Addressing the Elephant in the Room

By Brian Kaufman

After hearing all the back and forth discussions regarding the modernization project I think it is time to address why this all needed to happen in the first place.

It is time that all of us as NASW members must address the proverbial elephant in the room.

The real issue that no one seems to be addressing is the fact that our membership numbers are decreasing.  Here at our California chapter, they may not be decreasing but the increases are not significant enough to keep up with increasing costs.  People are dropping their membership nearly as fast as we can sign them up.  Our membership numbers in California should be double what they are currently.

For far too long social workers have taken NASW for granted in that because we are so large there is no way it could ever cease to exist.  But that is what we are faced with.  If we do not address this problem of membership then NASW really will cease to exist.

So it is time that all of us must look inward as an organization.  We first need to do the research and send out those surveys so we can have a better understanding of what is going on.

Then, it is incumbent upon all of us as NASW members to have those uncomfortable one-on-one conversations with our fellow coworkers in order to get them to see the benefits of NASW membership.

It is time that we start to advocate for NASW so that NASW can continue to advocate for us as professional social workers.

Brian Kaufman can be reached atbkaufman5555@gmail.com