This year marks NASW’s 60th anniversary, and the NASW Foundation has announced the “60 for 60” fundraising campaign in recognition of the milestone. The campaign honors NASW’s accomplishments over the last 60 years and promotes the social work profession’s contributions to bring major positive changes in American society. Social workers advocated for the creation of programs like Medicare and Medicaid to provide health care to vulnerable populations, including older Americans and the poor; voting rights for all Americans; and equal right for African-Americans, women and people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual ...

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Picture Hawaii, just a little smaller, a little more humid and a lot more diverse. That essentially is Guam, according to Ovita Perez, manager of NASW’s Guam Chapter. She says she was a late bloomer — social work-wise — and received her bachelor’s in social work in 2006 from the University of Guam. Originally planning to be a special education teacher, Perez switched to social work after a friend told her he didn’t really see her as a teacher. “He said, ‘No Ovita, you’d be a better social worker than teacher. That’s where your heart is.’ So I took a social work world view class,...

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Jasmine Scott (photo right), front, and her mother, Evelyn Scott, graduated together in May with MSWs from the North Carolina Central University social work program. Courtesy photo. When Evelyn Scott’s daughter, Jasmine, told her they should go to graduate school together, she thought Jasmine was kidding. “It started as a joke,” Evelyn Scott said. “But going to grad school was on my bucket list, so we made a Christmas plan in 2013 to apply together.” The Durham, N.C., residents and NASW members both graduated in May from the North Carolina Central University social work program with master’s degrees ...

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Poverty rates among people who are LGBT are high, but economic insecurity is even greater for LGBT people of color, according to a report released by the Movement Advancement Project and the Center for American Progress. NASW is a partner on the report, titled Paying an Unfair Price: The Financial Penalty for LGBT People of Color. About one third of LGBT people in the United States — or about 3 million adults — identify as people of color. This population and their families experience poverty rates far higher than the national average. For instance, 52 percent of children raised by black male couples and 38 percent of childre...

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Speakers on the “Developing the Workforce” (photo right) panel included, from left, moderator Ummuro Adano, senior principal technical adviser for Management Sciences for Health, USA; Robin Mama, chairwoman of NASW’s International Committee and a professor and dean at Monmouth University School of Social Work in New Jersey; and Zenuella Sugantha Thumbadoo (Zeni), deputy director of the National Association of Child Care Workers, South Africa. The panel was one of three to present at the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance’s second annual symposium, held in June in Washington, D.C. Participants of the Global Soc...

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May 2015 Board's Action Context Program Adopted the revised position statement on sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and conversion therapy with LGBT persons. The position statement, which was approved by the board in 2000, was updated and has used the more current term, sexual orientation change effort (SOCE). The statement opposes the use of methods, practices or therapies — such as...

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Miesha Rice (photo right), center, a 2013 graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work, marches with others in Baltimore on May 1, following the death of Freddie Gray. Photo by Megan Leschak, 2013 graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work. On May 1, Miesha Rice marched proudly — and peacefully — with others through the streets of Baltimore, following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose spinal cord was injured while in police custody on April 12. Gray died from his injuries on April 19. “We marched for about four hours, all throughout the city,...

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The June 2015 issue of Vanity Fair featured Caitlyn Jenner — formerly known as Bruce Jenner — on the cover. And with Jenner’s story now appearing more in mainstream media, an article on time.com says the process of transitioning from a man to a woman can be hard to explain to kids. NASW member Michael LaSala was one of the experts interviewed for the article to discuss how parents can approach the subject with their children. He says adults need to be clear about their own thoughts first. “Parents need to do a self-inventory as to how they feel about the topic and to get straight in their minds what their feelings ...

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The National Rural Social Work Caucus has a sense of humor about joining their group. Their membership page poses questions such as “What kind of tractor do you own?” to gauge if you have kinship with their cause. Social workers who practice in rural areas face challenges different from their counterparts in urban-based cities. Some of these include less pay, limited access to specialty services and dealing with crisis situations more often, because prevention and early intervention services are not readily available. All jokes aside, the caucus well understands that despite the charm of quiet life in the country, social...

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Several months ago, as I began to anticipate the end of winter and the brevity of spring, I contemplated writing a column encouraging social workers to think about self-care. The summer months, I thought, “there can be no better time for attending to self-care, no better time for a really good vacation, no better time for pursuing personal interests, and absolutely no better time for taking an inventory of personal wellness.” Over the intervening weeks, as the notion of speaking to social worker wellness gained momentum in my thoughts, I became concerned that encouraging better self-care might inadvertently imply that the dete...

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