Rep. Barbara Lee named NASW Public Elected Official of the Year

Washington — The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is pleased to name Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) the 2003 NASW Public Elected Official of the Year, for her vital role in reconnecting the social work profession to its activist roots. Lee’s outstanding service and political career has deeply influenced global peace, civil and human rights, health and human services, and social work practice. Her long history of political activism makes her a unique role model for social workers throughout the nation.

Throughout Lee’s political career, she has sought to use her training as a social worker to help solve the problems and challenges that confront the people of East Bay, Calif.— the 9th district, which she represents—and those of the nation. She has worked to build bipartisan coalitions to provide for the basic and interrelated needs of all Americans: health care, affordable housing, education, jobs, and the quest to create livable communities in a peaceful world.

Reminiscent of another social worker in Congress — Jeanette Rankin, who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1917 — Lee has taken a courageous stand for peace. On September 14, 2001, Lee said, “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore,” as she cast the sole vote against authorizing the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This action, coupled with her continued leadership in the global peace movement, exemplifies the principles that guide our work as professional social workers.

Currently, Lee is co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Task Force on Global HIV/AIDS, and whip for the Minority Business Task Force. She has emerged as a key leader in Congress in the fight against HIV/AIDS and has helped secure more than $5 million in funding for HIV/AIDS services in Alameda County, Cailf. Recognizing that national boundaries will not stop the spread of the disease — and that AIDS represents the crucial humanitarian issue of our time— she has worked successfully to pass meaningful legislation that will initiate multilateral international efforts to fight the disease. Most recently, Rep. Lee has introduced legislation to increase the worldwide affordability of AIDS drugs, and to link international debt relief to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and social and health infrastructures.

Lee has also played a leading role in the fight for affordable housing—a key issue affecting people in the region she represents. As a member of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, Lee helped secure a $34 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the City of Oakland. Additonally, through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, she convened a Western Regional Summit on Housing and Wealth Accumulation in which Fannie Mae contributed $500,000 to the Northern California Land Trust for low cost housing.

Rep Lee continually works to make connections between local, national, and global issues. From the beginning of her political career as an intern in the office of Rep. Ron Dellums‘ (D-CA)—another social worker—Barbara Lee has consistently demonstrated her commitment to social work values and ethics in all her political activities.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 145,000 members. It promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families and communities through advocacy.