National Health Service Corps (NHSC) New Awardees convened in Washington, DC last week for a conference of networking, orientation and education.  NASW members were among the attendees and reported enthusiastically about the conference and about their work as part of the Corps.  The Corps helps Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in the U.S. get the medical, dental, and mental health providers they need to meet their tremendous need for health care.  Social workers with clinical licenses are eligible to participate in the Loan Repayment Program. 

A major site of employment for members of the NHSC are Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).  Their  mission is to improve the health of underserved communities and vulnerable populations by providing comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services.  President Obama has proclaimed this week “National Health Center Week,” encouraging people to celebrate by visiting the centers and learning more about their providers and their services. In addition to working as NHSC employees, social workers can serve as volunteers in the clinics. 

This week, NASW especially acknowledges the work of clinical social workers in these vital and important clinics. If you are not familiar with the FQHCs, visit a center in your community this week.  Learn more about the ways social workers are contributing to the health of the nation.

At 16, I finally entered the “real working world” with a part-time job at McDonald’s making minimum wage. In addition to earning money for a school trip to Germany, I also started contributing to the Social Security System. Every year, close to my birthday, I am reminded of those earnings and my lifelong work history when I receive my statement from Social Security. Like most of us, I have a long relationship with Social Security.

August 14 marks the 75^th anniversary of Social Security. An old-age insurance program was on the list of things social worker Frances Perkins asked President Roosevelt to support before she would agree to be the Secretary of Labor. In a 1962 presentation, Ms. Perkins details the political history and enactment of this program. She says,

“I suppose the roots–the idea that we ought to have a systematic method of taking care of the material needs of the aged–really springs from … the efforts and the struggles of charity workers and social workers to handle the problems of people who were growing old and had no adequate means of support.”

In honor of the anniversary, The Frances Perkins’ Center has developed the “Social Security Stories Project” to document how social security has made a difference in peoples’ lives. They are accepting written submissions of 400 words or less, or about three minutes of video.

There are certainly important discussions and questions about the future of Social Security that need to be addressed; however, I think as social workers we can hope like Frances Perkins did in 1962 that, “It is safe forever, and for the everlasting benefit of the people of the United States.”

This week, InterAction[1] published a Millennium Development Goals (MDG) policy paper as a lead up to the MDG Summit at the United Nations being held from September 20-22, 2010.   Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: The Road Forward for the U.S. contains the recommendations and positions of the US NGO community as developed by InterAction working groups and the InterAction MDG Taskforce over the past several months. 

With only five years left to achieve the MDGs, world leaders will gather at the UN for the MDG Summit  to review progress and successes, discuss obstacles and gaps, and recommit to achieving the goals by the intended deadline of 2015.

Ten years ago, 189 States Members of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, which put on paper previously agreed to goals regarding international development.  From this, a set of specific and measurable development objectives was created and is now known as the Millennium Development Goals.

Learn more about NASW’s work on international issues and how they related to individual MDGs by visiting the NASW Division for Human Rights and International Affairs .