Media Watch

Both NASW-CA and NASW National continuously reviews news and media outlets for social work and social work-related stories. The Association also refers social work experts to hundreds of journalists every year. Below is a sample of recently published stories about NASW members and the profession.

To read bi-weekly news item lists, go to the Media Watch section of SocialWorkersSpeak.org. Visit SocialWorkersSpeak.org to learn more about how social workers are portrayed in the news, in movies, and on television.

July 2014 Media Watch

Obama Signs Order Easing Student Loan Payments

NPR
President Obama signed an order on Monday that expands the number of Americans whose student loan payments will be capped at 10 percent of their monthly incomes. The new order would allow an additional 5 million borrowers to take advantage of the cap beginning in December 2015. “We want more young people becoming teachers and nurses and social workers,” said President Obama. You can also listen to a recording of the NPR radio report at this link.

Boys Ranch Alum’s Life Goes Full Circle

Amarillo Globe-News
Angelo McClain is the CEO of NASW

At one time, Angelo McClain thought he was going to be an electrician. He was learning the trade at Boys Ranch, and believed he could make a decent living at it. For someone who was a product of inner-city Kansas City, he said seeing a black male with a full-time job in the 1970s was not common. But as often happens, plans get derailed. McClain, still likely the best athlete in Boys Ranch history, was playing his last football game against Spearman in 1974. A number of college coaches were there to see Spearman running back Donnie Davis, but couldn’t help notice the big, rangy tight end from the other team.

Provincetown Social Worker is Looking Out For LGBT Elders

Cape Cod Times
NASW Member: Cathleen Metzger

Cathleen Metzger, a social worker who lives in Provincetown, has been appointed to the Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Aging, formed to advise the Legislature on the needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults and caregivers in the commonwealth. The 20-member volunteer commission met for the first time in April and now has a year to complete its work. Metzger, who is in her mid-60s, is the only Cape representative among legislators, state agency and nonprofit administrators and geriatric specialists. The commission must, by mandate, include somebody from Cape Cod, Western Massachusetts and Central Massachusetts.

FBI, Social Workers Unite to Attack Sexual Trafficking of Children

News-Observer (Raleigh, NC)

This collaboration between law enforcement and social service workers is vital, said Tricia Bent-Goodley, a Howard University professor and editor of the National Association of Social Workers’ social science journal. “We all have a role to play,” said Bent-Goodley. “It starts with being better informed ourselves, building partnerships between systems to combat and respond to these issues, and remaining steadfast in our commitment that this will not continue to happen under our watch.”

Social Work and Engineering Join Forces to Solve Societal Woes

USC News
NASW Member: Haluk Soydan

A mutually beneficial relationship between the disciplines of social work and engineering is not necessarily an obvious combination. However, leaders from the USC School of Social Work and USC Viterbi School of Engineering believe collaboration between the two fields is a completely appropriate development. “There is an organic relationship between social work and several other disciplines in a historical holistic perspective,” said Haluk Soydan, associate dean of research at the School of Social Work and director of the school’s Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services. “Engineering is about technical solutions, and social work is about social solutions. When you come down to it, there are questions and areas of interest that make them close to each other.”

Coverage of Elliot Rodger Stirs Debate After Isla Vista Rampage

Los Angeles Times
NASW Member: Ron Avi Astor

Academics who study mass murder said the more coverage his screed gets, the more likely other troubled people might see acts of violence as a way to attract similar attention. “Knowing that people will talk about you afterward is a very important component for these mass murderers,” said Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education at USC. “It’s how they’ll be remembered, and it seems to be an external way their life will have meaning.”

The Judicial Legacy of Gail Chang Bohr

Asian American Press
NASW Member: Gail Chang Bohr

The retirement of Second Judicial District Court Judge Gail Chang Bohr came at the end of March, and with it the tenure of the first Asian American judge to serve Ramsey County. Chang Bohr was elected to the open judicial seat on Nov. 4, 2008. The Saint Paul resident began her term on Jan. 5, 2009.… According to her official biography, Bohr was born and raised in Jamaica, as the ninth of 15 children to Chinese parents who were shopkeepers. She came to the United States to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts on a full scholarship in 1962. She went on to earn a MSW from Simmons College School of Social Work and got her law degree after a 19-year career in clinical social work with children and families in 1991.

Healthy Living: Meet Micah Taylor

The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)
NASW Member: Micah Taylor

Micah Taylor, 35, of Jackson, is a social worker at the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Veteran Affairs Medical Center. With a master’s degree in social work and a passion for trauma work, she says she is “a believer that the number one epidemic in the world is untreated trauma.” Because she loves to stay busy, she is also assigned to the 172d Airlift Wing in Jackson with Air National Guard as a public affairs officer.

DSS Needs Trained Workers

The State (Columbia, SC)
NASW Member: Carla Damron, Executive Director of NASW-SC

The S.C. Department of Social Services’ problems — including the deaths of several children — culminate from poor decisions made by management. When faced with budget cuts, the agency opted to hire less credentialed personnel, shifting away from trained social workers in favor of generic “case workers.” While this saved money (not as much as you would think — social worker salaries are not high), it led to a paraprofessional work force.

Reserve Marine Inspired by Retired Navy Seal to Help Combat Veterans, Families

Defense Video & Imagery Distribution
NASW Member: Danielle Howell

Lance Cpl. Danielle Howell wanted to help combat-wounded veterans. Upon graduating from high school in 2007, she applied to Westchester University of Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She didn’t stop there- on May 9, 2014, she earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of South Carolina. She eventually completed several social work internships with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Even after achieving her goal of graduating from college and working in her chosen field, the native of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, still felt something was missing from her life. “I knew I wanted to do something more than finish college and go into social work, so my dad convinced me to go talk to a Navy recruiter,” she said. “I just didn’t feel it was the right fit for me so I went to the Marines’ office and immediately I knew I was supposed to be a Marine. It just felt like I fit in.”

Black Parents, Gay Sons and Redefining Masculinity

The Root
NASW Member: Michael LaSala

More than 90 percent of black gay youths listed “family acceptance” as the main factor that could actually make their lives more bearable. But for young African-American males in particular, that acceptance is too often a distant dream. Michael LaSala, a professor of social work at Rutgers University, conducted research on the intersections of homophobia and racism affecting young gay black males. He explains in his work, “When I spoke to white gay boys about coming out, their parents told them ‘You have everything going for you, so why choose this?’” But, by contrast, when he speaks to African-American boys, their parents say, “You have everything going against you, so why choose this?”

For more information about NASW Media Watch, please email knortham@naswdc.org.