WASHINGTON, D.C. –
The National Association of Social Workers is pleased to announce Indiana
social worker Kimber Nicoletti-Martinez is recipient of the National Social
Worker of the Year Award for her tireless work in preventing sexual violence, particularly
among often marginalized populations such as farm workers and people who are
Latinx or LGBTQ.
“Sexual violence is a serious problem that can have
long-term emotional effects on survivors, their family, friends and
communities,” said NASW CEO Angelo McClain, PhD, LICSW. “Prevention work in
this sensitive area can also be daunting. However, Ms. Nicoletti-Martinez has brought
a high level of commitment, creativity and solid social work practice into
addressing this issue.”
The NASW National Social Worker of the Year Award honors a
member of the association who has demonstrated the best of the profession’s
values and achievements through specific accomplishments. The award also
highlights superb accomplishments in the practice of social work.
The accomplishments of Kimber Nicoletti-Martinez, MSW, LCSW,
are impressive. She developed the Multicultural Efforts to End Sexual Assault
(MESA) at Purdue University’s Department of Youth Development and Agricultural
Education. MESA is a statewide program
in Indiana committed to preventing sexual violence in multicultural communities
and other underserved and underrepresented populations in Indiana, including
people who are Latinx immigrant, Native American or LGBTQ.
Nicoletti-Martinez created the first farm worker child
sexual abuse prevention effort and is a member of the Just Beginnings
Collaborative which is a platform created to advance the movement to end child
sexual abuse. She also developed sexual violence prevention programs targeted
specifically to farm worker communities; Indiana’s first campus-based violence
prevention program aimed at people who are LGBTQ; and bilingual and bicultural
mental health services in community health clinics.
Her work has already gained attention as she was recognized
by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the first sexual
violence prevention advocate focused on migrant farm worker communities. She
was also named NASW Indiana Chapter Social Worker of the Year in 2017,
Inspirational Leader at the Indiana Coalition Ending Sexual Assault and was
recently profiled in Latina Magazine.
“NASW is proud to honor Ms. Nicoletti-Martinez with the
Social Worker of the Year Award,” McClain said. “She is an exemplary social
worker who has had the courage and integrity to be a champion, an advocate and
a voice for people our society often marginalizes.”