NASW-NC Was Here For You in 2020!

Social workers are essential in even the best of times; in 2020, the work of our profession was needed more than ever. Like all social workers, NASW-NC had to adapt quickly to the challenges of this year. The staff and volunteer leadership of NASW-NC worked tirelessly in 2020 to support and advocate for our social work membership. We provided professional, career and ethical resources and consultation to thousands of NASW members in our great state. Here are just a few of our major accomplishments in 2020 that would not be possible without a robust and active membership:

COVID-19 Resources and Support for Social Workers

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASW-NC pivoted quickly to support the social work profession so you could continue your essential work. NASW-NC was appointed to the NC Department of Health and Human Services Health Care Coalition. We are part of a team that developed accurate communication relevant to social workers and updated you on a daily, and sometimes, hourly basis on Governor Cooper’s Executive Orders, telehealth information new to providers, COVID testing, PPE, ethical and legal resources during a pandemic, and access to weekly webinars for providers. And we made sure you could continue to renew your social work license during this time by advocating for temporary rule changes with the North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board. So, during the state of emergency, you can get all of your CE and clinical supervision via technology.

See NASW-NC COVID-19 Resource Guide here: https://www.naswnc.org/page/COVID-19

Telehealth and Clinical Social Work

2020 was all about helping social workers adapt to an online world. NASW-NC spent a lot of 2020 advocating for reimbursement of telehealth and audio only health care delivery (see NASW-NC joint letter to Governor Cooper here). Blue Cross NC is extending the current telehealth reimbursement policy through June 30, 2021. NASW and NASW-NC are advocating for telehealth to be extended for twelve months post pandemic and ultimately, indefinitely.

NC HealthConnex: After successfully lobbying to extend social worker’s deadline to connect to the NC HealthConnex in 2019, NASW-NC supported additional efforts to delay connection due to COVID-19. Social workers now have until October 1, 2021 to connect or ask for an extension.

Social Justice and Call to Action Against Racism & Race-Based Violence

With mounting violence against people of color, NASW-NC issued a statement and call to action for social workers in June. “Now is the time to let our voices be heard, we cannot sit idly by as acts of racism, hatred, violence, and murder are repeatedly targeted toward black and brown people in our society. Silence is not an option and expressions of outrage and dismay are not enough.” Read more and access our resources, here. The NASW-NC active Equity and Inclusion Taskforce was formalized into a Committee that has been hard at work holding NASW-NC accountable to its members and the social work profession for advocating for policies and legislation that advance racial justice.

NASW-NC made public comments to the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, click here to see NASW-NC public comments. We were thrilled to see our advocacy around increasing school social workers make it in the final report. Additionally, social workers were included in other areas to help address racial equity in our criminal justice systems.

2020 Legislative Sessions

NASW-NC monitored and virtually lobbied during North Carolina’s short legislative sessions this past year. In April, legislators came to town to discuss COVID relief. Two bills were passed and information on both bills were detailed on our website and sent to members. This session extended the NC HealthConnex deadline for social workers.

Legislators again returned for the 2020 short session and passed another COVID-19 relief package. Additionally, during this session, funding was provided to restart the state’s Medicaid Transformation efforts, an elections bill passed to make modifications to assist with voting during the pandemic, and some bills that did not pass during the 2019 long session were addressed. A digest of bills that were passed or vetoed by the Governor can be found on our website.

Legislators then returned in September to address more COVID-19 relief efforts including more PPE, funding for county boards of elections, funding for behavioral health, and more.

NASW-NC Legislative Committee: The Legislative Committee worked throughout each legislative session to communicate social work priorities to lawmakers. In anticipation of the 2021 Legislative Session and given the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic and growing national pressure to address systemic racism, the NASW-NC Legislative Committee decided to research policies that could be addressed in the 2021 Legislative Session. The committee did this by launching a book club in July. The Committee has read two books: How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. The Committee hosted two discussions about these books that NASW-NC members could participate in and these discussions generated a list of ideas for the NASW-NC Legislative Agenda. The Committee launched a legislative agenda survey to members and will announce a final 2021 Legislative Agenda in early January.

2020 Elections

NASW-NC PACE: This year, NASW-NC’s Political Action for Candidate Election Committee endorsed 68 races in North Carolina. Of these candidates, 37 endorsed candidates won their race and 31 lost. Information about each candidate and who won and lost can be found here: https://www.naswnc.org/page/2020PACE.

NASW-NC also called on members to volunteer for endorsed candidate and phonebank with other social workers. National PACE selected North Carolina to have a PACE Organizer throughout the 2020 Election season. Jodi Rhoden was hired and sought out to present to Schools of Social Work, Local Program Units, and more. Additionally, she trained volunteers to call other NASW-NC members to encourage them to vote for Nationally endorsed candidates.

National PACE endorsed 7 races in North Carolina for Congress. Of these, three won their races and four lost.

The Social Work Voice at the State Level

NASW-NC is the only association at the state level to advocate for the entire social work profession. NASW-NC continues to serve on over 30 statewide coalitions as the voice and advocate for the social work profession. NASW-NC Executive Director Valerie Arendt started her 2-year term as the chair of the North Carolina Coalition on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services and Kay Castillo continues as chair of the North Carolina Mental Health Coalition. Both Valerie and Kay meet bi-weekly with the North Carolina Division of Mental Health Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services and the Division of Health Benefits (NC Medicaid) to advocate for the social work profession and your clients.

NASW-NC continues to work with Governor Cooper’s office to select NASW-NC members to be appointed to statewide boards, commissions and newly formed taskforces. Many of these boards and commissions provide policy recommendations to legislators and the Governor and now have a social work voice! Current NASW-NC members who serve:

• Derrik Anderson - North Carolina Chief Justice's Commission on Fairness and Equity (new appointment)
  
• Daniel Ball-Agha – North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Karen Bullock – Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging
• Carolyn Craddock – North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board (new appointment)
• Iris Carlton-LaNey – North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Anita Daniels – North Carolina Substance Abuse Professionals Certification Board (new appointment)
• Cindy Edwards – North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Yvette Gosline – North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board
• Anthony Harris – North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board
• Stacey Kolomer – North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensure Board
• Kathy Lowe – Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging
• Mark Marquez – North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Mike McGuire – North Carolina Substance Abuse Professionals Certification Board
• Nyi Myint – North Carolina Substance Abuse Professionals Certification Board (new appointment)
• Drew Pledger – Chair, North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Sonyia Richardson – North Carolina Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force (new appointment)
• Quinny Sanchez – North Carolina Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force (new appointment)
• Larry Sharpe – North Carolina State Social Services Commission
• Sarah Verbiest – North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, co-chair of the Perinatal Committee

The Social Work Voice at the National Level

We are thrilled that NASW-NC members represent the social work profession at the national level:

• Dr. Iris Carlton-LaNey was awarded the 2020 NASW Lifetime Achievement Award. Watch Dr. Carlton-LaNey accept the award here (starting at 1:03:45).
• Dr. Karen Bullock serves as the chair of the NASW National Committee on Racial and Ethinic Diversity (NCORED) and the chair of the NASW Mental Health Specialty Practice Committee.
• Ryan Estes, LCSW, LCAS, CCS was elected as the NASW Board of Directors Director for Region V (DC, NC, VA, WV) in 2019.
• Donald McDonald, MSW was elected in 2020 as the Region Representative V (DC, NC, VA, WV) for the NASW National Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification (NCNLI) and serves on the NASW Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Specialty Practice Committee.
• Dr. Natasha Scott, EdD, MSW serves on the NASW School Social Work Specialty Practice Committee.
  

Membership, Continuing Education, and Professional Development

NASW-NC staff provided countless hours of professional consultation for members including:

• Over 85 personalized resume reviews for NASW-NC members.
• Professional consultation including career consultation, ethical support through the NASW-NC Ethics Committee, legal resources and consultation through the NASW Legal Defense Fund, and hours and hours of professional guidance regarding social work licensure.
• 17 Resume/Preparing for Your Social Work Career Presentations
• All 7 of NASW-NC’s conferences were converted to a virtual format to accommodate stay-at-home orders. The virtual format allowed for 828 more individuals to participate in our live conferences.
• Conference fees were drastically reduced for Clinical Institute and Fall Conference as we recognize the financial realities many members are facing due to COVID.
• Major conferences were recorded to accommodate the challenges of working from home, childcare, spotty internet, etc. where attendees might have had to miss part of the training. This also afforded individuals to gain more CE for a much cheaper price.
• Each training in the NASW-NC Webinar Library was made free for NASW-NC members.
• Hosted 7 live webinars free for NASW-NC members.
• NASW-NC Local Program Units hosted 71 meetings, continuing education and networking opportunities, all of which were virtual after March 2020.
• NASW-NC hosted its first ever NASW-NC Staff Meet and Greet, allowing members to ask questions and learn about membership benefits and resources.
• NASW-NC posted over 1,050 jobs on the NASW-NC Job Bank and over 325 events on the NASW-NC CE Calendar (all visible to NASW-NC members)!

We are proud of what we have done for the members of NASW-NC and how we have amplified the voice of the social work profession in North Carolina. However, we can’t do this without you. 2021 is likely to be full of many new challenges, as well as many ambitious social justice endeavors to tackle and we need you by our side.

Thank you for your NASW membership and please help us spread the good word: NASW-NC is the only association advocating for the entire profession of social work in North Carolina and we need your voice as a member of NASW. If you are not a member of NASW, please join us today!