The Work of Social Work Congress 2010

In 2005, NASW along with other social work organizations convened the first ever social work congress. Out of this Congress, came 10 imperatives for the profession of social work. Since 2005, great strides have been made regarding these imperatives. The 2010 Congress was charged with coming up with 10 additional imperatives that focus inward on the profession of social work. These imperatives are to guide us as a profession to help advance the profession so that we can continue to do the great work that we do with clients.

Last week, 360 social workers gathered in Washington DC for another Social Work Congress. The congress was organized by 4 co-convening organizations including NASW, BPD (Baccalaureate Program Directors), NADD (National Association of Deans and Directors) and CSWE (Council on Social Work Education). Members representing these and many other social work organizations were present for the Congress. Attendees ranged in age from 22 to 85 with a key constituent being the “30 under 30”. The congress hosted 30 new emerging under the age of 30 to attend to represent the new professionals coming into the profession.

The actual work of the Congress was facilitated by a group of highly skilled, professional facilitators. During the first day of the Congress, the attendees were divided into four groups on “Technology”, “Business of Social Work”, “Leadership Development”, and Common Objectives”. On the second day, the attendees were broken into groups concerning “Influence”, “Retention”, “Recruitment”, and “Education”. The individual groups were facilitated by 1 professional facilitator, 1 graphic recorder and 1 content expert. I was fortunate to be chosen as a content expert in the area of technology and I have to say that the process was fascinating to watch. Each group came up with 3 imperatives for their group that were presented to the entire Congress. In the final session of the Congress, a vote was taken to determine the top 10 imperatives for the profession. The imperatives from the 2010 SW Congress are:

• Integrate technologies that serve social work practice and education in an ethical, practical, and responsible manner.
• Infuse models of sustainable business and management practice in social work education and practice.
• Integrate leadership training in social work curricula at all levels.
• Strengthen collaboration across social work organizations, their leaders, and their members for shared advocacy goals.
• Build a data-driven business case that demonstrates the distinctive expertise and the impact and value of social work to industry, policy makers, and the general public.
• Strengthen the ability of national social work organizations to identify and clearly articulate, with a unified voice, issues of importance to the profession.
• Ensure the sustainability of the profession through a strong mentoring program, career ladder and succession program.
• Increase the number of grants, scholarships, and debt forgiveness mechanisms for social work students and graduates.
• Clarify and articulate the unique skills, scope of practice, and “value added” of social work students to prospective students.
• Empirically demonstrate to prospective recruits the value of the social work profession in both social and economic terms.