The 2019 NASW-CA Annual Conference

By Janlee Wong, NASW-CA Executive Director

This year’s NASW California Chapter Annual Conference was a sold-out success featuring spoken word artist Kane Smego.  Mr. Smego has spoken at the NASW National Conference and most recently at the NASW CA Annual Leadership Conference in June.  His story about his family in North Carolina and West Virginia gave true insight into racial and ethnic issues of our time.  Other highlights include a well-attended workshop by Professors Rosemary Alamo and Rick Ornelas on “The Power of Positive Language.”  This was evidenced firsthand by NASW CA President Sylvester Bowie using his “credible voice” to smash last year’s “Pass the Box” contributions for CALPACE raising almost $1,500 in donations.  Coupled with CALPACE’s almost “sold every item” Silent Auction, social workers raised over $3,000 that will help power social work’s political action efforts next year. 

This year’s Social Work awards winners were student mental health expert Larry Schallert, social work trainer and instructor extraordinaire Dr. Stan Taubman, school counselor and homeless animal advocate Christine Racina and the internationally recognized Network for Social Work Management.  Representing the next generation of future social workers, the Diana Ming Chan Bilingual Social Work Scholarships went to Julius Ervin Javier and Fiona Hiu Yan Cheung. And the evening was topped off with another sold out event the Annual CA Social Work Hall of Distinction Induction Ceremony recognizing California social work giants Salvador Alvarez, Peter Breen, Dr. Ben Cuellar, Dr. Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, Dr. James Midgley and Linda Wang.

Scenes from the 2019 NASW-CA Annual Conference

Photos by Emmanuel Chue