De Blasio Puts Less Police And More Social Workers In City Schools
Kings County Politics
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the city’s Department of Education (DOE) today released an updated memorandum of understanding that will limit police presence in city schools and represents an important shift from what used to be a zero-tolerance approach to school discipline to a student-centered school environment. “We’ve heard from students, teachers and parents across our city, and as a result, we’re revolutionizing our school system and giving our kids the social-emotional tools they need to ensure they develop into healthy adults,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. The agreement will ostensibly be a step in ending the school to prison pipeline and will protect students of color from prejudice policing practices.

Shara Kaszovitz is a member:
Therapy for teens now available at Bolton rape treatment center
The Miami Times
Shara Kaszovitz, LCSW, a social worker at the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center, has already begun to see the positive results since its implementation, and hopes that this program will be ongoing. “Caring for someone who is experiencing trauma symptoms can be overwhelming,” said Kaszovitz. “TF-CBT helps caregivers deal with emotions related to the sexual abuse, implement effective parenting skills, and support for their child.”

Joe Marlin is a member:
BOOKS: ‘Fading Ads of Chicago’
Northwest Illinois Times
For more than 40 years, Joe Marlin, author of the just released “Fading Ads of Chicago,” photographed ghost signs, those fading advertisements painted on the sides of brick buildings, a onetime popular way to advertise in the U.S. “I’d take notes when I was driving to and from work on the west side of Chicago or when I was going to business meetings,” says Marlin, a retired clinical social worker and director of hospital social work services at Mt. Sinai Hospital. “Then I’d organize the notes by neighborhood and go back and take photos.”

Many foster youth live with uncertainty that doesn’t necessarily go away when they become adults but, for some, support helps them move into the next phase
The Sun-Chronicle
Attleboro City Councilor Diana Holmes, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist who runs a practice in the city, said therapy is a place that can offer “hope, self-reflection and support” for individuals in the foster system. Not having a place to call home can be devastating for children, Holmes said, and can affect how they view themselves and fit into the world. “For these reasons, it becomes increasingly important to have healthy connections and support,” Holmes said. “The impact does not end in childhood and can have long-lasting repercussions throughout an individual’s life.”

Documentary looks back at disruption of mental health care
Albuquerque Journal
Ralph Moya, a retired clinical social worker, is featured in the documentary. Moya treats patients in Tucumcari, Clayton, Santa Rosa and Vaughn – all without getting a paycheck. “I have practiced in medical clinics and worked with providers, and I have never left my roots and dedicated my life to social work,” Moya said in the documentary. “After the dismantling of mental health in New Mexico, I decided to help out the areas lacking in services.”

Karen Fredriksen Goldsen and the GenPride Center
University of Washington
The GenPride Center is the first and only multipurpose LGBTQ senior center in Seattle and King County. It was founded by Karen Fredriksen Goldsen, a University of Washington professor of social work, with the goal of combating social isolation experienced by many LGBTQ older adults. Located on Capitol Hill and established with the help of Fredriksen Goldsen’s research, the GenPride Center provides classes, activities and services for LGBTQ seniors.

School of Social Work’s Aging and Longevity Studies program earns AGHE Program of Merit designation
Iowa Now
The University of Iowa’s Aging and Longevity Studies Program’s (ALSP)  certificate program, housed in the School of Social Work, has earned the Program of Merit designation from the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), a national membership organization of colleges and universities that offers education, training, and research programs in the field of aging. AGHE has more than 130 institutional members throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad—and the UI’s undergraduate ALSP certificate program is the first program in Iowa to achieve this distinction.

Noreen Mokuau is a member:
$110K donation to strengthen Native Hawaiian community via social work
University of Hawai’i News
The Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa received a $110,000 donation from the Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation (HPF) to establish an endowment and create funds intended to collectively strengthen the Native Hawaiian community. “We are deeply appreciative of the foundation’s support to partner with us in building a workforce that is community-based and culturally anchored, with overall responsiveness to the needs of the diverse populations of Hawaiʻi, and with unique responsibility (kuleana) to the needs of Native Hawaiians,” said School of Social Work Dean Noreen Mokuau. “We believe that our shared commitment is a reflection of university-community partnerships that are vital to the health and resiliency of Hawaiʻi.”

Child soldiers, adult lives
Boston College
“Not only were child soldiers exposed to horrors during the war, but when they returned to their families and communities stigma was one of the biggest barriers to overcome. We set out to study the effects of the post-war environment on these already-vulnerable youth,” said lead author and Boston College School of Social Work Salem Professor in Global Practice Theresa Betancourt, one of the project’s founding researchers.