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The heart and soul of
NASW are its 56 chapters, which advance the Association's programs
and plans at the state and local levels, with special emphasis on
the needs and interests of their particular members.
Each year, NASW's chapters
embark on a variety of programs and host a broad range of events
that are essential to the success of the Association as a whole.
The following three examples illustrate the important work being
done by NASW chapters across the nation and around the world...
NASW
- TEXAS
With more than 5,600 members and 21 branches, the Texas Chapter
plays a tremendous role in advocating for—and representing—professional
social workers.
Under the leadership
of President T. Paul Furukawa, PhD, ACSW, and Executive Director
Vicki Hansen, LMSW-AP, the Texas Chapter launched
a public education campaign in 2002, to:
- Educate the public about social workers;
- Build consumer demand for social work services; and
- Recruit students into the profession.
Among the activities and
strategies employed in its public education campaign, the Texas
Chapter developed public service announcements (PSAs) that have
run on radio stations across the state; television commercials (also
PSAs), which several television stations have pledged to run; and
statewide billboard advertising.
The campaign motto—featured
in the public service announcements—is "Social Workers: People
Helping People, That's What We Do!" The Chapter created the motto
based on the concept that many people are confused about what social
workers do, according to Hansen. She noted that "People Helping
People" is a truth common to all social workers, one that she hopes
the campaign will "implant in people's minds."
NASW
- NEVADA
NASW's Nevada Chapter, under the leadership of President
James Euler, ACSW, and Executive Director Mark Nichols, is one of
about 15 progressive organizations in the state that joined together
to found, and support the successful launch of, Nevada News Services
(NNS), which provides mainstream news outlets with high-quality
radio stories to lift up often-marginalized voices and perspectives.
Rex Gunderson—the
spouse of an NASW student member, a lifelong broadcaster, and most
recently the local host of Public Radio's Morning Edition in northern
Nevada—was hired as the NNS producer. His stories for NNS
are distributed to radio news directors across the state, and broadcasters
can download sound bites from the Internet.
NNS provides a progressive
perspective to news stories, which likely would not have been covered
by the media prior to its formation. Statewide, 25 radio stations
aired a recent story about Domestic Violence Awareness Month at
least twice. Other NNS stories that help convey a social work perspective
to the public include: "Number of Nevadans Living in Poverty Continues
to Increase," "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Comes to Nevada,"
"Nevada Working Women are Losing Safety Net," "Gay Pride Celebration
in Reno," and "Human Trafficking in Nevada."
NASW
- MAINE
Following several years of study, generating support, and
lobbying state legislators, the Maine Chapter realized the rewards
of all of their work with passage of a comprehensive Mental Health
Parity Act in Spring 2003.
Enacting legislation that
would bring mental health coverage onto an equal footing with medical
disorders had long been a priority for the Maine Chapter. Although
the State of Maine has had partial parity since the mid-1990s, it
was limited to a few diagnoses. With passage of the new law, coverage
is available for all diagnostic categories, with no separate
conditions that limit coverage, and includes a requirement for home-based
services.
Commenting on passage
of the landmark legislation, Maine Chapter Executive Director Kimm
A. Collins, MSW, and President Kim-Anne Perkins, MSW, noted the
chapter received significant support from allied organizations in
moving the legislation forward and ultimately gaining passage and
the Governor's signature.
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