NASW, University of Michigan White House Field
Placement Paper Explores Macro Policy Practice and Political Social WorkNASW, University of Michigan White House Field
Placement Paper Explores Macro Policy Practice and Political Social WorkNASW, University of Michigan White House Field
Placement Paper Explores Macro Policy Practice and Political Social WorkNASW, University of Michigan White House Field Placement Paper Explores Macro Policy Practice and Political Social Work
The White House as a Field Placement: Reflections on the Past and a Future for Policy and Political Practice, released by NASW and the University of Michigan, explores macro policy field placements, political social work, and policy practice roles for social workers. The paper features a speech by social worker and White House Fellow Harold Richman, with commentary from University of Michigan professors and includes a robust list of policy fellowship opportunities. The preface was co-authored by Sarah Christa Butts, director of public policy at NASW, and features two former NASW student interns, Nora Simmons, MSW, MPH, and Paige Jones, MSW, who both secured prestigious congressional fellowships after graduate school. Jones, LMSW, is featured on page 22 and is now a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation health policy fellow assigned to the office of Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
Harold's speech reveals the inner workings of a "policy manager" and points to the importance of the social work profession in increasing its presence in the policy machinery at the federal, state, and local levels. “Richman’s speech constitutes an oral history of his experiences as the first social work White House fellow,” says Lynn Videka, A.M. and PhD [earned from Crown School of Social Work, Policy and Practice (formerly the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago)], Dean and Carol T. Mowbray Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan School of Social Work. “So much of what he has to say is relevant for today—the importance of social work engagement at the highest level of politics and policy in order to achieve our profession’s vision of a progressive and equitable society, the interpersonal dimensions of even the highest policy negotiations, and the career-long impact of early experiences.”