Priorities Include Salaries and Reimbursement

Chapter Board Establishes Center for Social
Work Policy and Practice

The Chapter’s Board of Directors, following 12 months of developing a three year strategic plan, established the NYC-NASW Center on Social Work Policy and Practice.

The purpose of the Center is to create a place for all of the work that is being done, and will be done in the future, to address the contribution of professional social workers. 

Three top objectives developed in the Strategic Plan are the objectives of the Center, and include:

Objective One: The chapter will identify and describe the State of Social Work Practice within and across service delivery systems, reflecting the contribution of social work to meeting consumer need and challenges to effective practice, and the Chapter will advocate for system change that supports quality social work.

Objective Two: The Chapter will promote policies and practices that support payment/reimbursement for and funding of social work services that reflect the value of the service delivered.

Objective Three: The Chapter will identify, select, and advocate on behalf of a set of issues that are of relevance to the profession and its clients, that are compatible with the organization’s mission and strategic goals, and effectively communicate the value and impact of social work.

Documenting the State of Social Work

One set of activities within the Center will be to documentthe state of social work practice within fields.  Data will be collected from members and other social workers for the purposes of describing the following:

  Contributions of practitioners to consumers of service within their field of practice.

  Factors that inhibit effective practice such as lack of resources and restrictive policies.

  Impact of poor services on consumers.

  Recommendations for ameliorating problematic conditions.

The knowledge and information gained from this will be used for advocacy and/or collaborative efforts with government officials and for gaining the interest of the media and educating them about human services. 

Selected fields of practice will be addressed over time.

­In addition, the Board agreed that it would be important to cross cut service sectors in the following ways:

1.  To address the needs and opportunities associated with licensing.

2.  To address social work in relation to specific communities, including:

  The Latino Community

  The African American and
Caribbean American Community

  The Asian Community

Support of selected projects

Projects already exist within the Chapter that are addressing selected fields of practice and/or communities and would be brought together under the umbrella of the Center.  In addition to documenting the State of Social Work , existing projects will be encouraged to continue and seek out additional resources, and other projects will be encouraged to develop.  Existing projects, along with organizations that the Chapter is partnering with, include:

  The Gerontological Social Work Project with the NY Academy of Medicine and the Department for the Aging

  The creation of the Latino Social Work Task Force with the Puerto Rican Family Institute

  Demonstrating the contribution of social workers in Central Brooklyn with Miracle Makers, Agenda for Children Tomorrow, the Administration for Children’s Services/Brooklyn Office, and Medgar Evers College .

  The Managed Care Project of the Chapter’s Health Care Policy and Practice Network

  The Chapter’s Lobbying Alliance with the NYS-NASW and 1199/SEIU

Create the task force on social work salaries and reimbursement

In addition to the numerous projects that the Chapter is already engaged in, the Board agreed to establish the Task Force on Social Work Salaries and Reimbursement.  Once established, the Task Force will begin by collecting data.  According to the plan, the Task Force will also:

“Conduct appropriate and informed advocacy in support of improved social work salaries, benefits, and reimbursement within a context of a social work career trajectory, that is on par with comparable professions and with regard to comparisons within the profession.”

Professional and personal development for our diverse membership

The Strategic Plan also calls upon the Chapter to provide high quality programs and services to support the professional and personal development of NASW’s diverse membership.  It intends to do this through the following:

  Provide opportunities for members to learn through peer education and mentoring.

  Provide relevant, interesting, and high quality continuing education opportunities for members to increase their professional knowledge and expertise and improve their practice.

   Systematize the delivery of resource information to Chapter members.

   Provide high quality communication vehicles to increase members’ knowledge of important trends and issues in the field.

  Provide opportunities for members to learn through peer education and mentoring.

 

The process for developing the Strategic Plan was supported through the United Way of New York City , which provided planning consultants from The Conservation Company (TCC).  TCC conducted numerous interviews with social workers, both from within the Chapter and throughout the broader social work community.  Based on their findings, a vision statement was developed by the Strategic Planning Committee.  This statement then guided the development of the overall plan.  The plan is projected to guide the Chapter through 2006 and possibly beyond.