Am I part of the solution? This is a question I have frequently asked myself during the past three months, watching the world around me taking on (or not addressing) the complex and demanding social issues of the day. Some issues more directly impact our profession — workforce safety following the murder of a veteran social worker in Vermont, or equitably financing social work services in health and mental health care, for example. Other issues span professional boundaries and include other disciplines or approaches to achieving human and social well-being, such as combat and refugee assistance or natural disaster response. Regar...

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Cornell William Brooks (photo right), president and CEO of the NAACP, speaks during a voting rights rally in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16. The event marked the end of a 1,000-mile march — called America’s Journey for Justice — that began in August in Selma, Ala. Particpants campaigned for voting rights, a fair criminal justice system, a living wage and equitable public education. Photo by Paul Pace/NASW News In 1965 people gave their lives for the right to vote, said Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the National NAACP. “We need to protect the right to vote in 2015,” Brooks told a cheering crowd...

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One of today’s greatest policy challenges is how to ensure that the U.S. health care system can meet the needs of a rapidly increasing aging population. The goal of the Health and Aging Policy Fellows program is to provide professionals with the experience and skills to shape a healthy and productive future for older Americans. The 2015–2016 Health and Aging Policy Fellows cohort includes four social workers: Teri Kennedy, director of the Office of Gerontological and Interprofessional Initiatives at Arizona State University; Jamie Kuhne, chief of Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Columbus VA Ambulatory Care Center; Rebecca A. ...

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The NASW Wisconsin Chapter is preparing to send out social work fact sheets to three different groups in an effort to promote higher salaries and more jobs in the state. Executive Director Marc Herstand said the chapter board of directors set up a task force to oversee the project. The first fact sheet addresses hospital and medical social workers and uses data on social work practice that shows hospital/medical social workers help to reduce patient readmissions to emergency rooms and their skill sets provide other cost savings. The document will be disseminated to hospital/medical social workers in an effort to show support for their pos...

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Social work profession may be practicing form of racism in licensing exam exclusions This letter is in response to your article “Social Workers Discuss Ways to Undo Racism” (September 2015). The article did not discuss a significant issue of possible institutional racism existing in our own profession. The social work profession has embraced licensing examinations that may result in the exclusion of much needed culturally diverse licensed social workers who have not had economic and educational advantages. Currently, 49 states use the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) licensing exams. Although there is suspicion among p...

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An international experience doesn’t have to be limited to studying a year abroad in college or backpacking around Europe for a summer. Social work practitioners can use these opportunities to enrich their lives personally, and learn valuable skills to bring back to their work, members of the NASW International Committee say. To help social workers find international opportunities, the committee developed a chart called “International Experiences for Practicing Social Workers.” Committee Chairwoman Robin Mama, along with committee members Kathleen Borland, Stephanie Assare Nti, Luisa Lopez and Debra Nelson-Gardell, contr...

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Board's Action Context Finance Received the unaudited FY 2014-15 year-end and year-to-date financials for the period ending July 31, 2015. The fiscal year 2014-15 ended with total assets at $15.3 million and total liabilities and deferred income at $15.2 million. For the period ending July 31, 2015, total assets were $15.6 million and total liabilities and deferred income were $15.2 million. For this July reporting period, total revenue from ...

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NASW member Jennifer Hill and her mother, Edith, arrived at the Superdome in New Orleans on Aug. 28, 2005, to wait out Hurricane Katrina. They figured as soon as the storm was over, they’d leave the Superdome — which the city had dubbed the “shelter of last resort” — and go back home. “As soon as this was over, we would be going home,” Jennifer Hill said in a West Virginia Gazette article. “That was the feeling when we walked in the door.” But the Hills didn’t get to return home after the storm, as New Orleans was 80 percent under water, the article says. They did not know what...

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ASW member Sammy Rangel has cumulatively spent about 16 years in prison throughout his life, mainly for charges related to theft and violence. Rangel, who originally is from Chicago, said he started getting into trouble with the law at age 11. He repeatedly ran away from home, and joined a gang — eventually becoming its leader. On reflection, Rangel says he always felt a need within himself to protect others and he was seeking a sense of belonging; a place to escape from a troubled childhood. But he didn’t know at the time how to handle those feelings or find a path for himself. He is now a social worker in Racine, Wis., helping o...

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Hollywood’s star shone on social work at the 10th annual Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Voice Awards, held in August in Los Angeles. The theme this year focused on suicide prevention, and film directors, writers, actors and producers joined social work professionals and educators at the University of California-Los Angeles Royce Hall for the awards program. This year, a 30-second video produced by the association was shown at the event. The video announced NASW’s 60th anniversary, and recognized that social workers are the main providers for mental health and substance abuse care. “The Voice Aw...

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