Danielle Howell is a member:
Reserve Marine inspired by retired Navy Seal to help combat veterans, families
Defense Video & Imagery Distribution
Lance Cpl. Danielle Howell wanted to help combat-wounded veterans. Upon graduating from high school in 2007, she applied to Westchester University of Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She didn’t stop there- on May 9, 2014, she earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of South Carolina. She eventually completed several social work internships with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Even after achieving her goal of graduating from college and working in her chosen field, the native of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, still felt something was missing from her life. “I knew I wanted to do something more than finish college and go into social work, so my dad convinced me to go talk to a Navy recruiter,” she said. “I just didn’t feel it was the right fit for me so I went to the Marines’ office and immediately I knew I was supposed to be a Marine. It just felt like I fit in.”

Veteran overcomes brain injury to obtain master’s at EWU
The Spokesman-Review
Chris Carver spent weeks in a coma after encountering an improvised explosive device in Iraq. Doctors gave him little chance of survival; the U.S. Army flew his wife and parents to Germany to say goodbye. “I woke up two months later in a California hospital,” Carver said. “I couldn’t talk, couldn’t walk and couldn’t sit up.” Less than seven years later, Carver will graduate from Eastern Washington University with a master’s degree in social work.

Holly Zwerling is a member:
Fathers know best: Dads becoming more involved in their children’s education
Miami Herald
As a marriage and family therapist and clinical social worker, Holly Zwerling began to see a pattern: Women picked up their children from school, did homework with them and volunteered in the classroom. “Fathers are often called into school if there is a problem and are seen as a disciplinarian,” she said. Zwerling set out to change that pattern by encouraging dads to get involved and recognizing those who already have done so.

Homeless People and Nonprofits’ Increasing Use of Social Media and Mobile Technology to Connect
Non-Profit Quarterly
Nonprofits are increasingly using social networking as a tool to reach out and communicate with homeless people they serve. Social networking platforms like Twitter give people a chance to network with nonprofits and shelters and even gain connections and support from other homeless online users. In 2011, the University of Southern California School of Social Work released a study that showed that homeless people increasingly own cell phones and are prioritizing data plans for communication, specifically among younger demographics where, for instance, 62 percent of homeless teens have a cell phone.

Michael LaSala is a member:
Black Parents, Gay Sons and Redefining Masculinity
The Root
More than 90 percent of black gay youths listed “family acceptance” as the main factor that could actually make their lives more bearable. But for young African-American males in particular, that acceptance is too often a distant dream. Michael LaSala, a professor of social work at Rutgers University, conducted research on the intersections of homophobia and racism affecting young gay black males. He explains in his work, “When I spoke to white gay boys about coming out, their parents told them ‘You have everything going for you, so why choose this?’” But, by contrast, when he speaks to African-American boys, their parents say, “You have everything going against you, so why choose this?”