Delegate Assembly

Victoria Rizzo, Ph.D., LCSW-R
President (2022-2024)

I am a Professor, School of Social Welfare, University at Albany and an LCSW-R with more than 30 years’ experience as a social work practitioner, educator, policy advocate, and researcher. Previously, I held academic appointments at Binghamton University and Columbia University. I am dedicated to demonstrating the value of social work in health care settings and community-based organizations and the implications for health care policy and the financing of social work services. I served on the NASW-NYS PACE Committee and as the Chair of The Value of Social Work Taskforce. As the President of the New York Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work, I accepted the NASW-NYS organization of the year award. I am a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and the National Academies of Practice (Social Work). I have served on boards of national associations and community-based organizations dedicated to social work. 

Warren Graham, Ph.D Candidate, LCSW, ACSW, SIFI, CASAC
President Elect (2023-2024)

Warren is currently the Assistant Dean of Field Education/Clinical Associate Professor at SUNY Stony Brook. He oversees practicum education, co-chairs the Curriculum Committee and Committee on Professionalism, and teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Warren has been active as an educator, forensic evaluator, and clinician for over 20 years as LMSW, LCSW and  NYS CASAC Counselor.

As an advocate for social justice and human rights, Warren has authored publications that speak to the need for inclusive human rights in the pursuit of social justice, retributive and restorative justice, human rights defenders, examining race, law enforcement culture and social work practice, and power, privilege, and oppression in micro-aggressive environments. His local, regional, and national involvement includes the CSWE Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity, Urban League of Long Island’s State of Long Island Equity Council, NYS Social Work Educators Association Board Member, University of Michigan Diversity Scholars Network Member.

Aiden Jay Kaplan, LMSW
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

Aiden currently serves as the LGBTQ Services Manager at PFY, a Division of Long Island Crisis Center. Aiden manages PFY’s Health & Human Services Initiative, the NYS HIV/STI/Hep C Hotline, and the agency’s Community Education and Internship programs. Aiden has extensive experience developing social work staff, providing cultural relevancy trainings, and mobilizing the LGBTQ+ community. Aiden is also a trained counselor on Long Island Crisis Center’s Crisis Intervention Hotline. Aiden is an active member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the NASW-NYS Political Action for Candidate Election committee, Planned Parenthood’s Educational Material Advisory Council, and the New York State TGNCNB Leadership Collective. As a social work student, Aiden was awarded the Stony Brook University LGBTQ Advocacy Award in 2018. 

Eridian Falcone, MA
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

Eridian Falcone is an artist, educator, social worker, and advocate with an MA in Teaching from George Washington University. She is currently an MSW candidate at Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare. Prior to this, Falcone was a teacher in a District of Columbia public elementary school. As a teacher, Eridian facilitated community interactions with students and mediated all sorts of conflicts. More recently, Falcone has been working as a Crisis Counselor with New York Project Hope and the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless. Her job included street outreach and counseling for individuals experiencing or in danger of experiencing homelessness. Falcone was recently promoted to team leader and now manages a team of crisis counselors within the organization.

Maria Bernal
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

I am currently in my second year of my MSW program at the School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook in the graduating class of 2022. Currently apart from my studies, I am working in a non-profit agency that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Nassau County. This agency works to assist victims with services, such as counseling, housing, and legal assistance at no cost for the victims. Once I have finished my master’s degree, and passed my LMSW exam, I hope to continue expanding my knowledge in the agency clinically, in order to eventually be able to present myself for my LCSW exam. I look forward to furthering my career, and to be able to advance my knowledge of trauma informed therapy. 

Rukhsar (Ruki) Asfe 
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

I am an MSW student at Stony Brook University, and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology. I have been working as a care manager for 5 years, to coordinate care for clients with intellectual/ developmental disabilities & mental health needs. My passion lies in human rights work, and I am actively seeking to raise awareness regarding the crisis faced by Rohingya People in Southeast Asia. I have also been a member of the Advocacy and Government Relations committee in the NYS–NASW for the past year. Our focus has revolved around expanding voting access to all New Yorkers. In my free time, I enjoy reading. 

Sunny Maguire, LCSW (She/Her)
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

After graduating from Hunter School of Social Work in 2011, I was a community social worker working with those with histories of homelessness, HIV/AIDS, and SMI. I attended The William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute in 2015 and became a psychotherapist at an outpatient mental health clinic. I wanted to remain working in the public sector, but it felt unsustainable due to my working conditions and egregiously low salary for trauma-based work. Since then, I have worked, taught, and organized at numerous universities and agencies, and developed advocacy communities and working groups to improve labor conditions for social workers, with a specific focus on race, gender/sexuality, class, and ability. I run a weekly newsletter and anti-capitalist labor justice instagram account, The Ethical Dilemma, to circulate opportunities and resources to our professional community and I perform annual New York City social work labor trends data analysis and research to inform my community-oriented labor activism.

Gerald Myers, DSW, LCSW-R
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

Dr. Myers provides clinical social work services via private practice and through the organizations Black Men Heal, BetterMynd, and voluntarily through Give an Hour. He is also a part-time instructor at Syracuse University School of Social Work. He is the current chair of the Advocacy and Government Relations Committee, NASW-NYS Chapter. Dr. Myers has served the Chapter as an executive committee member, program committee member, board member at large, and Central Division director. He is most interested in Critical Social Work, Social Determinants of Health and Mental Health, African American Men and Mental health, and comparisons of Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism. Dr. Myers earned his MSW degree from Syracuse University School of Social Work and his DSW from Simmons University.

Billye J. Jones, LCSW
Delegate Assembly Member (2021-2024)

Billye Jones, LCSW, received her MSW from NYU Silver School of Social Work and is a DSW candidate class of ’25. Billye’s primary practice focus has been child sexual abuse and sexual violence treatment, prevention, and intervention. She has over twenty years of experience and has held many roles, including clinician, field instructor, supervisor, program director, and senior leadership positions. She is an adjunct professor at the Silver School of Social Work and Wurzweiler School of Social Work. Until recently, Billye was a Director of Programs at Day One, an organization that works with youth impacted by intimate partner violence. She has a private practice, provides training about sexual abuse and trauma, and recently published a book about child abuse prevention for parents and caregivers. Her goal is to focus on child sexual abuse, prevention, and intervention models and organizations that can improve service delivery for trauma survivors.