Winners Announced for NASW-NYS Westchester Division Social Work Awards

NASW-NYS/NYC, Westchester Division

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 NASW-NYS Westchester Division Social Work Awards!

 

Lifetime Achievement Award

Mona Swanson, LCSW

The Children’s Village

 

Social Worker of the Year

Andrea Harewood, LCSW-R

Lincoln Hall Boys’ Haven

 

Champion of Social Justice

Karl Bertrand, LMSW

Program Design and Development, LLC

 

Public Citizen of the Year

Stephanie Marquesano

The Harris Project

 

Awards dinner registration is now open! Please join us in honoring our award winners on Thursday, March 28, 2019, at Woman’s Club of White Plains/C.V. Rich Mansion.

2019 NASW-NYS Westchester Division Celebration of Social Work Awards Dinner 

March 28, 2019

5:45 p.m. cocktail hour, 6:45 p.m. dinner

at The Woman’s Club of White Plains/C.V. Rich Mansion
305 Ridgeway, White Plains, NY 10605

 Reservations must be in by March 15, 2019!

Register Now

In Memoriam: Desiree “Desi” Benet (1950 – 2018)

Divisions, NASW-NYS/NYC

Desiree “Desi” Benet, LMSW, served as Genesee Valley Division Chair in 2018, where she worked on events that would bring awareness to what social workers do in the Genesee Valley region. NASW-NYS will greatly miss her leadership. 

In Memoriam: Desiree “Desi” Benet

December 27, 1950 – December 27, 2018

It is with great sadness we inform you that NASW-NYS Genesee Valley Chair and longtime NASW-NYS member Desiree “Desi” Benet, passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 27, 2018, following a seven-year battle with breast cancer.

A graduate of Monroe Community College and Rochester Institute of Technology, Desi held a Licensed Master of Social Work, which she earned at the University of Toronto. She served as a Child Protective Case Worker with Monroe County for almost 30 years and has remained active with the Social Workers Union Retirees and the Democratic Party’s 23rd Legislative District Committee. Following her retirement, she worked with Catholic Family Services of Toronto for five years as a Child Protective Team Supervisor.

In her third career, she has been a faculty member with the Distance Learning Division of SUNY Empire State College since 2013, where she passed on her knowledge teaching human services to Bachelor level students. In 2018, she was appointed as Genesee Valley Division Chair of the National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter, a role she embraced enthusiastically.

Desi was an advocate for recruiting students into the social work field and during her time as the Division Chair, she worked on events that would bring awareness to what social workers do in the Genesee Valley region.

We are grateful to have had Desi serve as a leader in our Chapter and will miss her leadership dearly. We extend our most heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the family and friends of Desi during this challenging time.

Read Desi Benet’s full obituary at https://www.crawfordfuneralhome.com/notices/Desiree-Benet

*New* NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program

Divisions, NASW-NYS/NYC

A recent Forbes article highlights a new student loan repayment program that can help you repay student loans of up to $75,000. 

In an effort to combat the nation’s growing opioid crisis, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, launched the NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program (SUD Workforce LRP). This new student loan repayment program offers up to $75,000 to qualified health care professionals for three years of full-time service at an approved substance use disorder site, particularly in “health professional shortage areas.” There is also a part-time option for three years that awards up to $37,500 for student loan repayment.

To apply to the NHSC Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program, you must meet several requirements, including that you must be working, or have accepted an offer of employment by the date you submit an application, at an NHSC SUD Workforce LRP-approved service site. Complete set of requirements and instructions are available on their website and in the NHSC SUD Workforce LRP Application and Program Guidance (APG) document. (Download – PDF)

Application deadline is February 21, 2019, at 7:30PM EST. Please direct all questions and inquiries regarding the Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Program to NHSC.

Learn More
 

Source: Zack Friedman, “This New Program Will Pay $75,000 of Your Student Loans.” Forbes. February 7, 2019.

 

Meet Interim Western Division Chair: Cheryl Mills, LCSW-R

NASW-NYS/NYC, Western Division

 

New Interim Western Division Chair:
Cheryl Mills, LCSW-R
 

Cheryl Mills, LCSW-R, has been named Interim Division Chair for the NASW-NYS Western Division as the 2019 Chapter Election is under way. Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Cheryl!


NASW-NYS Interim Western Division Chair Cheryl Mills, LCSW-R

My name is Cheryl Mills, LCSW-R, and I am a graduate of the University at Albany’s School of Social Welfare. I have been a member of NASW for 30 years and an active member of Western Division Steering Committee since 2006.

I have extensive experience in health care and mental health care. For almost 11 years, I worked as a medical social worker at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and during that time, I also served as field instructor for the University at Buffalo’s Master of Social Work program. I have approximately eight years of social work case management experience in a health maintenance organization, handling medically complex case management with individuals with multiple chronic illnesses. I was the first master’s level social worker to be employed by this organization, as well as the first social worker to obtain the Certified Case Manager (CCM) credential.

Additionally, my social work background includes more than four years of working as a counselor in two outpatient mental health clinics in the Western New York area; over 10 years at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, where I facilitated psychosocial group therapy on adult inpatient units on a part-time basis; and more than two years of private practice in two independent practitioner groups on a part-time basis. Since July 2018, I have been taking a leave from the social work field to serve as primary caregiver to my partner, who had a stroke two and half years ago, as well as caring for my 91-year-old mother who lives the Syracuse area. I have been working part-time at Wegmans’ bakery department since August 2018 and my plan is to return to the field shortly.

As an active participant of the Western Division’s Steering Committee, I have seen the Division go through many accomplishments, challenges, and changes. I truly want to see our Division grow and thrive and felt that this is the right time for me to step into the role of Interim Division Chair. I look forward to building a stronger and more unified Division together, and help educate social work students, the social work community, and all of Western New York, on the important, meaningful contributions that social workers make every day.

 

NASW-NYS Western Division
 

NASW-NYS Western Division
The NASW-NYS Western Division is one of the Chapter’s ten division chapters. The goal of the Western Division is to build strength through association in the Allegany, Cattaraugus Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. Please visit naswnys.org/western for more information on how to get involved.

2019 LEAD Update: Racial Equity Assessment in Legislation

Legislative, NASW-NYS/NYC

**Important update regarding the NYS DREAM Act/New LEAD Topic**
 

Racial Equity Assessment in Legislation (REAL)
 

As you may have heard, the NYS Legislature recently passed the José Peralta DREAM Act. We applaud the Legislature’s initiative in tackling a decade-long effort to ensure that undocumented persons have access to higher education and professional opportunities in New York. We know that diversity benefits all of us and the DREAM Act helps a diverse population realize the American Dream.

In light of the Legislature’s action, we have decided to turn our focus for LEAD to the Racial Equity Assessment in Legislation (REAL) Act, which would require that the Legislature create a mechanism by which all bills be viewed through a racial equity lens. This process will help ensure that the laws passed to protect and support New Yorkers, do so for all New Yorkers. This is the first time we have ever had to change a LEAD topic, but it is with good reason: our first advocacy goal was achieved. 

We hope you will continue to join us in Albany on Tuesday, March 5, to ensure both racial equity and a strong financial investment in the social work profession, are realized in 2019! Visit naswnys.org/LEAD for more information.

 

Register Now for 2019 LEAD
 

2019 Social Work Legislative Education and Advocacy Day

Social Work Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) is a legislative event hosted by the National Association of Social Workers – New York State (NASW-NYS) Chapter, the New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA), the New York State Association of the Deans of Schools of Social Work, and the National Association of Social Workers – New York City (NASW-NYC) Chapter that brings hundreds of social work students and professionals to the Capitol. The goal of this event is to further social workers’ knowledge about policy issues in substantive areas of social work practice, teach participants about legislative advocacy, and provide an opportunity for social workers to lobby on behalf of specific legislation. This year’s LEAD event is on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. 

NASW Foundation Now Accepting Applications for Scholarships and Fellowships

Divisions, NASW-NYS/NYC

The NASW Foundation is now accepting applications for scholarships and fellowships to assist students pursuing a variety of social work specialties.

for fellowships in health care and scholarships involving work with African American communities and with American Indian and Latino populations.

Applications are due by March 5, 2019.

Learn more:

Questions? Email

The NASW Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization created in 2001 to support NASW’s educational, research, and charitable initiatives through a wide range of diverse programs and projects that serve the social work profession, the practitioner, and the public. The Foundation administers this array of programs to fulfill its core mission of enhancing the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through the advancement of social work policy and practice.