Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH Executive Director National Association of Social Workers ©2009NationalAssociationofSocialWorkers.AllRightsReserved. Recently I was reading an article about professional identities. It discussed both the “Great Traditions” and “Grand Narratives” that provide the knowledge base, value orientation, and direction for a profession. One author, in an article titled “The End of Social Work,”1 claimed that social work has departed from its original groundings – and that our grand narratives have been split apart – that they now reflect only little traditions that overlap with other professions. I believe each of us, without much thought, could still define The good we secure for several of our grand narratives. For example, we focus mainly on the social – not the biological, or the psychological, or the ourselves is precarious and anthropological, or the economic. Our profession is called “social” uncertain until it is secured work for a reason. We look at the person in their environment, for all of us and incorporated we look at communities, we look at systems both large and small. into our common life.2 When we determine the root cause of a problem, we look at all the facets and the interrelationships, but it is the “social” that drives our interventions. – Jane Addams Often, our clients are victims of imperfect systems. They are the disadvantaged, disenfranchised, invisible, and forgotten. As social workers, we stand squarely on their side. Given this, perhaps we can say that the greatest – the grandest – of our social work grand narratives is social justice. Our belief in social justice is one of the things that sets social work apartfromotherprofessions.Socialjusticeisdescribedinthemission 1 statement of NASW, and it is written into our profession’s Code of Ethics.3 Our policy manual, Social Work Speaks,4 contains 64 policy statements that are more than words; they are mandates; calls to action; a blueprint for a better, more hopeful and fairer future. We all came to the profession of social work to make a difference – to bring about positive social change – to better society. We could have chosen other professions – psychology, psychiatry, medicine, nursing, or mental health counseling. We didn’t. We became social I had already had a workers and we have committed our careers to working not just with, but on behalf of, others. That’s where advocacy, perhaps what conviction, a “concern”, as we might aptly label “a great tradition,” comes into the picture. the Quakers say, about social justice; and it was clear in my The Social Work Dictionary defines “advocacy” as “the act of own mind that the promotion directly representing or defending others – of championing the rights of individuals and communities through direct intervention of social justice could be and empowerment.”5 made to work practically.6 Advocacy is the cornerstone on which social work is built. It is so – Frances Perkins important that it is framed in three sections of our Code of Ethics. Advocacy for individuals, communities, and systems is not just a suggested activity for social workers. It’s not just a “do it if you have some extra time,” or a “do it if the inequity and disparity are very great” activity. It is a requisite. Without advocacy, there would be no social work profession. 2 Take one moment and think what this country and the world would be like if there were no more social workers. If the profession of social work ended this decade, what would the impact on society be? Who would fill our roles and work to help populations that are underserved and marginalized? Who would speak, like social worker and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, against war? Who would be in the front lines providing comfort and counsel when natural or other disasters occur? Who would take the place of social workers in schools and hospices, in nursing homes and mental health clinics, in prisons and in the military, in communities and in the legislature? The world would be very different — much less caring — and the future would be much less hopeful. Hope is an important concept for our profession and for our society. We have just witnessed an entire campaign to the White House based upon hope. In his 2004 speech at the Democratic convention, then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama spoke to a national audience about the “audacity of hope.” He said, “I’m not talking about blind optimism here – the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it….I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. Hope in the face of difficulty. Hopeinthefaceofuncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. Abeliefinthingsnotseen.Abeliefthattherearebetterdaysahead.”7 3 Social work is the “profession of hope.” It is not simple “optimism” that defines us, but a grounded, full-bodied hope. In the face of even the direst situations, social workers remain hopeful. We know how difficult it is for people to change and maintain, how hard it is to overcome suffering, setbacks, disappointments, and just plain bad luck. Social workers have a passion for social justice, for fairness, Even knowing this, we still don’t give up when trying to help those in poverty, those with chronic mental illness, those who are for making this world a better addicted, or those on parole. We believe that families can be place. It is this purpose that functional; workplaces can be healthy; and communities can be forms the bedrock of our safe. Despite threats of terrorism and world unrest, we believe that careers, but it is possibility that peace is always preferable to war, and that as a country, we have a global obligation regarding world resources and all other peoples. keeps us moving forward. This singular capacity – to be hopeful about future change – allows social workers to practice in prisons, in drug rehabilitation clinics, in domestic violence shelters, in suicide prevention centers, in child protective services, and on the battlefield. It is hope that prevents the school social worker from giving up on the difficult child or the probation officer from giving up on an ex-offender. It is hope that encourages social workers to practice in Appalachia, on Indian reservations, and in inner cities where clients face unrelenting Hope transcends reality. poverty. Because of hope, social workers choose to work in health and mental health care settings despite the prevalence of incurable diseases or conditions. 4 We do not live or work by denying the reality of the society of today. Instead, we recognize that hope transcends reality, and that our combined efforts will continue to improve the world in which we live. As social workers, we recognize the importance of hope in our work. We are “holders of hope” for our clients, our communities, The door might not be opened and our society, and the social work of today will be the legacy of to a woman again for a long, the future. long time and I had a kind of If we ever doubt our impact, a quick look back at a few social work duty to other women to walk pioneers reminds us of not just our potential, but of our power for in and sit down on the chair positive change. For example, the most recognizable face of social that was offered, and so work, Jane Addams, was the founder of the settlement house movement in the United States. She worked with poor and establish the right of others oppressed immigrant communities offering education, clothing, long hence and far distant meals, and training to “provide a center for a higher civic and social in geography to sit in the life; to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic high seats.6 enterprises; and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.”8 Addams also became a passionate advocate for the peace movement, writing Newer Ideals of Peace, – Frances Perkins advocating against World War I, and leading the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Addams’ groundbreaking social work, not only with the urban poor, but in advocating for world peace, was acknowledged by her receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She was the first U.S. woman to receive the honor. 5 Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, was the first woman (and social worker) to be appointed to a cabinet level position. From 1933 until 1945, throughout the entire presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and longer than any cabinet secretary in history, Perkins was the first woman in the line of succession for the Presidency. Perkins had worked with Jane Addams at Hull House before moving to New York City where she became a leading crusader for improved factory safety. She worked with Roosevelt when he was governor of New York. Before accepting her Cabinet Hopkins defined power position, she had gotten him to agree to support her agenda of a “as the ability to do a job, not major unemployment relief program; large-scale public works; as the ability to dominate,” and workers’ rights protections, such as minimum wage, maximum hours of work, and ending child labor. Adam Cohen author of something to be exercised NothingtoFear,the recent book about the first 100 days of the “within the limitations FDR presidency, notes that “by the end of the New Deal, Perkins’ imposed by representative entire agenda had become law.”9 And much of this agenda was government.”10 accomplished in the first 100 days of the Roosevelt presidency. She alsoservedasChairwomanofthePresident’sCommitteeonEconomic Security, which ultimately crafted the Social Security Act of 1935. – John A. Garraty New York Times Most of the safety net we have come to rely upon today was fashioned by Perkins and by another social worker – Harry Hopkins. Hopkins was from Iowa, but moved to New York City after graduating from college. He worked in a settlement house on New York’s Lower East Side and held numerous executive positions with city government and private organizations. Hopkins helped to draft a charter for the American Association of Social Workers, a precursor to NASW, and he was elected its president in 1923. 6 President Roosevelt chose Hopkins to head the first state emergency Instead of conforming to relief agency in New York during the early days of the depression. exclusiveness, people ought to Soon after Roosevelt’s inauguration as President, Hopkins persuaded Roosevelt to create a $500 million federal relief program, conform to inclusiveness. which Roosevelt asked Hopkins to run. Cohen states, “Within I hope that we will be able to months, Hopkins established something America had never seen create the kind of society before: a relief program that distributed federal funds to the states wherein people will have to and imposed national standards.”9 Eventually Hopkins pushed apologize for sameness – for public works projects and became the administrator of them in the New Deal. Hopkins also served as Roosevelt’s chief diplomatic an all-white school or adviser during World War II. neighborhood or church – because this would be an Another pioneer, Whitney Young, Jr., was an adviser to three indication of their immaturity, presidents. He is credited with advocating for a Domestic Marshall their lack of sophistication and Plan to provide African-Americans with special government assistance for a limited time to address the disparities between security. We want a society in Whites and Blacks due to historic segregation. His ideas were the which people will boast of foundation for Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” Young also diversity and the fact that their transformed the National Urban League, using its historic mission churches, their businesses, and focus of training African-American social workers and their schools, and their improving living and working conditions for African-Americans to connect with key policymakers at the national and local level. These neighborhoods are like little policymakers began to see the Urban League as an organization United Nations. This will be an with ideas and solutions for many issues facing communities and indication that they are mature the nation as a result of historic racism and segregation. The Urban and secure human beings.11 League became a recognized and important player in the Civil Rights actions and changes occurring during those years. – Whitney M. Young, Jr. 7 What many people don’t know is that Whitney Young was the president of the National Association of Social Workers when he died accidentally in 1971. He was leading NASW’s efforts on behalf of Civil Rights. Whitney Young challenged everyone to work for a There is a lot to tell the nation that lives up to its founding documents. His first book, To public. The important thing Be Equal includes many memorable statements. Whitney Young now is that we can begin was a passionate supporter of the profession of social work and saying something as challenged social workers to be true to our mission and our ethics. “There is a lot to tell the public. The important thing now is that we persistently as we can. can begin saying something as persistently as we can. The media The media and the and the government, regardless of their reasons, cannot continue to government, regardless of disregard the findings of current research and the knowledge of their reasons, cannot continue thousands of social workers who know as much or more than the so-called experts on the social problems draining the spirit and to disregard the findings of resources of our nation.”11 Whitney Young was a passionate current research and the supporter of the profession of social work and challenged social knowledge of thousands of workers to be true to our mission and our ethics.12 social workers who know Another pioneer, Dr. Dorothy I. Height is one of my personal as much or more than the heroes. At age 97, and as President Emerita of the National Council so-called experts on the social of Negro Women, she still works every day on behalf of those who problems draining the spirit are disadvantaged. Dr. Height studied at the New York University and resources of our nation.11 School of Social Work and began her career as a case worker with the New York City Welfare Department. Dr. Height led the YWCA, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and has served as President of the – Whitney M. Young, Jr. National Council of Negro Women since 1957. She worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was the only woman on the 8