Making It Happen: PACE kicks off campaign to elect social workers
(June/July 1997)

Social workers had the opportunity to cheer on two of their own on June 5 when Ruth Messinger and C. Virginia Fields spoke at a "Making It Happen: Electing Social Workers in New York City," a meet the candidate night" sponsored by NYC-PACE (Political Action for Candidate Election, the political action arm of the Chapter).

The event, which was held at the Hunter College School of Social Work, focused on what social workers can do to help in the primary election campaigns of Ms. Messinger, who is running for Mayor and Ms. Fields, who is running for Manhattan Borough President. The two social workers have endorsed each other's candidacies. The Democratic Primary is Tuesday, September 9, 1997.

Ms. Messinger told the assembled crowd that she came "...with love and affection for NASW and PACE" which endorsed her early in her campaign over a year ago. She reminded the group that "social workers know how to organize...know how bad things are...use your own professional experiences as you organize," she added.

When enumerating her priorities, she listed "Education, education, education!" as number one and noted that the Giuliani administration was spending less per school child every year of its incumbancy. Her challenge, she said, will be to make every New York City school as good as the best of the schools. Her other priority is managing the state of the City's finances, pointing out that New York City's unemployment rate is twice the national average and that youth employment is 27% city-wide.

She stated that the City must have an aggressive job-generation program, and pledged not to negotiate with any business for a tax abatement without including job creation and training as a requirement.

Ms. Fields urged social workers to "join in on the campaign trail and shape where we go from here." If elected, she said, she would maintain the accessibility of the Borough President's office and be broad based in her outreach. She would work with a wide variety of groups to impact policy, and said that education, businesses, and quality of life issues were her focus.

"We must do more on the neighborhood level and create partnerships between the private sector and communities," she urged.

Managers of both campaigns told social workers to get involved by gathering signatures for petitions on primary ballots; volunteer for the campaigns; and "get people to vote." To get involved in Ruth Messinger's campaign, call (212) 964-1997; to work for C. Virginia Fields' election, call (212) 695-3494.