 
|
|
|
|
The President’s Pen Aloha everyone. In writing my first President’s pen, I realized both the privilege and honor in representing our profession. I write this with anticipation and anxiety over the next two years. There are many challenges which lie ahead and on this journey will come ups and downs but I feel we will conquer them all. At the beginning of our quest is the acknowledgement that social workers possess unique skills and abilities which separate us from other professions. We know we are unique and no one else can do what we do because of our training and education but we are being challenged to prove that. Before I officially took office we were already embroiled in a major issue with the state Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD), As stated in previous newsletter DHRD wants to establish “broad banding” . This means that they want to establish a “Human Service Professional (HSP) series and eliminate the SW series. If it were not for a few key people this would have been a sealed fate with no discussions. Our thanks to Dr. Joel Fisher who informed Senator Brian Kanno who then introduced the a Senate Concurrent resolution; Rep.Marcus Oshiro introduced and passed the resolution on the House side; NASW’s Executive Director, Debbie Shimizu, who helped see the resolution through the legislative process; Dr. Susan Chandler for writing such an elegant letter to the editor and Governor on behalf of NASW, UH, BYUH and HPU; the three Schools of Social Work and HGEA and most importantly the state social workers who possess the BSW and MSW degrees for rallying around the issue. This could be a great opportunity for all of our Schools of Social Work to partner with the State to increase the workforce with quality educated social workers. The lessons learned here are the power of advocacy and the importance of electing people to our public offices who have the same visions and values as we do. Such people like Sen. Brian Kanno, Rep. Marcus Oshiro, Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, Rep. Dennis Arakaki and hopefully Ryan Yamane (a social worker running for office). With all of us working together we will be successful in retaining the social work classification in the state. Another challenge is our safety net for the most vulnerable people in our society. Recent articles in the newspaper have reported that the Governor will be restricting money to Departments. In the past this usually means that state contracts to the private non-profit social service agencies will be effected. This will in turn affect the services to our clients as well as jobs for our colleagues. Maintaining and hopefully strengthening the safety net was our Legislative priority for 2004. It appears that we need to continue and even strengthen our advocacy in this area. In thinking about social justice and social policy issues I am also reminded of our profession’s roots. Were we made just to be clinical social workers, or social workers in child family, gerontology and health? Have we forgotten what social work was suppose to be about? Does the public really know what social workers do? Identifying who we are, what we do and making that message clear to the public was the outcome of our Summit in 2000 and also underlies what NASW does today. This was a main quest of the late Oscar Kurren. I remember at Board meetings his desire to have a sound public relations campaign for our profession. His dedication and commitment to the profession will never be forgotten. I only wished I could have tapped into his expertise more. Both Oscar and Ruth Ellen Lindenberg will be sorely missed. The recent passing of these two legendary social workers reminds us of the need to keep their spirit alive by pursuing the values which they have shared and given to many. Remembering our history to fight for social justice and having a clear vision to advocate for sound social policies, we can strive to become a profession that is respected and recognized. Lastly, our organization will be 50 years old next year. A time to celebrate!!! Our profession has many heroes and many stories of success to pass on to future generations of social workers. This is a time for us to give recognition and appreciation to each other for our hard work and commitment giving a voice and a face to our most vulnerable populations. It’s a time to be proud of being social workers! It’s a time to feel the power of social work! Join us in March 2005. Sincerely,
Darrin Sato, LSW, QCSW July 2004
|
|
|