Growing up in the South, I accompanied family members to see pioneering Black activist and educator Dorothy I. Height speak at rallies and events. Height emboldened equal rights at a time when society often sent devaluing messages to young Black men and women. Segregation – not inclusivity – was the rule of the day.
Height was a social worker who spent many years on staff at the YWCA in Harlem and New York City and would later serve as president of the National Council of Negro Women. For me, her words, like those of others who sought to uplift humanity, were a call to action that inspired a generation to embrace the clarion call that equal rights is for all Americans.
As I became a college and graduate student of social work, my studies illuminated another civil rights champion who was a social worker, Whitney Young. An advisor on human rights to three U.S. presidents and executive director of the National Urban League, Young worked to turn the tide for individuals facing impoverished conditions by developing housing and job programs. I owe a great deal to Height and Young for influencing my outlook and continued motivation.
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In March, we celebrate Social Work Month, a time designated by the National Association of Social Workers to lift up our profession and acknowledge the profound and positive impact social workers make with individuals, families, organizations and communities.
As social workers, we dedicate our time and expertise to improving the lives of others every day. We assist individuals to build on their existing strengths as they work through challenges. During my first professional role with the Darlington County Department of Social Services, our office received reports of parents in distress. As I investigated these issues, I mostly saw people doing their best and trying to figure out how to be there for their children. So, I established and facilitated the county’s first parent support group to provide these caregivers with the skills they needed to support these young lives.
Being a social worker means embracing the lived experience of other people and meeting them where they are in their life journey. Working in child protective services and foster care programs, I saw the loss that children and families experienced – and the tremendous effort foster families exert to engage, support and connect with these youth and their birth families. Later, I facilitated a peer group for children who had been exposed to violence and saw their strength and resilience as we discussed productive ways to cope and manage emotions they carried from their experiences.
As a profession, social work is much broader than casework. In fact, that’s a common misconception I still hear today as dean of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. We partner with more than 300 sites across Western New York and beyond, where our students complete their field internships. From human service agencies and nonprofits to health care facilities and schools, our students apply the trauma-informed and human rights perspectives they develop in the classroom to begin making real change in our community.
Indeed, social workers guide individuals involved in the criminal justice system, support patients with complex medical needs and provide therapeutic assistance to individuals with mental health concerns. We lead nonprofits, help refugees feel at home in a new place and write policy at all levels of government. Simply put, social workers break down barriers for marginalized populations and uplift communities.
What unites all of us is our dedication to racial and social justice and commitment to honoring the dignity and worth of all those we meet.