Now in its third decade, the fellowship is an intensive executive leadership program designed to give more child- and family-serving professionals the confidence and competence to lead major system reforms and community change initiatives. The six women and nine men chosen for the 2022-2024 class work in the disciplines of education, juvenile justice, child welfare and housing.

Read the full story at NASW’s Social Work Advocates magazine after logging in here.

Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship—awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who have demonstrated a commitment to working with, or who have a special affinity with, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino populations.

Verne LaMarr Lyons Memorial Scholarship—awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who demonstrate an interest in or have experience with health/mental health practice and have a commitment to working in African American communities.

The NASW Foundation is awarding a total of 10 Gosnell Memorial Scholarships in the amount of $4,000 each and six Lyons Memorial Scholarships in the amount of $4,333 each. The Lyons scholarships were partially funded by a generous $20,000 award from the Tamara L. Harris Foundation in December 2020.

The Jane B. Aron Doctoral Fellowship and the Eileen Blackey Doctoral Fellowship are paused in 2021-2022 (fellowships not awarded) to examine how they may be repositioned to best meet needs of social work scholars.

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Highlights: NASW Foundation Scholars

Nicole Balbuena, University of California, Berkeley (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers)

Nicole is a second year MSW candidate and Title IV-E scholar at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). In 2019, she earned her bachelor’s degrees in Sociology, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

During her undergraduate studies, she established the first college, “Healthy Emotions and Attitudes in Relationships Today” (HEART) club through the support of Laura’s House, a domestic violence agency that provides support to victims of abuse in Orange County (OC). Here, she provided a safe environment for UCI students and at-promised youth in Santa Ana and Anaheim to discuss and raise awareness of intimate partner violence.

André Marcel Harris, University of Houston (Pronouns: He/Him/His)

André is an MSW/PhD dual degree student at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, specializing in Political Social Work. He serves as President of the Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) University of Houston chapter. He is a burgeoning, published social science researcher with research interests concerned with how the sociopolitical determinants affect the health of sickle cell and rare disease patients and black men.

André recently completed his MSW field placement requirements via the Austin Legislative Internship, a competitive program that places students in offices of the Texas House of Representatives. He served Texas State Representative Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston) of District 139. André serves on the Executive Board of the Sickle Cell Association of Houston and serves several other advisory boards for sickle cell and rare disease organizations.

Modupe Olayinka Billie Edogun, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers)

Modupe is originally from Lexington, Kentucky. A love for science and problem-solving led her to the Georgia Institute of Technology where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. She worked in medical device sales for 10 years before deciding to pivot to another type of problem-solving.

Modupe is fulfilled by getting to know people, making them feel comfortable, and working collaboratively to identify healthy and productive coping strategies for life’s obstacles. As a rising final-year MSW student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she is formally pursuing her passion of helping others to live their best lives despite past experiences or current challenges.

Learn about all 2021-2022 recipients >>

To learn more, about these and all the 2021-2022 awardees please follow this link. Visit the NASW Foundation website to read about our scholarships, fellowships, and awards.

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NASW Foundation award recipients are briefly highlighted below. To learn more about the event and all eight wonderful recipients—including Dr. Iris Carlton-LaNey, recipient of the NASW Lifetime Achievement Award, and a member of the NASW Social Work Pioneers®.

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Patricia Martin-O’Meally, MSW, LICSW, BCD, CPM, is the 2020 recipient of the Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award. She received a BA degree from Virginia Union University in 1968 and an MSW from Howard University School of Social Work in 1979. She first worked as a geriatric case worker from 1968-1973. From 1973 to 2004, she held clinical social work, supervisory and management positions at the St. Elizabeths Hospital, the first federally operated psychiatric facility located in Washington, D.C., now known as the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health.

She was a pioneer in organizing and developing community-based programs to meet the needs of seriously mentally ill individuals who upon leaving the hospital needed services to support their adjustment to community living. She was a leader in helping establish critically needed services designed for long term institutionalized consumers from St. Elizabeths.

The Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award goes to social workers who have made exemplary contributions in health and mental health practice. The Knee/Wittman Award Program was established in 1990 to recognize those who represent the values, ethics, and approaches exemplified by two dedicated social work pioneers, Ruth Knee (1920-2008) and Milton Wittman (1915-1994). Read more >>

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Erin Merryn, MSW, is the recipient of the Knee/Wittman Outstanding Achievement Award for her nationally known work in preventing childhood sexual abuse. Merryn has long advocated for states to enact Erin’s Law, which requires public schools to implement a prevention-oriented program that ensures every child in kindergarten through twelfth grade receives sexual abuse prevention education.

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, she has worked diligently to lobby every state to pass Erin’s Law, beginning with her home state of Illinois in 2009. The law has now passed in 37 states. In December 2015, President Obama signed the federal version of Erin’s Law providing federal funding to schools to provide this education. Merryn has traveled across the nation to testify before legislators in support of the law.

The Knee/Wittman Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes an individual or group that has made a significant impact on national health and/or mental health public policy, professional standards, or exemplary program models. Read more >>

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The Clarence and Diana Ming Chan Family is the recipient of the International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award for significant impact on school social work through monetary and visionary support to increase the number of school social workers in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

School social work was severely underfunded in California, often resulting in little available school social work services for entire districts. And during periods of budget reductions, school social work services were usually the first to be cut.

Before she retired in 1999, after working as a professional social worker for nearly a half century, Ms. Chan decided to make a long-lasting impact by helping to increase the number of school social workers. With a generous family donation of $1 million, Ms. Chan worked collaboratively with the SFSUD and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation to create an endowment to fund school social work in San Francisco. Beginning in the 2001-2002 school year, The Learning Springboard project was born, and has supplemented school social worker salaries every year since that time.

The International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award is given to an individual, group, or organization that has significantly advanced the public image of professional social work. This monetary award is made possible from an endowment fund established by a generous contribution in 1996 from the late Rhoda Sarnat, LCSW and her late spouse, Bernard Sarnat, MD. Rhoda Sarnat, a retired clinical social worker, former faculty member at the University of Southern California Graduate School of Social Work, and a member of NASW worked tirelessly to increase the public’s knowledge, understanding, and respect for professional social work locally, nationally, and internationally. Read more >>

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Consider paying tribute to our 2020 national award recipients by making a congratulatory donation. Your generous tax-deductible gift to the NASW Foundation will support the important work of the social work profession and communities served. Please follow this link to donate >>

Donors will be listed on the NASW Foundation website; and donations of $100 or more will be listed in Social Work Advocates magazine.

Thank you for your support and friendship. Please stay safe and healthy.

The NASW Foundation Team

A Virtual Night at the Awards, A Night to Remember will be held on October 29 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM (ET). NASW and the NASW Foundation present a virtual celebration of social work excellence—during an unforgettable evening.

Please join us in honoring the recipients of the prestigious NASW and NASW Foundation Awards, recognizing individuals whose work has left an imprint in social work leadership, policy advocacy, and social change. A Virtual Night at the Awards, A Night to Remember will capture inspirational stories of the present and cast a vision for the future.

Co-Hosts for the event are Mildred “Mit” C. Joyner, DPS, MSW, LCSW, NASW President, Emerita Director and Professor, West Chester University; and Steve Pemberton, Best Selling Author, A Chance in the World.

This event is free, but registration is required. Download a PDF of the event invitation here. Follow this link to register >>

Distinguished Awardees 

• Emerging Social Work Leader, Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Public Citizen of The Year, Lorraine Garcia
• Social Worker of The Year, Zander Keig, MSW, LCSW
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Iris Carlton-LaNey
• Public Elected Official of The Year, State Representative Mike Schlossberg
• Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement, Patricia Martin-O’Meally, MSW, LICSW, BCD, CPM
• Knee/Wittman Outstanding Achievement, Erin Merryn, MSW
• International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award, The Clarence and Diana Ming Chan Family

Support This Event

Please consider making a donation for this event. Pay tribute to a colleague by donating in their honor. Your generous tax-deductible gift to the NASW Foundation will support the important work of the social work profession and communities served. To make a contribution please, follow this link >>

Donors will be listed at the event. Donors of $100 or more will be listed at the event and in Social Work Advocates magazine.

NASW-New Jersey Chapter Project

NASW-NJ Chapter proposes a two-year, multi-faceted project, Building Bridges: Increasing Access to Telemedicine in Low-Income and Rural Communities, environments where it is always a challenge to provide patients with the best level of health care.

NASW-NJ will investigate what barriers exist to social workers providing telemedicine and will develop systems and tools to increase the efficacy of telemedicine availability to low-income and rural communities. The objectives include: understand the availability and access to telemedicine services for social workers in New Jersey and to develop programs, resources, and services to increase the availability and access to telemedicine services in New Jersey.

NASW-Oklahoma Chapter Project

NASW-OK Chapter consists of social workers and social work students residing in both densely populated and rural geographic areas. NASW-Oklahoma is committed to the professional growth and development of Oklahoma social workers and assisting social workers in all regions of the state obtain continued education.

This study will examine the number of licensed social workers in each region and county of Oklahoma and supplement the workforce data by tracking the number of social workers per county with NASW-OK Chapter membership. It also will examine the current continuing education trends of social workers throughout the state. The data will cover a five-year period (2014-2019), and will be used to identify workforce development trends, ensuring social workers in all regions of the state have access to social work professional development.

The NASW Foundation will release the results of both research projects when completed.

Spotlight: NASW-Kansas Chapter 2019-2020 Study

A Ruth Fizdale research grant provided the NASW-Kansas Chapter with the resources to conduct valuable research focusing on workforce needs and capacity in Kansas. The information analyzed and compiled in the Kansas Social Work Profile will be an ongoing resource for social workers, policymakers, and legislators to make them aware of the profession’s needs. To learn more about the study and the outcomes completed through the Fizdale grant, please visit the NASW Foundation website.

Please Support the NASW Foundation’s Work

Your generous contribution, today, will enable us to continue this important work on behalf of the social work profession, the practitioner, and the public. We encourage you to tell your colleagues, friends, and family why you believe in our work and urge them to support us too. Follow this link to donate!

Thank you for your support and friendship. Please stay safe and healthy.

The NASW Foundation Team

• Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship—awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who have demonstrated a commitment to working with, or who have a special affinity with, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino populations.
• Verne LaMarr Lyons Memorial Scholarship—awarded to master’s degree candidates in social work who demonstrate an interest in or has experience with health/mental health practice and have a commitment to working in African American communities.
• Jane B. Aron Doctoral Fellowship—awarded to social work doctoral candidates who are engaged in dissertation research in health care policy and practice.
• Eileen Blackey Doctoral Fellowship—awarded to social work doctoral candidates who are engaged in dissertation research in welfare policy and practice.
• Social Work HEALS Doctoral Fellowship—awarded for demonstrated commitment to the field of health social work and engaged in dissertation research related to health care practice, policy or education.

The NASW Foundation is awarding 50 BSW and MSW scholarships and six doctoral fellowships totaling $286,750. This includes $165,000 for 30 BSW and MSW scholarships as part of Social Work HEALS, a partnership between the NASW Foundation and the Council on Social Work Education (these scholarships administered by CSWE), and $121,750 for the NASW Foundation’s long-standing scholarships and fellowships.

HIGHLIGHTS: NASW FOUNDATION SCHOLARS AND FELLOWS

Sicong (Summer) Sun, MSW, is an Aron Fellow. Her Doctoral dissertation is Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Relationship Between Wealth and Health. Summer is a doctoral student at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, where she earned her MSW with a concentration of Social and Economic Development and a Research Specialization. Her research agenda centers on how racial inequities in wealth and financial access—as understudied social determinants—fundamentally shape downstream determinants of health. During her graduate study at the Brown School, Sun has worked with four research centers on multiple research projects, including both foundation and National Institutes of Health funded projects. Sun’s scholarship appears at more than 20 research conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

Fabiola Cuevas Flores, University of Chicago, is a Gosnell Scholar. Fabiola will begin the Master of Arts Program in Social Work and Social Welfare at the University of Chicago (UChicago) in the fall of 2020. As an undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she majored in psychology and double minored in Chicana/o Studies and Applied Developmental Psychology. At UCLA, she also worked as a college advisor supporting Latinx youth in Pasadena, California and was on the executive board for UCLA’s chapter of Ignite, a national organization that empowers women to become politically active. Through these experiences and her own experiences as a Latina and a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, Fabiola’s passion for social work grew. She plans to utilize the knowledge she gains through UChicago’s MSW program to address the school to prison pipeline that pushes Latinx youth into pathways society has unjustly created for them.

Mervin Lawson Brandy, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is a Lyons Scholar. Mervin is a second year MSW student in the Joint Master of Social Work Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. He also is a Graduate Research Assistant in the school’s Department of Social Work and Sociology where he focuses on behavioral research in the areas of racial health disparities. During his first year in the MSW program, Mervin was instrumental in developing the Social Workers in the Library Initiative; a partnership with the MSW program and the county library to place social workers in the library to assist with vulnerable populations in need. This initiative focuses on implementing therapeutic interventions in nontraditional clinical settings.

To learn more, about these and all the 2020-2021 awardees please follow this link. Visit the NASW Foundation website to read about our scholarships, fellowships, and awards.

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Your generous contribution, today, will enable us to continue this important work on behalf of the social work profession, the practitioner, and the public. We encourage you to tell your colleagues, friends, and family why you believe in our work and urge them to support us too. Follow this link to donate!

Thank you for your support and friendship. Please stay safe and healthy.

The NASW Foundation Team

The NASW Foundation mission is three-fold. We serve:

• the profession by honoring and investing in social workers past, current, and future;
• the practitioner by enhancing social workers’ knowledge and skills; and,
• the public by providing information and resources to help individuals, families, and communities.

Since the NASW Foundation was created in 2001, it has raised and invested approximately $40 million on a wide array of programs and activities to fulfill that mission. We need your help to continue our work. Your support will enable us to administer our programs—and strengthen social work leadership across the nation—in 2020:

• Award 54 scholarships, six fellowships and two Fizdale Chapter Research grants totaling $280,000 (this includes $165,000 for 40 BSW/MSW HEALS Scholarships funded through the NASW Foundation and administered by the Council on Social Work Education, as well as the scholarships and fellowships administered by the NASW Foundation).
• Work with the NASW Social Work Pioneers® to select new individuals for induction as Pioneers at the annual Fall luncheon and program (details to be announced in July).
• Help the NASW Chapters to raise funds to support educational, research, training, and scholarship activities at the state and local level.
• Train social workers, with outside grant assistance, to provide services to clients through the NASW / Hartford Supervisory Leaders in Aging, Social Work HEALS—Social Work Healthcare Education and Leadership Scholars, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and alcohol awareness, among others.

To learn more about all of our programs and activities, please visit the NASW Foundation website.

Your generous donation will help us continue this important work. We encourage you to tell your colleagues, friends, and family why you believe in our work and urge them to support us too. The pandemic has adversely impacted our contributions in 2020, please donate by the end of this fiscal year, June 30!  Please donate here today!

We are deeply grateful for your support and friendship, and hope you and your family stay safe and healthy.

The NASW Foundation Team

*2019 Social Work HEALS Scholars learning leadership and advocacy skills pictured above.

“The NASW Foundation is proud to bestow this honor upon Mr. Baron,” NASWF Director Robert Carter Arnold said. “During his career Mr. Baron has worked with individuals, groups, agencies, elected officials, academic institutions and federal, state and local government officials to provide crucial services to people living with mental illness, helping them achieve a better quality of life.”

Stephen Baron

The NASWF Knee/Wittman Award was established through a bequest of Ruth Knee and Milton Wittman. The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a professional social worker who has made exemplary contributions in health and mental health practice, including direct or clinical social work; social work education; or social work research and administration related to health or mental health problems, issues or programs.

Baron, MSW, was director of the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health from 2006 to 2015. When he arrived the agency was in receivership because it lacked community-based services. The U.S. Department of Justice had also intervened to ensure the civil rights of hospitalized patients were protected.

Under Baron’s stewardship, the department developed a robust community system of care by working with 35 community providers. This resulted in improved, client-centered care. Baron also established mobile crisis teams, improved outreach to people who are homeless, and worked with the Metropolitan Police Department to certify more than 700 crisis intervention officers to support people with mental illness who came to the attention of law enforcement.

Baron’s work led to the successful end of a 37-year lawsuit against the department. The department reached a settlement agreement with the Justice Department, the federal court ended receivership, and a new Saint Elizabeths Hospital was built to serve people living with mental illness. Thanks to Baron, residents of Washington, D.C. and visitors to the city now have better access to mental health services in community clinics, community hospitals and at Saint Elizabeths.

Prior to working in Washington, D.C. Baron was president of the Baltimore Mental Health Systems where he developed innovative, community-based programs for adults, affordable housing for people with serious mental illness, and expanded service programs for children.

“Mr. Baron’s career has shown the crucial role social workers play in bringing about positive changes in our society, particularly for people who are most vulnerable,” Arnold said. “His work has touched the lives of thousands of people living in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan areas.”

“The NASW Foundation is proud to bestow this honor upon Dr. Bern-Klug,” NASWF Director Robert Carter Arnold said. “Ms. Bern-Klug is a recognized leader and researcher on nursing home and end-of-life care. Her work has been the driving force in advancements in social work care for people who are older and has influenced state and national legislation and regulations.”

Mercedes Bern-Klug

The NASWF Knee/Wittman Award was established through a bequest of Ruth Knee and Milton Wittman. The Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes an individual or group that has made a significant impact on national health and/or mental health public policy, professional standards, or exemplary program models.  The contribution may be in the development, interpretation, implementation, institutionalization, or expansion of health or mental health policy or legislation.

Over the past 30 years Bern-Klug, PhD, MSW, MA, has analyzed and strengthened social work service delivery and training and improved palliative and end-of-life care for adults who are older. Her work has also had a major impact on state and national policies regarding people who are older.

For instance, the Federal Trade Commission invited Bern-Klug to testify on the Funeral Rule, which requires funeral businesses to give consumers accurate prices and other information. Her testimony before the Kansas legislation on nursing facilities and end-of-life issues also made a positive influence on resulting laws.

In the mental health arena, Bern-Klug’s many publications, webinars, and conference presentations on psychosocial care in nursing homes are nationally and internationally recognized as the foundational work to consult when crafting nursing home legislation, rules and standards. And her book, “Transforming Palliative Care in Nursing Homes: The Social Work Role,” has been a major addition to gerontological social work research and practice.

Bern-Klug has also been a leader in many organizations that improve the lives of people who are older and has mentored future generations of gerontological social workers.

“Bern-Klug has dedicated her career to improving the well-being nursing home residents, people who are at the ends of lives, and their families – her commitment is evident in her caring and personable manner and her impressive body of work and research,” Arnold said. “And she has also passed on her expertise and passion for this work to future generations of social workers.”

Dr. Susan Gray

The National Association of Social Workers) has announced social work professor and author Susan Gray as recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades of work improving the treatment of people living with mental illness and educating future generations of social workers.

“Dr. Gray has worked relentlessly to ensure people who experience a mental illness have the help they need to build on their strengths and thrive,” said NASW CEO Angelo McClain, PhD, LICSW. “Gray has distinguished herself within the social work profession by serving in numerous leadership roles, educating and mentoring countless other social workers, and authoring books and other publications that have contributed greatly to advances in social work knowledge.”

Each year, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) selects a social worker for this national award to celebrate a lifetime of achievement. In honoring the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, NASW recognizes the best social work values and accomplishments demonstrated in the social worker’s lifetime career.

Gray, PhD, MBA, EdD, MSW, is Professor Emerita at the Barry University School of Social Work in Miami Shores, Fla. She is author of “Psychopathology: A Competency-based Treatment Model for Social Workers,” Psychopathology: A Competency-based Assessment Model for Social Workers,” “Competency-based Assessment in Mental Health: Cases and Practical Applications” and more than 30 other publications.

Some of her publications have helped social workers focus more on the abilities, talents and resources of people living with mental illness instead of on their problems and deficits, resulting in improved treatment outcomes. She is also a noted “story teller” who continues to seek opportunities to give voice to the struggles of those living with mental illness.

Gray has served in numerous public service roles, including introducing mandatory training in ethics for social workers, mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists while serving on Florida’s licensure board and setting up a student internship program through the Florida Keys Area Health Education Committee to provide outreach to people who are homeless in Key West.

She has also taken on leadership positions at NASW, The Council on Social Work Education, the Association of Social Work Boards and at Barry University, where she chaired the Faculty Senate.

“Dr. Gray’s work has enriched the entire social work profession and she has helped countless clients who have received services from her or from the many social workers she has trained, mentored or informed through her publications,” McClain said.