Experts estimate there are 14,000 homeless people in the Garden State, up from 13,000 in 2009.

To learn more about the services social workers provide clients from all walks of life, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Website by clicking here.

AnnMarie Walsh uses free wi-fi at a train station to check her social networking accounts. Photo courtesy of Daily Record.

AnnMarie Walsh was homeless but wanted to share her story of survival and educate the public about the plight of the homeless. So she opened up Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and blog accounts and used a computer at a public library in Chicago to update fans.

According to this article on Chicago’s WGN-TV, Walsh soon had more than 4,000 followers on Twitter. Her tweets also led her to a hospital social worker who helped Walsh find permanent housing.

Now Walsh, 41, is using social networking to help homeless people who are seeking advice.

“Most of them think that homeless people are all criminals, on drugs, alcoholics,” she told the Daily Herald. “They think we don’t try to get out of homelessness and that we aren’t successful at anything. Some (homeless people) have college degrees and because of the economy got laid off.”

To read more about Walsh click here and click here.

To learn more about how social workers help people from all walks of life visit the National Association of Social Workers “Help Starts Here” Website by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Mobiledia.

Homeless teenagers value having a cellphone as much as having food or drugs, according to a study from the USC School of Social Work.

The study raises the potential use of mobile technology to communicate with this vulnerable group and provide them with services, researchers said. In fact, social service agencies should offer homeless teens help in getting cellphones and paying cellphone bills, they said.

“It is a relatively easy structural way to get them off the streets,” said Eric Rice, lead author of the study.

The study was published in the December issue of the Journal of Urban Health. You can also click here to read an article about the study at Mobiledia.

To learn more about the valuable services social workers provide people from all walks of life, visit the National Association of Social Workers “Help Starts Here” consumer Website by clicking here.

Aaron Alvin Sr. Photo courtesy of WALB 10.

Cheers to WALB 10 for this article on Aaron Alvin Sr., who recovered from homelessness and drug addiction to receive a master’s degree in social work from Florida International University in Miami.

“I wanted to make sure I was in a position to help people and so I went ahead and got my master’s,” said Alvin, 50, who graduated with a 3.73 grade point average. The audience at the graduation ceremony gave him a standing ovation.

Alvin said a judge helped him by putting him in a drug treatment program. He wants to return that favor to others.

Alvin currently works with the homeless and hopes to one day open his own clinic to help people with drug addictions.

To learn more about how social workers help people overcome addictions visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Addictions Website by clicking here.

Beth Davalos on "60 Minutes."

Florida social worker Beth Davalos hopes her two appearances on CBS’s long-running television news magazine “60 Minutes” will continue to help galvanize the public to address the growing number of homeless children and families in central Florida and around the nation.

“It’s really hard for people to get engaged,” Davalos, MSW, LCSW, told SocialWorkersSpeak.org. “That is what ’60 Minutes’ has done — they have really brought it to light and they did a respectful job.”

Most people think of the homeless as people grappling with alcoholism, drug addiction or mental illness, Davalos said. However, in these tough economic times children and families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

Davalos is coordinator for the Seminole County Public Schools’ Families in Transition Program, which helps homeless families. She and 16 other Seminole County school social workers have their work cut out for them.

The housing market collapse and high unemployment have hit central Florida particularly hard. As a result there are 1,500 homeless children in the county, up 30 percent from last year, Davalos said. That number could rise to 2,000 by the end of the year, she said.

However, the central Florida number is dwarfed by the 1.5 million children that are homeless across the nation, Davalos said.

“60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley first reported on homelessness in the Seminole County in March and again on Nov. 27. He followed families such as unemployed carpenter Tom Metzger and his two children Arielle, 15, and Austin, 13.

"60 Minutes" reporter Scott Pelley talks to homeless children in Seminole County. Screenshot courtesy of CBS.

The children’s mother died when they were young and Metzger cannot find his usual work in the home building trade. When he was down to his last $1,000 he bought a panel truck on Craig’s List. That truck is now their home and Tom shuttles the children to gas service stations to wash up before school.

 Tom Metzger bravely tries to live as normally as possible. He parks the truck in front of a library so his children can get books and use computers and enrolled Arielle and Austin in a community theater group.

“Yeah, it’s not really that much an embarrassment,” Arielle said. “I mean, it’s only life. You do what you need to do, right?”

The “60 Minutes” reports have prompted a flood of support for homeless families in central Florida, Davalos said. For instance, members of the First Baptist Church of Orlando pledged $45 million for homelessness and there are now 45 food pantries in schools, she said.

Davalos said the key to fighting homelessness is collaboration. Private companies, faith-based organizations, schools, government and individuals must work together to address the problem. What the “60 Minutes” segments did was put attention on the problem and forced people to recognize it, she said.

 The media attention must continue to put out information on the homelessness epidemic, Davalos said. In fact, Pelley promised to return in about six months and follow the progress of the children.

“I think people get so sad when they see it on television they turn the channel,”Davalos said. “Now people are saying, ‘What can be done?’, ‘How can we get involved.’”

A homeless family finds emergency shelter in a hotel. Screenshot courtesy of CBS.

Seminole County and school social workers have been working for years to address homelessness. There are now 18 agencies working together in the county to ensure homeless families and children get services, Davalos said.

 School social workers are the “hidden heroes” behind helping these families, Davalos said. They work on the front lines to ensure families get emergency housing and other services so children can live as normally as possible and focus on just being kids and doing well in school.

“The success of these children is because of the social workers getting their basic needs met,” she said.

To watch the Nov. 27 “60 Minutes” segment on homelessness that features Davalos, click here. To find out more information on Davalos’ Families in Transition program and to help homeless families in Central Florida click here. And to learn how social workers help families overcome challenges visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Website by clicking here.

Cary Dolego. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Ukrainian social workers rescued an American who came to the former Soviet Republic to marry a woman who never showed up to meet him in the town of Chernivtsi, according to this Washington Post article.

Cary Dolego, who was once a write-in candidate for Arizona governor, traveled to the Ukraine for an engineering research project and to look for a wife. He traveled to Chernivtsi in hopes of marrying a woman he met online named Yulia but she never showed up for a planned meeting.

Dolego ran out of money and ended up homeless, hungry and suffering from pneumonia when social workers found him. The U.S. Embassy loaned Dolego money to return home but Dolego said he plans to return to the Ukraine to continue his search for love.

Scene from Occupy DC camp in Washington, D.C. The movement has spread to cities around the world.

Social workers have been called in to assist homeless people who are taking part in the Occupy Los Angeles protest surrounding City Hall, according to this article in the San Jose Mercury News.

The Occupy movement that has spread across the globe protests policies that favor the rich. However, the presence of homeless people who may have mental illness or a drug addiction has caused disruption at Occupy Los Angeles.

“It’s created disorder in the encampment,” said organizer Clark Davis. “It’s sort of weakened our stance.”

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless transition to independent living check out an article on the homeless at the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” consumer Website by clicking here.

The article mentions the work social workers are doing to help children who are living in cars and have parents who are poor but still earn enough income so children cannot get free breakfast and lunches at schools. One of these students would go to the library during lunch so they would not smell food they could not afford to buy  in the cafeteria.

“It’s huge,” Dr. Ruth Crawford, director of student services at Hempfield School District, said about the county totals. “It is very different than 10 years ago. It’s insane.”

Social workers help young people overcome life’s hurdles. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Web page by clicking here.

Putting families in emergency shelters in hotel rooms can cost an average of $2,400 a month. So Patrick is looking at other options.

Under his proposal the state would hire 120 social workers,  housing specialists, and other contractors to use about a third of the state’s emergency assistance budget to help families avoid eviction or cover the cost of housing families in temporary apartments.  

SocialWorkersSpeak.org commends the Patrick administration is considering hiring social workers to help address the state’s homeless problem.

To get an example of how social workers help the homeless click here to read “Family Safety Real Life Stories — From Homelessness to Independent Living,” an article posted on the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” consumer Website.

Dominic Ruffin. Photo courtesy of The Sun.

Cheers to The Sun in San Bernadino, Calif., for this article about Dominic Ruffin, an aged out foster child who was homeless for seven months while in college.

Ruffin graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Cal State University San Bernadino College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He wants to pursue a master’s degree in social work and become a social worker.

Ruffin had been living in his car and sleeping in the library. Jean Peacock, a professor of psychology and human development, saw him in the library early in the morning, struck up a conversation with Dominic and discovered he was homeless. She helped him get on-campus housing.

“He wants to be a model and talk to youth who are going what he’s gone through,” Peacock said. “It’s his statement of purpose.”

Wanda Rolon. Photo courtesy of MassLive.com.

Cheers to MassLive.com for running this article about social work student Wanda Rolon, who won the Irena Sendler Award from the Elms College and the New England Chapter of the  Kosciuszko Foundation.

The Kosciuszko Foundation promotes educational and cultural exchanges between the United States and Poland. The $500 Irena Sendler Award is given to honor social worker Sendler, who led a team of other social workers who saved more than 2,000 Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II.

Rolon, 38, had bouts of homelessness when she was younger and is dedicated to helping others in similar straits. She oversees homeless shelters in Northhampton, MA. Rolon, who is a National Association of Social Workers member, is also working toward a bachelor’s degree in social work from Elms College.

“I was homeless when I was younger,” Rolon said. “I was blessed to have friends.”

Image from Irena Sender film.

 

The documentary “Irena Sendler: In the Name of  Their Mothers” is airing on PBS channels on May 1. Director Mary Skinner offered NASW a special screening of the film in December. To read about that event click here. And to find out what channels the film is airing in your area click here.

Nancy Hiatt. Photo courtesy of the Northwest Herald.

Cheers to the Northwest Herald for this profile of National Association of Social Workers member Nancy Hiatt.

Hiatt is the CEO and president of Home of the Sparrow, a homeless shelter for women and their children in McHenry County, Illinois northwest of Chicago.

Hiatt has a master’s degree in social work but went back to college for an MBA. In these tough economic times she said that degree has given her the business acumen she needs to keep her nonprofit organization running.

“I think that during this recession, when so many nonprofits are getting so hard hit (it’s very important),” she said. “ There’s a whole lot of executive directors who have a lot of background in social work but not in business. I knew that I needed to acquire better and more business skills.”

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless click here to read “Family Safety Real Life Stories — From Homelessness to Independent Living” on NASW’s “Help Starts Here” consumer Web site.

Mike Ferullo. Photo courtesy of WickedLocal.com.

Cheers to WickedLocal.com in Newton, Mass. for this article on National Association of Social Workers member Mike Ferullo.

Ferullo took up running to cope with stress while earning his master’s degree in social work from Boston College in the 1970s. Now he has started a running club with the hopeFound homeless services agency to help men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction find a new focus in life and improve fitness.

“Socially, it is a positive experience for these guys,” Ferullo said. “It helps them physically [by] getting them into shape, emotionally with cravings and mentally with their mood.”

Social workers often help clients overcome mental illness and addictions. To learn more, visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Mind and Spirit Web page by clicking here.

Sister Mary Alice Murphy. Photo courtesy of the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Cheers to the Fort Collins Coloradoan for this article on social worker Sister Mary Alice Murphy, a one-woman wrecking crew against homelessness.

Murphy says she is fighting to end homelessness in the Fort Collins area and  is active with several organizations, including one named in honor of her — the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center of Hope.

Murphy said she was inspired by her parents. “Both Mother and Dad believed you should help other people,” she said. “I think a lot of who you are is what your parents instill in you.”

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless check out the resources available at the National Association of Social Workers’ Homelessness Web page section by clicking here. NASW’s “Help Starts Here” also features the ”Family Safety Real Life Stories — From Homelessness to Independent Living.”  To read it click here.

Detroit garden nurtures inmates near end of prison sentences
Detroit Free Press
In an odd coincidence, Davis and one of her recent residents, James (Bear) Fuller first met 34 years ago, when Davis was just beginning her career in prison social work and Fuller was beginning his sentence for murder.

Giving a voice to Cincinnati’s homeless
Cincinnati.com
Spring is a licensed social worker who graduated from Xavier University in 2007 with a degree in social work. During college he worked weekends at nonprofit Tender Mercies in Over-the-Rhine, where he learned the importance of listening to the individual stories of the homeless people who needed help.

Social workers help students succeed
Evansville Courier & Press
According to the National Association of Social Workers, the main objective of school social work is to address the social, emotional and psychological needs of students, helping them to overcome difficulties and to improve their overall quality of life.

A $1 Million Goal for Big Brothers Big Sisters
Wall Street Journal
Mr. Kelly met his wife, a social worker who now works as an assistant executive director at the organization, through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

School of Social Work Faculty Discuss Human Trafficking in Fox 7 Interview
UT-Austin
Slavery exists in Texas. People are trafficked into the United States for labor or sex, for forced service. That’s what two researchers from the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin told viewers during a Fox 7 News “Good Day Austin” interview July 27 with Keri Bellacosa.

AZ Social Workers: Limiting Park Access Threatens Body and Soul
Public News Service
Carol Stambaugh, Arizona director for the National Association of Social Workers, says in tough economic times, it’s easy to forget the role of parks in in meeting the needs of the whole person.

Police Investigating Suspicious Death Of Teen
WLNS
Karen Bergbower, Social Worker: “It’s an unfortunate reminder that this problem is pervasive and that, as a community, we need to continue our work.

Gary Wolfe (inset) in a scene from the Chevrolet commerical.

Chevy has a recurring television advertisement that features folks who racked up a lot of mileage on their Chevy trucks. They include Gary Wolfe, who the commercial identified as a social worker who had more than 200,000 miles on his blue Chevy Silverado.

“On the days we help someone move from the (homeless) shelter to permanent housing, those are the best days,” Wolfe says in the TV spot, which has been running since 2008.

We asked SocialWorkersSpeak.org readers to see if they could find the guy in the commercial. As usual SocialWorkersSpeak.org fans delivered! “Shawna” sent us an email saying Wolfe worked for the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH)  in Texas.

So we contacted the folks at the center and a few weeks later Wolfe called us back to tell us how he landed the commercial gig.

Wolfe also told us that although the Chevy commercial identifies him as a social worker he is a case manager at the center, which serves 500 to 700 homeless people a day. The center also employs social workers, according to National Association of Social Workers Texas Chapter Director Vicki Hansen, LMSW-AP, ACSW.

This is how Wolfe got involved with Chevy. His wife went on a trip to Atlanta to visit a friend. That friend introduced her to another friend in advertising, who “friended” Wolfe’s wife on Facebook.

Later on this new friend sent Wolfe’s wife a message saying the company was looking for people who drove a Silverado truck for a commercial. Wolfe’s old truck fit the bill and soon he found himself in a commercial.

“It was real unusual — it happened really fast,” he said. “They weren’t looking for a social worker but anyone with an old Chevy Silverado.”

Wolfe, who grew up in Cleveland and served in the Air Force, said he still drives the truck but doesn’t use it for work as often as he once did. “Mostly I use it for fun stuff. I like to put a kayak on it every now and then and go fishing and camping.”

Clients at the shelter gave Wolfe a standing ovation for appearing on the commercial. Folks still walk up to him sometimes and ask, “Don’t I know you from somewhere,” not realizing at first they saw him on a Chevy commercial. And acquaintances Wolfe hasn’t seen in years will tell him they saw him on television.

Wolfe says he works with “a real steady crew” at the center. Their mission is to find homeless people with psychiatric conditions and assist them with getting mental care, health care and employment. In these economic times Wolfe admits their job has gotten busier.

“Most people are just a paycheck away from being out on the street,” he said. “We are seeing a lot more mothers and children than we’ve ever seen before. I have to admit that is disturbing.”

To learn more about how social workers help the homeless check out the resources available at the National Association of Social Workers’ Homelessness Web page section by clicking here. NASW’s “Help Starts Here” also features the ”Family Safety Real Life Stories — From Homelessness to Independent Living.”  To read it click here.

Ronnie Walker. Photo courtesy of Huffington Post.

Thanks to Huffington Post for carrying this article on Ronnie Walker, a homeless 14-year-old girl in Illinois who needs a lung transplant. Hopefully running the story will get Ronnie the help she needs.

The article mentions the work of social worker Carolyn Taren, LCSW, to find a permanent home for Ronnie.  Ronnie will need a stable environment after surgery, said Taren, who works for Loyola University Health System and is a National Association of Social Workers member.

“What keeps people alive is how they take care of themselves afterward,” Taren said.

Artist Kevin Malcolm Jones. Photo by Jeff Hinckley of the Columbus Dispatch.

There are many stories that show the power of social work. They include this one in Ohio’s Columbus Dispatch newspaper about a social worker who helped a homeless man pursue a long deferred dream to become an artist.

Cameron Holm, a social worker at Southeast Inc., noticed Kevin Malcolm Jones was a good sketch artist. So he got him counseling and connected him to an art workshop and gallery.

Now Jones’ work is being displayed in local galleries and being nominated for and winning awards. “This is my livelihood,” said Jones, who now lives in a subsidized apartment.

Kristin Ferguson. Photo courtesy of USC School of Social Work.

It is crucial to determine whether homeless young adults have suffered from more than one type of abuse, according to a recent study published in the December issue of the National Association of Social Workers’ Social Work Research journal (Volume 33, No. 4).

A sampling of 28 homeless young adults aged 18 to 24 found a majority suffered from a high rate of direct abuse (verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual) and indirect abuse where they witnessed such actions happening to others.

Kristin Ferguson, PhD, MSW, an associate professor at the School of Social Work at the University of South California, said her research will benefit researchers and practioners.

Researchers should assess for multiple forms of abuse in addition to the common measures of physical and mental abuse, she wrote. And practioners should be on the alert because even indirect abuse can cause depression and other symptoms in clients, Ferguson says.

The National Association of Social Workers offers members an array of cutting-edge publications. To subscribe to Social Work Research or purchase other NASW books and journals visit the NASW Press Web page by clicking here.

The main reason is that many shelters want the homeless to take mandatory drug programs to get a bed, according to sociologists Jason Wasserman and Jeffrey Michael Clair.

Wasserman is assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Texas Tech University and Clair is associate professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

They published their research findings in a book, “At Home on the Street: People, Poverty and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness.”

“ It seemed the shelters dealt with addiction and mental illness almost exclusively,” Wasserman said. “That’s great if that’s your problem, but alienating if it’s not. One thing nearly all homeless people do want is jobs.”

To read a Newswise article on the research click here.