26. Keynote speaker Robert Reich, who Time magazine named one of the 10 most effective Cabinet secretaries of the 20th century, is a prolific writer whose latest book, “Beyond Outrage,” has been acclaimed for its focus on the economy and the need to give back a voice to the American people. Reich is th...

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Social workers are engaged in a variety of fields and specialties. To help highlight this important detail, NASW is expanding its expert referral list for National Professional Social Work Month, which is celebrated every March. “All People Matter” is this year’s theme for the campaign that promotes the value of social work and puts a spotlight on social workers’ vital contribution to society. As a way to promote social work’s significance through media outlets, NASW’s communications staff will launch a 1,000 Experts Campaign to help connect the right people to various media inquiries. “We get medi...

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Michael Francum has been the executive director of NASW’s D.C. Metro Chapter for about a year, but his NASW journey started well before that when he began as an intern in the national office. “I knew NASW was the place for me to apply the social work skills that I want to apply,” he said. Francum obtained his BSW at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and worked in direct practice in HIV prevention and case management. He said he was drawn toward the area of HIV prevention, as it wasn’t talked about much when he was growing up in rural North Carolina. “I’ve always seen myself being in a helping p...

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Social workers need to take self-care seriously I read the article on compassion fatigue (January 2014 issue) with great interest, especially comments by Sandra Lopez, who I have had the privilege of knowing for many years. I recently retired after nearly 22 years of federal service as a LCSW and I can identify with everything she noted. For years, I took care of active duty military and then veterans without thought of the toll it was taking on me. I used to laugh at the idea of compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma or burnout, because I loved my work with my veterans, especially the many military sexual trauma veterans I served. The...

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Veterans ineligible for VA benefits may merit help, too I would add to Judith Dekle’s comments from the NASW News of September 2013 other groups who are not eligible for benefits from the VA. We are not fond of noticing that there are many Americans who have served in the military for varying lengths of stay and have had to come out with less than honorable discharges. These Americans who have served in this horrible war may well merit the very same services as any other soldiers who have experienced trauma and/or head wounding. They are hidden to us. How do we reach them and offer services they need in order to return home? How d...

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NASW, through its Legal Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief in Sevcik v. Sandoval, in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is challenging Nevada’s denial of same-sex marriage as prohibited by the state’s constitution and statutory law. In 2012, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Nevada ruled against the plaintiff same-sex couples. The plaintiffs are appealing the ruling. The amicus brief argues that the judgment should be reversed, citing research that demonstrates that the psychological and social aspects of committed relationships between same-sex partners largely resemble those of heterosexual partne...

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