This second session in collaboration with the NYC Health Department will provide social workers with practical tools, strategies, and resources to support immigrant communities amid rapidly evolving federal policies and enforcement realities.
Participants will explore approaches to addressing core support needs — including access to health care, community services, language access, crisis response, and culturally responsive care across practice settings in NYS — drawing on resources such as the NYC Health Immigrant Health Resources.
The program will also address the evolving challenges facing sanctuary cities and immigrant-serving communities under the current federal administration. Presenters will discuss advocacy considerations, legal and policy perspectives, and community-based responses relevant to contemporary social work practice, with attention to the shifting realities impacting immigrant New Yorkers.
The session will be introduced by the NASW-NY Immigration & Global Social Work Collective.
Sam Solomon
Executive Director for Strategic Policy Initiatives · NYC Health Department
Sam Solomon has served as an attorney, policy analyst, and manager at the Mayor's Office working on immigration, criminal justice, privacy law, and more, as well as at the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. He also teaches health policy at Weill Cornell Medicine and has previously worked as a journalist.
Adela M. Rodriguez, LMSW
Director, Behavioral Health Office of Emergency Preparedness & Response · NYC Health Department
Adela M. Rodriguez specializes in disaster mental health and acute stress management with over a decade of experience in fostering disaster preparedness and community resilience. She has led response initiatives for several local and national disasters.
Additional guests to be announced.