By: Carmen Ortiz Hendricks, DSW, ACSW, Associate Dean and Professor Yeshiva University Wurzweiler School of Social Work

(May 2007)

It is clearly evident that there are not enough Latina/o social workers to meet the needs of the growing Latino community in New York City.  The demand is clear, but the supply of Latina/o social workers is not as clearly discernible.  The Latino community, described as the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the U.S., is a population-at-risk that is under-served by social work professionals. 

For the past six years, the New York City Chapter of NASW and the Puerto Rican Family Institute, Inc. have collaborated in an effort to address the critical shortage of bilingual, bicultural and culturally competent social workers to meet the needs of Latinos in New York.  A number of significant and innovative actions have resulted from this collaboration. 

•   A Public Policy Forum, entitled “P’alante” (“Moving Forward”) was convened at Fordham University in the Fall of 2002.  Over 300 Latina/o social workers attended along with policymakers, leaders of human service organizations and unions, members of advocacy groups, social work educators and deans, and city and state legislators.  They identified key policy and practice issues concerning the health and mental health needs of Latinos in New York City and focused on work force development and the training and education of social workers.

•   Prior to the Forum, over 600 Latina/o members of the NASW/NYC were surveyed, and they identified a number of concerns, namely:  (1) Latino workers are staying in front line positions longer than non-Latino workers and are not moving up the agency career ladder; (2) due to the changing demographics within Latino communities, Latino workers are increasingly engaged in cross-cultural practice even if clients and worker are Latino and speak Spanish; and (3) Latinos lack mentorship and professional networks that encourage the pursuit of advanced education, and credentials that would position them to more effectively advocate for their communities. 

•   Following the Forum, a Latino Social Work Task Force of key stakeholders was convened to develop a strategic plan to address these issues.  A position paper, “The Development of the Latino Social Work Workforce”, was written to describe a plan to assure that the Latino community in New York has access to relevant and appropriate human services reflecting the linguistic and cultural needs of the community, and to assure that there will be adequate numbers of professional social workers who are bilingual/bicultural and linguistically/culturally competent. 

•   In order to achieve these goals, the Task Force set out to develop scholarships for Latinos entering social work programs at the BSW, MSW and PhD level, targeting those Latinos already working in human service agencies that serve Latino communities; and to lobby for the creation and funding of the New York State Social Work Student Loan Forgiveness Program.  A loan forgiveness bill was passed by the NYS Legislature in 2004, and the first cohort of 160 social workers received some measure of loan forgiveness this past spring 2007.

•   In January 2004, a Roundtable of key stakeholders was held at Hunter College School of Social Work in an effort to move the strategic plan forward, to identify specific strategies to expand the Latina/o presence in social work programs, and to promote culturally and linguistically competent social work education and practice.  In the same year, the Task Force, with the financial support of United Way of New York City, met with potential foundation and corporate funding sources to gain their support for a mentorship and scholarship program for Latino students. 

•   In March of 2005, the Task Force held the first Latino Scholarship Luncheon honoring members of the Task Force and other prominent Latino social workers. Over 300 people attended, and after the second Latino Scholarship Luncheon in 2006, the Task Force was able to issue the first scholarships to Latino social work students.  There were over 60 applicants, and with matching funds from social work programs, ten $5,000 scholarships were issued.  In addition, members of the Task Force took on the role of mentoring each scholarship recipient.  Following the 2007 Latino Scholarship Luncheon, the Task Force hopes to increase scholarship support for students.

•   The Task Force is currently hard at work on a million dollar proposal for a “Latino Social Work Workforce Development Project” that includes a project coordinator, staffing, mentors and a range of services to reach out and recruit Latinos into the social work profession, and to help graduate a new cohort of culturally competent Latina/o professionals.  The Task Force recently held a successful breakfast for New York City Council Members to enlist their support with this project and Council Member Rosie Mendez and the co-chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the Council, Maria del Carmen Arroyo, are very supportive of this effort.