Message From the Executive Director

What NASW-NYC is Doing to Secure the Future for

New Social Workers

There are amazing people entering the social work profession each year, and this year is no exception. From our experiences with students in the numerous schools of social work to those who have graduated within the past few years, it is clear that social work in New York City will continue to have very talented, knowledgeable and skilled professionals serving our diverse communities.

But these are not easy times to be a social worker. Prior to September 11, we were already living in a conservative environment where our country was less supportive of health and social programs than at an earlier period in our history. Since September 11, there has been an even greater squeeze, and this is being keenly felt in the organizations that run the programs that utilize social workers.

It Takes a Village

It is during times such as these that individual social workers need to be part of a professional community that shares their concerns and values. As the saying goes, “It Takes a Village…”; there should be no doubt that it is impossible to maintain a profession on one’s own.

At NASW-NYC we are working hard to be that community. And we are working to assure that the profession remains viable, on behalf of the communities we must serve, and for the profession’s members.

What I want to do here is very briefly summarize what NASW-NYC is currently doing. If there is anything that you think we should be doing that we are not, please feel free to let me know by emailing me at Schachter@naswnyc.org.

We are developing a “New Professionals Project” to make certain that we are addressing your needs. Alison Franks has written an article "New Social Work Professionals: Our Hope for the Future" summarizing the results of focus groups we have been holding and using other forms of information gathering to understand what recent graduates and students need in terms of support. The task is to turn this knowledge into programs.

Current Activities

Here is what we are working on now, on behalf of our members and the greater social work community:

•     As this is being written, we are lobbying for expanding the loan forgiveness program which we succeeded in getting last year. The vision for this program is to double it now, then double it again within the next few years. It will help assure that social workers accept employment in critical shortage areas.

•         We are focusing in on communicating to the public (including the media, policy makers, and employers) how social workers make a life and death difference in people’s lives, through holding focus groups with practitioners in mental health, health, addictions, aging, homeless services, public schools, the world of work, and child welfare, and then writing about these amazing stories. We are now expanding this effort to the contributions of social workers with the Latino, Asian and LGBT communities and communities of African descent. Click here for a comprehensive report on these focus group findings, titled “Voices of Social Workers-Saving Lives in NYC”.

•         NASW-NYC is developing a campaign to improve working conditions, from the need to increase salaries (see our salary standards) to assuring realistic caseloads, adequate supervision and case consultation, as well as to demonstrate a higher regard for professional judgment and input.

•         NASW-NYC is working on making certain that its members get support in critical areas such as providing useful information about the licensing law and about applying for loan forgiveness. We are also increasing the frequency of workshops on preparing for the licensing exam.

•         NASW-NYC, along with the Puerto Rican Family Institute, Inc., has spearheaded a major campaign to increase the number of bi-lingual, bi-cultural Latino social workers to better serve the fast-growing Latino community in the city. This effort is also serving as a model for addressing the need for social workers to serve other high need communities.

•         Along with the Anti-Racist Alliance and several schools of social work, we have been encouraging social workers to take the 2 1/2 day “Undoing Racism” workshops. Through the chapter’s efforts, leaders of some of the largest programs in the city have signed up for the training, along with line staff and supervisors.

•         We are educating the public through the placement of ads about professional social workers in the entrances to subways throughout the city.

This all reflects a very active organization, but this is not all that is going on.

If there is one thing I would like you to take from this article, it is this: These things do not happen on their own. It is only through social workers joining together that we have a profession, no less a professional association. The profession has been going strong for over 100 years, and NASW for 50.

We would like to hear from you personally. Email us at naswnyc@naswnyc.org