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SEPTEMBER 2004
From the New President
Looking Forward – With Enthusiasm
Paul Kurzman, PhD
I am delighted to be the new President of the New York City Chapter of NASW: 10,000 members strong, and growing! Working with able social work colleagues — Bob Schachter, Pier Rogers and Harriet Putterman, and the exceptional staff who advise and support them — will be a great privilege. The current Board of Directors moreover is seasoned, diverse and extraordinarily strong, and we are looking forward with enthusiasm to the challenges we will pursue collectively in the months ahead.
Our Chapter has several projects underway that we will devote energy and
resources to continue. Despite a tight State budget, we are continuing
to lobby in Albany for a $1 million program of “Loan Forgiveness”
for current MSW students and recent graduates who agree to work with underserved
populations.
We also have established an Insurance Reimbursement Task Force to assist
agencies and especially private practitioners to navigate the ever complex
expectations of the insurance carriers upon whom we and our clients depend
for behavioral health care coverage.
In addition, our Chapter will continue to support and promote the Undoing
Racism Project, sponsored by The People’s Institute and the AntiRacist
Alliance, and the very sophisticated workshops they sponsor.
Further, we plan to ensure that the relationship we established two years
ago with 1199/SEIU will continue to prosper and flourish, given the commitment
of this progressive trade union to professional social workers, and to
so many of the goals we advocate and pursue in common.
Finally, NASW will carefully monitor implementation of the New York State
Social Work Licensing Law to make certain that our members’ and
our clients’ interests are promoted AND protected at every turn.
In addition, we have several NEW projects on the front burner. First,
with the Puerto Rican Family Institute, we are forming a Latino Social
Work Network in New York City. The goals of the Network will be to (a)
increase the number of bilingual, bicultural Latino social workers, to
respond to the current critical shortage, (b) provide and promote a mentoring
support network for Latino students, and, (c) help Latino graduates to
advance to positions of leadership in the profession.
Second, in conjunction with the United Federation of Teachers, our Chapter
is sponsoring a major symposium in support of the 1,200 school social
workers in New York City. This all-day conference in November will feature
Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, MSW, as keynote speaker, and will represent
part of our focus on and advocacy for the needs of school social workers,
who are providing front-line mental health services today in our public
schools.
Third, responding to members’ requests, the Chapter will be initiating
a series of cutting edge seminars this fall as part of our Continuing
Education Program. While retaining the ever-popular workshops on “Preparing
for the LMSW (formerly CSW) Exam”, we will be offering new sessions
entitled “Essential Steps to Successful Documentation”, “Bridging
the Gap of Mistrust: Helping Distressed Adolescents” and “The
Power of Motivational Interviewing”. It will be very exciting.
Finally, your Chapter’s Board and staff will be working assiduously
to ensure that the new Social Work
Licensing Law is properly implemented. Our NASW Chapter fortunately was able to stave off virtually all of the narrow and prescriptive recommendations made by the NYS Clinical Social Work Society, and we now feel confident that the new law and regulations will strengthen our profession, and the clients we serve.
Where our Chapter is now, and where we are headed, are a tribute to the
leadership we have all enjoyed under the guidance of our past President
Mary Pender Greene. She has been a wonderful mentor, an inspirational
chair of our Board of Directors, and a wise counsel to staff and agency
leaders. It is an honor to follow in her footsteps, and I know I will
continue to be guided by her wisdom, passion and example.