Happy Birthday 19^th Amendment!

Believe it or not, it’s only been 90 years since the 19^th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote in our democracy was made part of the Constitution. Since 1971, we’ve celebrated the anniversary of August 26, 1920, as Women’s Equality Day.

One great way to celebrate would be to make sure that every eligible woman is registered to vote. That includes women turning 18 and those who have recently become naturalized citizens. After all, as important as the right to vote is, it’s even more important to use the vote to help shape the direction of our nation. So make sure you’re registered and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

Women’s Equality Day is also the perfect time to consider what the United States can do to advance women’s rights as human rights.  Social workers concerned with social justice and equity have an opportunity on this day to promote women’s rights by supporting CEDAW – the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

CEDAW, also known as the Women’s Treaty, is a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world. CEDAW helps women and girls by offering a practical blueprint for ending discrimination, stopping violence against women and trafficking of women and girls, ensuring education and vocational opportunities, and increasing political participation including the right to vote and to hold political office.

The United States played an important role in drafting CEDAW, which the United Nations adopted in 1979. But the U.S. remains one of only seven countries, including Iran, Sudan, Somalia, and three small Pacific Island countries (Nauru, Palau and Tonga), that have not yet ratified CEDAW.

That could change this year. It takes the votes of 67 senators to ratify a treaty, and President Obama and over 100 national organizations have expressed their support for the treaty’s ratification.

Ratifying the CEDAW treaty would continue America’s proud bipartisan tradition of promoting and protecting human rights, and it would strengthen the United States as a global leader in standing up for women and girls in countries around the world.

The CEDAW website – www.cedaw2010.org – has more information about CEDAW along with practical suggestions on how you can help the treaty become ratified.  The NASW website also has more information about its work on women’s rights.

The fight for women’s suffrage took more than 70 years of persistent advocacy, organizing and education and was only secured when a 24-year-old member of the Tennessee legislature, acting on a note from his mother, changed his vote from “no” to “yes” so Tennessee became the final state needed to ratify the 19^th Amendment.

So let’s make history again – and help ratify CEDAW.  TAKE ACTION HERE

The Affordable Care Act contains many provisions that strengthen the Medicare program. However, polling data recently released by the National Council on Aging (NCOA), a nonprofit service and advocacy organization whose mission is to improve the lives of older Americans, especially those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged, reveal that many seniors are still confused by the new law, including the provisions that directly relate to Medicare and senior health.

To provide further information about the benefits of the health care law and seniors, the NCOA launched a new educational campaign to help seniors understand what is in the new law and how it will affect them. The Straight Talk for Seniors on Health Reform campaign provides fact sheets and other resources about seniors and health reform.  The campaign can be found at:

http://www.ncoa.org/public-policy/health-care-reform/straight-talk-for-seniors-on.html

The House Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities, chaired by Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), recently held a hearing on “Corporal Punishment in Schools and its Effect on Academic Success.”  McCarthy explained that over 220,000 students were paddled in schools in the United States in the 2006-2007school year, according to the most recent data available from the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

Teachers and school administrators from across the country testified including Wynell Gilbert, a teacher at Erwin High School in Center Point, Alabama. He described a program developed by the American Federation of Teachers that trains teachers to “run effective, orderly, safe, and respectful classrooms” without the use of corporal punishment. It was also noted that research does not indicate that corporal punishment leads to better behaved students or enhanced classroom control. For the full hearing transcript click here http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/healthy-families/

According to Representative McCarthy, corporal punishment is permitted in 20 states and OCR statistics indicate that a disproportionate number of those paddled are African-American or disabled students and are likely to be in kindergarten through the 8th grade. McCarthy stated that she plans to introduce legislation to end paddling in schools, observing that federal statutes already prohibit physical punishment in prisons, jails, and medical facilities. NASW has long been opposed to the physical punishment of children in schools. To read about NASW’S policy statement on this and other school social work issues, go to www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/school/default.asp

NASW has co-signed a letter with the National Child Abuse Coalition, recognizing Representative McCarthy’s efforts to address corporal punishment in schools. To read the full sign on letter, click here.

For more information on NASW’s work in child abuse prevention, go to the Child Welfare or Children Adolescents and Young Adults section, Credentials, and Practice Standards.

On December 8, 2009, the White House issued an Open Government Directive requiring all executive departments and agencies to meet the standards of the Directive. Departments and agencies have been developing their plans and posting data and information on the website created for the project – www.data.gov. A separate interactive site has also been created to make comments regarding the plans, make suggestions, and vote on ideas that are being submitted.

Recently, NASW participated in a meeting held by the Social Security Administration (SSA). They were eager to hear from advocates like us about the types of information that should be easily available. We suggested forming “feedback loops” where people or organizations using the datasets or information could link back to SSA with any new results or research that had arisen because of the availability of the information.

While still a fairly new project, we appreciated the enthusiasm and commitment of the people at SSA in getting this project actualized. We encourage you to visit the site and become involved with your ideas and suggestions.

To join the NASW advocacy listserv, go to
http://capwiz.com/socialworkers/mlm/verify/

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to ask you, and every single NASW member, to contact your members of Congress and show your full support for the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795/ S.686) . This is the first piece of federal legislation ever introduced that will directly address the workforce challenges that our profession is facing. These challenges, such as low salaries, high educational debt, and serious safety concerns are making it difficult to assist the 10 million clients that social workers across the country serve each day. Take a moment to view this CNNmoney.com study, which rates social work at the top of the list of stressful jobs that pay badly. Rep. Towns recently discussed this study in a “Dear Colleague” he sent to his fellow members of Congress asking for their support for H.R. 795.

The Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act is designed to address the workforce challenges we are facing, thereby helping to ensure that millions of individuals and families throughout the nation can continue to receive competent social work care.  The legislation will establish a Social Work Reinvestment Commission to provide a comprehensive analysis of current workforce trends and develop long-term recommendations and strategies to ensure an adequate social work workforce.  In addition, demonstration programs will award grants in the areas of workplace improvements, research, education, training, and community-based programs of excellence.

We also want to thank social workers, Representative Towns and Senator Mikulski, for introducing this legislation and for their consistent dedication and leadership of the social work profession.  We hope you will take a moment to thank them too. You can print this postcard and mail it to Senator Mikulski and Representative Towns or you can send them a quick thank you email. (View Senator Mikulski’s and Representative Towns’ contact information.) It’s important to remember and thank our social work advocates in Congress!

As always, we appreciate your advocacy and leadership on the issues that are important to our profession.

Sincerely,

Executive Director
Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH

On October 5, the country’s largest African-American and Latino organizations announced they are joining forces with other major national civil rights and grassroots organizations to mobilize the nation’s 100 million people of color for a final push in support of universal health care reform.  The organizations included the NAACP National Voter Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, the Campaign for Community Change, and the United States Student Association and PowerPAC.org.  NASW attended the press conference

The groups released television and print ads in English and Spanish that will run in four states with sizable African-American and Latino populations, part of a grassroots effort to ensure that members of Congress appreciate the importance of reform to the people of color they represent.  Those four states are Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas.

The ads can be viewed at www.healthequityforall.org.

Betsy Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director

Yesterday I had the nice opportunity to meet informally with Congressman Ed Towns (D-NY) and three of his staff members. Congressman Towns is the lead sponsor of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act. He is also a staunch advocate for our profession, as he began his career as a social worker. I was joined by fellow social workers Jeane Anastas, the Chair of the Action Network for Social Work Education and Research and  Freddie Avant, President of the Baccalaureate Program Directors of Schools of Social Work. The first thing Rep. Towns said was that he felt social workers were more needed now than ever.  We couldn’t agree more. That led us to further discussion of why our Social Work Reinvestment bill (H. R. 795/ S. 686) is so essential to ensuring a sufficient workforce to care for the ever increasing need for our services. It is wonderful having a social worker in Congress who understands and fully supports our profession.

Find out more about the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative including the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act! Take action today by contacting your Representative and Senators in support of the legislation!

Dear Colleagues,

As an early career social worker, I’ve quickly realized that we have a lot of work to accomplish to ensure that our profession survives and thrives and that we can continue to care for the millions of clients who need our services every single day.  Many of my peers have found that low salaries, high educational debt, or safety concerns are a frustrating, but undeniable part of their social work careers. The profession might be losing potential students and experienced social workers due to these workforce issues. At the same time, due to a collapsed economy and healthcare crisis among other reasons, our clients have never needed us more to guide them to needed resources, counsel them on important life decisions, and advocate with them and on their behalf.

I hope you will take a moment to view this video NASW just recorded for you regarding the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795/ S.686). This legislation is a first step to address all of these workforce challenges and determine the best course of action to strengthen our profession. The bill is important to all social workers, and in this brief video we explain why leaders like Frances Perkins, Dorothy Height, and Whitney Young provide lessons for us to learn from and a legacy we must continue. I hope we can count on our fellow social workers to stand up for our profession as we have always stood up for our clients.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth F. Franklin, MSW
Project Manager & Lobbyist
Social Work Reinvestment
Video: Click here for the written remarks

Send a letter in support of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act to your Representative TODAY!

Send a letter in support of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act to your Senators TODAY!

Read the full text of HR 795 and S. 686 or a summary sheet.

Learn more about the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative

www.socialworkreinvestment.org

During the August Congressional recess, your member of Congress may be hosting a Town Hall Meeting. We would like you to go to the Town Hall Meeting and talk to your member about Health Care Reform.

While many Members of Congress notify constituents of Town Hall Meetings, you can join NASW’s Advocacy Listserv to receive notices regarding planned meetings by your members of Congress. Join the NASW Advocacy Listserv here. You can also go to www.house.gov, search for your member of Congress, and find the district office phone number to call for information about Town Hall Meetings.

Here are some talking points on Health Care Reform

1. Pass health care reform now
2. We want all people covered; national policy must ensure a universal right to insurance coverage for a continuum of health and behavioral health services.
3. We want quality health care.  Health care reform must promote wellness, maintain optimal health, prevent illness and disability, ameliorate the effects of unavoidable incapacities, and provide supportive long-term palliative end-of-life care.
4. We want health care that recognizes the need for social work services; social workers are an important part of the health care team.

You can also relate your personal experience with the health care system. Members of Congress love to hear real stories about what people face in their district.

After you attend the Town Hall meeting, it would be very helpful to NASW’s legislative efforts to have your feedback.  We can then follow up with the Member of Congress.  Click here for an online form or email advocacy@naswdc.org.

If you’d like additional information about health care reform and NASW’s efforts, visit our health care reform Web site page.