Message From the President

Looking Back.... and Looking Forward

This has been an incredibly exciting time for the New York City Chapter and for me. After serving for two prior years as Chapter Treasurer, it has been my added privilege to have been the Chapter President for the last two years as well. During this four year period the Chapter has forged ahead with new initiatives - despite frequent challenges from the government. As I look back over the past year, for example, here are a few of the highlights:

Looking Back

•      Our Chapter’s Latino Social Work Task Force, co-chaired by Maria Elena Girone, the 2006 NASW award-winning executive director of the Puerto Rican Family Institute, raised $25,000 at a benefit luncheon and secured a $50,000 grant from the New York City United Way. The luncheon proceeds will provide scholarships for Latino social work students starting this fall. The United Way grant will seed the overall Task Force project to increase the number of Latino social workers in New York City.

•      In concert with 1199/SEIU, NASW secured and implemented a $1 million New York State Loan Forgiveness Program which will wipe away a significant portion of the debt incurred by 160 recent MSW graduates.

•      Our Chapter has just created a New Professionals Initiative which will focus on the needs of social work graduates of the last few years. We are actively going to help them to (a) pass the LMSW licensing exam, (b) find good jobs, (c) secure mentors in their settings, and (d) learn the techniques for networking that are so important to launching a successful career.

•      Our Chapter provided nationally prominent leadership at the 2005 Social Work Congress and at the recent triennial NASW Delegate Assembly in Washington. The crowning achievement was ensuring that addressing Institutional Racism and promoting Cultural Competence will become national priorities for the Association. Meanwhile, to “put our money where our mouth is”, as they say, here in New York City more than 1,000 social workers have participated in the two-day “Undoing Racism” workshop which we have co-sponsored. With workshop tuition generally underwritten for faculty and students by the deans at our local schools of social work, more MSW students and new graduates have enrolled in these workshops than ever before.

•      After a meticulous review of our Chapter’s Continuing Education Program, offerings were both expanded and focused this year, resulting in an income producing outcome which enrolled a record setting 500 participants.

•      In tandem with the Washington office, we vigorously supported the NASW National Social Work Public Education Campaign by posting 40 eye-catching posters at subway entrances throughout the city. Entitled “Life Can Change in a Second…Professional Social Workers Can Help You Find Your Way”, this message also became a focus on professional social work in Times Square during the week between Christmas/Chanukah and New Year’s Day.

•      In spring of this year we launched an Asian Social Work Task Force to promote expanded opportunities for bi-lingual, bi-cultural Asian-American students to enter the profession in response to the mounting need to serve a greater number of Asian immigrants and refugees in our City. This May 2006 special issue of Currents in fact is our first step in promoting this initiative.

•      Finally, our Licensing Implementation Task Force, skillfully chaired by Chapter First Vice President Jennifer Crumpley, successfully secured a revised interpretation by the New York State Education Department whereby - despite the wording in the new social work licensing law and regulations - a LMSW’s clinical sessions of less then 45 minutes may indeed qualify toward meeting the “hourly” post-MSW practice requirements for becoming a LCSW.

Looking Forward

There is much more to do, however, in the next few years. We need to fight for an additional $1 million of funding for our current Loan Forgiveness Program. We must continue our campaign to rescind the cruel and draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws that unfairly incarcerate drug-dependent clients for long, mandatory terms in prison. We also must work intensively to ensure that licensed social workers are included as providers under the State’s Workers’ Compensation Program on an equal footing with clinical psychologists. And we now will launch an initiative focused on enhancing services to and promoting the empowerment of our clients of African descent.

The Road Ahead

We will be guided by strong leadership as we pursue this agenda. On July 1st, Dr. Rose Starr, Director of Policy and Research at the Alliance for School Mental Health of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, becomes President of the Chapter. She is a simply remarkable colleague, with rich experience in academia and practice, who understands the profession’s dual commitment to providing expert social work services and to promoting progressive social change. As they say in the advertisement, we will indeed be “in very good hands”.

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