| Year
|
Event
|
| 1925
|
Am. Association of Social Workers-NYC (AASW-NYC) formed-Parent organization to NASW-NYC
|
| 1936
|
AASW-NYC’s first proposal for social work licensing in NY
|
| 1955
|
National Association of Social Workers, NYC formed
-Merger
of 7 organizations: 1) AASW, 2) psychiatric social workers, 3) group
workers, 4) school social workers, 5) community organizers, 6)
researchers, 7) medical social workers
-Chapter had 1800 members - NYC was largest chapter in country
|
| 1962 to 1968
|
NASW-NYC
forms Civil Rights Committee; organizes national lobby day, meeting
held with President Johnson. NY Times covers meeting with southern
Senator who shares that the filibuster will end. Holds conference on
racism and 500 attend.
|
| 1966
|
Creation in State law of Certified Social Workers (CSW) with NYC Chapter playing lead role in lobbying.
|
| 1977
|
Reimbursement passed into insurance law, Creates the P
|
Late 1970s to
late 1980s
|
NASW-NYC
holds annual lobby days in Albany with 800 one year as the highest
participation. The Educational Legislative Action Network, ELAN, leads
the way. US Congressman recognizes ELAN for its work in speaking out on
welfare reform.
|
| 1982
|
NASW-NYC Women’s Issues Committee holds conference at Columbia University
|
| 1982
|
NYC-PACE formed as NASW-NYC’s political action arm. Governor Mario Cuomo attends PACE fund raiser in 1984.
|
| 1984
|
Reimbursement
expanded in insurance law, Creates the R, more insurance policies
included. Key social workers in NY are recruited to lobby the governor,
who had delayed signing the bill into law. Unions are asked to weigh in
after well positioned social workers bring them along. Opposition from
the insurance industry defeated.
|
| 1986
|
Board
of Education proposes to eliminate school social workers. NASW-NYC
organizes, goes into federal court. Judge stops the plan and the number
of social workers goes from 390 to 490. The number today is 1400.
|
| 1986
|
First conference on social workers in unions held; nine unions that represent social workers in NYC participate.
|
| 1987
|
State
Commission on Health Planning and Review proposes to eliminate
requirements for social workers in hospitals. NASW organizes the field,
lobbies the commission, and defeats the proposal. Standards are
strengthened. Leading advocates for health care were surprised by NASW’s
success with the commission, but they were unaware that several
commission members had MSWs, including the commission chair, and they
were open to our concerns.
|
| 1988
|
NASW-NYC joins with social worker James Satterwhite and supports formation of NYC’s child welfare training academy.
|
| 1992
|
NASW-NYC leadership decides to pursue licensing, including the clinical license.
|
| Mid-1990s
|
Key
Assemblyman opposes licensing and says that certification is adequate.
Justifies this by saying social work is not a matter of life and death.
NASW-NYC runs focus group with members from different fields of practice
and is then able to share what was learned with the legislator. “Okay, I
get it”, he said, “we’ll do licensing”.
|
| 1995
|
Following
death of child known to the city’s child welfare administration,
NASW-NYC engages nine media outlets, including the New Yorker, The
Nation, The Village Voice, and CBS-TV, helping to pressure Mayor
Giuliani to form ACS.
|
| 1996 to 1998
|
NASW-NYC formed task forces of social workers of African Descent and Asian American
social workers. The Gerontological Social Work Committee formed.
|
| 1999
|
Licensing
legislation introduced in Albany, but the LMSW was removed at the end
of the session. The bill did not pass but the Assembly leadership said
that only the LCSW could be considered in the future.
|
| 2000/2001
|
After
a year of preparation, NASW-NYC forms first lobbying Alliance with a
labor union in country, 1199. Legislative breakfast with 1199 President
raises NASW’s profile in Albany, as one lawmaker said, “to the highest
level”.
|
| 2001
|
NASW-NYC office closed due to collapse of World Trade Center on Sep. 11. In following
week,
from temporary site, NASW organized over 300 volunteers to help with
the emergency response. On October 9 NASW-NYC held a forum for the
social work community with 650 in attendance, addressing how the
disaster affected low income and communities of color, including
immigrant communities.
|
| 2002
|
NASW-NYC
insists that the LMSW be put back into the licensing legislation
despite Assembly leaders’ opposition. Opposition to licensing from a
powerful legislative caucus was turned around with help of 1199. This
leads to passage of licensing law.
|
| 2003
|
NASW-NYC
takes leadership in profession to promote Undoing Racism training for
social workers and CEOs of agencies. Thousands take training in
subsequent years.
|
| 2003
|
All-day
conference held addressing need for bi-lingual, bi-cultural social
workers with 400 attending; leads to formation of Latino Social Work
Task Force, which initiates efforts for loan forgiveness and ultimately
raises $500,000 in scholarships over 10 yrs.
|
| 2004
|
NASW-NYC
forms licensing task force and sets out to inform profession and
agencies in NYC about requirements, including grand parenting period.
|
| 2005
|
NASW-NYC
leadership organizes at the first national Social Work Congress in
Washington, DC and gets the need to address racism into three of 12
imperatives for the next decade.
|
| 2005
|
The
NYS Social Worker Loan Forgiveness Program established in first year of
lobbying. Governor’s staff ask how this was accomplished when several
other professions were not able to get a similar program enacted. Loans
of up to $26,000 could be forgiven, but the $1 million in funding does
not support enough who are in need. Over $7 million expended over the
next seven years.
|
| 2006
|
NASW-NYC
organizes 250 students from all of the graduate schools to do voter
registration. 8,600 New Yorkers registered on one day and NYPIRG says
this is the single largest voter registration day they had seen. PACE
goes on to do voter registration, bringing along the Human Services
Council and a total of 60,000 New Yorkers are registered.
|
| 2009-2010
|
NASW-NYC
forms largest ever coalition on behalf of the profession, involving
agencies from across all fields, to address the end of licensing
exemptions and onerous administrative decisions. Some requirements for
the LCSW loosened and the experience requirement was cut by 33%.
|
| 2013
|
Defeated Governor’s proposal to make licensure exemptions permanent; passed requirements for continuing education.
|
| 2014
|
Funding for loan forgiveness increased by $250,000. NASW-NYC begins planning for mandated continuing education program.
|