NASW News

— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   New content has been added to the Cancer Survival Toolbox, a free audio resource program for people diagnosed with cancer. NASW has partnered with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the Oncology Nursing Society and the Association of Oncology Social Work to develop the toolbox. New audio programs on "First Steps for the Newly Diagnosed" and "Dying Well — The Final Stages of Survivorship" are now part of the 12-program toolbox. The "First Steps" program "offers practical guidelines designed to help you take those first steps toward successfully meeting the challenges that a cancer d...

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— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff The 25th Annual Social Work Day at the United Nations, taking the theme "A Celebration of Human Rights and Social Work," drew hundreds of participants to the U.N.'s New York City headquarters on March 31, 2009.The program included comments from NASW members Janice Wood Wetzel, Michael Cronin and Helen R. Hamlin as well as event co-chair Robin Mama, who gave an introduction to the program. NASW President Elvira Craig de Silva also attended the program, as did Board of Directors member Elaine Congress; former NASW President Gary Bailey; Acting Director of the Division for Practice, Human Rights and ...

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NASW staff is working on different strategies to promote the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative (SWRI), with long-term reinvestments in the social work academic and professional communities as well as immediate legislative support. By the end of March, nearly 17,000 people had contacted their representatives in Congress to urge support of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr., Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 5447). But the effort does not end there. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark recently sent letters to members to explain that while the reinvestment act is the primary initiative at the federal level, the associati...

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  NASW Specialty Practice Sections recently held its 2008 annual leadership meeting at the national office, where sections chairs discussed a number of issues related to the specialties.

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Grassroots efforts are under way to promote the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr., Social Work Reinvestment Act (SWRA), H.R. 5447, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in February. Giving SWRA presentation at NADD conference, from left: Anita Estell, Joan Levy Zlotnik, Elizabeth J. Clark, Elizabeth Franklin. NASW national staff have been spreading the message about the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative (SWRI) through recent social work education events and NASW chapter conferences. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark was joined by other SWRI supporters in making presentations about the initiative and the b...

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— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   NASW is working with the Every Child Matters Education Fund to promote a new report that ranks states on child well-being standards, with the goal of bringing increased attention to these issues by presidential candidates. The report, Geography Matters: Child Well-Being in the States, was released during an April 2 live telephone news conference. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark was one of three speakers during the event. The report shows large disparities in child well-being across the United States. "Across the United States, where a child is born and raised can make a shockingly large di...

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Helen Cloud Austin, an NASW Social Work Pioneer®, was recently recognized for her contributions to Crosspoint of San Antonio through the naming of one of the buildings of the organization in her and another founder's honor. The Austin-Cullum Outpatient Center was dedicated last year. When the John F. Kennedy Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center of 1963 began implementation in San Antonio in 1969, Austin was at the forefront of developing the city's first halfway house for patients being discharged from the local state psychiatric hospital. From serving as the first board president to holding subsequent board and volunteer positio...

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— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   Tyleen Caffrey (Photo — Steve Rouse) It's a teenage rite of spring: picking out the perfect prom dress for a magical night of dancing and romance. But for some girls, it's not as easy as just wandering the aisles and finding what strikes one's fancy. NASW member and social work student Tyleen Caffrey decided to do something about that. Caffrey, an MSW student at the University of Southern Mississippi, started a project that collected donated prom dresses to give to girls in foster care. After the project launched, it expanded to reach other youth as well. Altogether, the project has dis...

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NASW members still have time to review and comment on new proposed policy statements, proposed bylaws amendments and other items to be considered at this year's NASW Delegate Assembly. Taking place Aug. 7-10 in Washington, D.C., the Delegate Assembly is the representative decision-making body through which NASW members set broad organizational policy, establish program priorities and develop a collective stance on public and professional issues. It meets every three years. Attendees and members can visit the Website to join in the preliminary discussions, said Sue Jashinsky, senior chapter relations associate. Among the 23 policy statements a...

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— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   NASW Senior Policy Adviser Leticia Diaz recently spoke at a briefing on Capitol Hill about the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission. The Quaker U.N. Office, the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) sponsored the briefing. Diaz also discussed the work of the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission before an audience at a luncheon held before the briefing. Diaz, NASW's senior policy adviser on human rights and international affairs, has served as chair of the Washington, D.C., Council of Organizations of UNA-USA., a coalition of U.S.-based...

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