Graduate Social Work Students Conduct Azusa City Needs Assessment
Azusa Pacific University
In fall 2012, 23 Azusa Pacific graduate social work students immersed themselves in the Azusa community, visiting schools, families, businesses, and government officials to collect data for a comprehensive needs assessment that culminated the following fall. Funded by the Canyon City Foundation’s generous $5,465 grant, APU social work faculty members Adria Navarro, Ph.D., LCSW, and Kimberly Setterlund, LCSW, spearheaded the project. Under their supervision, students applied the theoretical and practical skills learned in Navarro’s Advanced Community Practice course to gain a better understanding of the issues residents face and offer recommendations to address them.

[Video] Domestic violence victims ‘forgotten face’ of homeless, advocates say
The Orlando Sentinel
Two years ago, Christie Gomez left her family, friends and hometown to flee an abusive husband and move to a Kissimmee motel room with her three children. “Eventually he would have killed me,” the 31-year-old said. “The anger-management classes he was ordered to take only made him more aggressive.” Gomez still had a roof over her head but no real home. And she was about to be booted from yet another rent-by-the-week motel when a social worker at her son’s school referred the family to Harbor House, a domestic-violence program.

Social workers serve huge needs
The Tennessean
Social workers play a critical role in society, filling voids people do not ponder until they experience a crisis or life-changing event. We are strong voices representing those who, otherwise, could continue suffering due to circumstances often beyond their control. As we reflect back on Social Worker Awareness Month in March and look forward to Older Americans Month in May, it is an opportune time to thank those who assist others. Social workers help everyone: those at the beginning and end of their lives, members of families and those who are alone.

Community seems mixed on raising minimum wage
KUAM
But it wasn’t all opposition compared to the two previous hearings, as University of Guam student and aspiring social worker Renaysha Pangelinan said it’s a step in the right direction. “Sure, we cannot fix all of Guam’s problems, at least not today, but we can make gradual states to a socially just society. I believe Bill 316 is one of those steps the only way our island will fail is if we sit back and allow it to,” she said. The Guam chapter of the National Association of Social Workers shared that support saying an adjustment of the minimum wage to the economic realities of Guam is long overdue. Chapter manager Ovita Rebanio Perez on behalf of chapter president Amy Sue Borja Santos said, “We social workers witness everyday how living conditions of working poor people become breeding grounds for all sorts of social ills – such as substance abuse, family violence and other crimes.”

Rosie O’Donnell Will Reprise Role as Big-Hearted Social Worker on The Fosters
SheWired
Never fear if you loved Rosie O’Donnell as Rita, the big-hearted social worker who gives the best advice, on The Fosters. Rosie will reprise her role for two episodes in the second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.… Rosie will appear in two episodes in August, according to THR.