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Student
Day at the Legislature - February
20, 2001 I am Karen Haynes, social worker first, then President of the University of Houston-Victoria since 1995; formerly Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Houston for ten years. I have always been a macro practitioner; trained in community organization in the 1960s for my M.S.W.; I was trained in policy and planning in the 1970s for my Ph.D. right here from U.T. I have been a social work educator in Texas at Mary Hardin-Baylor, Southwest Texas State University and the University of Houston. And, as importantly for this day, I have been an advocate for political activity for social workers for more than 20 years; and let me say that again: I am not simply saying that I am a social worker who is an advocate, although I am, but I have been an advocate that social workers should embrace advocacy as a part of whatever they do; that all social workers must view advocacy as legitimate; essential; empowering; and connected to what we believe is the central mission of our profession. And, despite progress over these 20 years, I find I must continue to "advocate for advocacy" because that's my vision of good social work practice; isn't it your vision? And after a divisive and protracted Presidential election, and despite one's personal partisan views, I know that social workers applaud many of the sentiments expressed in President Bush's inaugural address to:
But, as always, I am warning you that we not get too lulled into the rhetoric but that we continue to be the skeptical watchdogs of the promises, nationally and in Texas, that we can reduce taxes and protect the vulnerable; that we can collect less money and still care better for more people. We must hold fast to our country's basic values and beliefs and to our professional code:
I have been a professional social worker since 1970 and I am clear that we - you and I - will continue to live through important debates and decisions about peoples' lives. I am equally convinced and will be adamant that we'd better be involved at every stage, at every level, in every dialogue, and in every evaluation that is possible...because I know that we will be the profession who will pick up the pieces if these programs and policies fail. I am concerned that neither federal nor state policies are likely to protect our most vulnerable populations, and I am clear that it is us who can truly create more humane policies; it is social workers who understand both the fiscal as well as the human savings from prevention; who see the people, not just the statistics; who believe in rehabilitation, not just punishment; who are wise enough to understand that there are no simple and standard answers to most of today's complex problems. I am committed to the premise that social work must not veer from its historical commitment to social justice nor its target of serving the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. And, I am more convinced than ever that the ability to not only identify an issue but to work with people to create acceptable solutions; the ability to achieve consensus among a diverse group of people; the ability to identify with and influence leadership; and the ability to move from case to cause and back again, are significant skills in the political arena; and they are social work skills. My vision of good social work practice includes political intervention; isn't that your vision? Although I do not know most of you, I will presume to know some of the reasons why you entered social work programs and to therefore anticipate some of your aspirations. I will presume that somehow, somewhere, through personal or professional life experience, you saw injustice and wanted to right it; you saw pain and wanted to heal it; you witnessed discrimination and prejudice, selfishness and elitism and realized that there were alternatives. I presume that you saw a world with a lot of promise but also with some barriers to the attainment of those promises. You could see opportunities, but also unequal access to them. If these assumptions are correct, then I further assume that you entered a social work program because you saw the attainment of a professional social work degree as the method for making you more accomplished to bring about these visions and these changes. Your social work education should provide those additional skills, knowledge, and experiences to enhance your original commitment. In no way, however, can education be a substitute for your original commitment. Skills and knowledge without commitment and without passion are not the makings of a professional social worker. I've already talked about the commitment. The passion includes making a contribution that affirms the "who" in each of us; a contribution that affirms the worth and value of all; a contribution toward celebrating the array of diversity in our society and in our world. Indeed, if I am mistaken about your interest, your commitment, your passion, then I charge you today, that by virtue of our profession's historic mission, you are obligated to care and to care deeply about these issues and to utilize your skills to address them. And in doing so you join a long and illustrious list of social workers who have taken their commitment to human dignity and social justice, combined with their social work skills into the larger political arena and made a lasting difference. People like Jeannette Rankin, the first woman and the first social worker in Congress in 1917; like Jane Addams, the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize recipient; like Julia Lathrop, the first woman and the first social worker to be appointed to a federal cabinet position as director of the Children's Bureau in 1912. Harry Hopkins, the major architect of the Social Security Act. And, lest you think that social work's political influence is over , the 2000 election cycle had a record number of social workers on federal and state ballots and we have more social workers in elected office, at all levels, than ever before. In fact, we now have 2 in the U.S. Senate! And Representative Naishtat, whom you heard earlier, has been a vigilant advocate for social work and an excellent role model for other social workers nationally. With this passion and commitment, I know that there is a risk in running against the tide. You may have been told that it is difficult and perhaps even dangerous to engage in social change. But dangerous or not, we must engage. If we do not do so now, we will be in an indefensible posture in the future. To not engage in healing pain, in righting injustice is unthinkable. And do not be daunted by the belief that the struggle is impossible or the problems unsolvable. Just as you work with clients who tell you that it's impossible to change their situation; that there is no hope; that they have no time to fight for themselves; that the problems are insurmountable, and you don't accept that and a good social worker cannot accept that, so I and our profession will not accept your silence, your pessimism, your excuse that you don't have the time; your notion that the problem is too big; that the system can't change and that you can't make a difference. My vision of good social work practice is that we can make a difference and we must; isn't that your vision? And yet, when we speak out, we are sometimes confronted by our own colleagues about our professionalism; presumed that we devalue clinical practice if we value advocacy. I have gotten angry and confused because my vision of good social work practice has always been, and I don't doubt, will always be, one of advocacy with, and on behalf of, clients toward the enhancement of individual functioning and community empowerment. Isn't that your vision? And yet for decades our profession remained relatively silent and invisible in the political arena. And we were often criticized because the policies and programs didn't work. Corporate and government forces blamed us...both for the problems and for the solutions which didn't work. Now that we have become a more powerful voice politically, we have been criticized for our self interest and sometimes criticized for not consulting the "experts"! Now, that makes me angry! We need to be clear about who the experts are in understanding the problems. We understand that problems have become more complex; they are multi - dimensional; they are bi - partisan; they are cross generational. We understand that we didn't create them, but we do need to be a significant part of the solution. Our profession must continue to support positions which connect to what we value; to make us take pride in what we know, and what we do; to keep us centered to the commitment of achieving social justice. Social work educators must make sure that each student is charged with the expectation that advocacy, at all levels, is what social work is, always has been, and better be, about. You, our students, the future of our profession, must remember that in a democracy, where every voice and vote counts, doing nothing is a political act. And, I would add, as I am known frequently to do, that all social work is political. That's my vision of good social work practice, isn't it your vision? And, what can I tell you about advocacy that you don't already know? Haven't heard already this morning? I'd like to give you four, well maybe five, pieces of advice to help make you a more effective advocate: YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE I hope that many of you know that one of my books, Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena, is now in it's fourth edition. It is coauthored with my husband, Jim Mickelson, faculty member, Southwest Texas State University. The impetus for wanting to write it was that we saw in the early 1980s that social workers were not in the political arena; that social workers didn't believe that they had the requisite skills for political intervention; and indeed many felt that political action was not congruent with social work values. We developed an outline and 25 publishers turned us down because "no one would adopt such a book; there were no courses which included political content". With each rejection, we became more adamant about its need...and, we were right! Through its continued usage, we believe that two people have made a difference! And, given this occasion, I must note that for several years in late 1980s, I suggested that Texas have a statewide student day at the legislature; but people said...it will be too much work, it won't make a difference, students won't come. In 1992, Dr. Ira Colby, then at UTA and the Texas PACE Chair and now the Dean of the UH GSSW, and I said "Let's try." With a little bit of help from NASW; we did the rest. We hoped 100 students would come; and over 400 showed up at that first student social work day at the legislature. And, it made a difference! And look at you all here today! You're here...and you're going to make a difference! And one quick last story: My husband, then the CEO of a small nonprofit whose goal was advocacy, served on the Houston United Way's Public Policy Committee and that small group assembled to figure out what they could do relative to welfare reform back in 1996. People said, what could they do? Congress was already moving their plan; how could this group have any effect? Jim began to ask questions, collect data on how much Texas would get if block grants were determined solely on former funding levels versus number of children in the state. He held a press conference requesting funding based on population parity, not on former funding levels. Congressman Bill Archer's press secretary called the very next day, wanting information. And shortly thereafter the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee set aside $100 million to top off the funding levels for the "fastest growing states - Texas among them. Not ideal, but Texas children have benefitted by millions more because of one person's tenacity, astute strategic planning, and the skill and commitment to politically intervene. JUST SAY NO I guess we should have learned something from the Reagan era and learned how to "just say no". We don't have to just take it when changes in policies and regulations mean that our practice, in quality, principle, or philosophy is jeopardized. Whether in privatized models, in budget reshaping, agency downsizing, we have too often, in my opinion, been coopted to the detriment of quality client services and professional standards by taking professional roles and converting them to volunteer jobs; by agreeing to higher caseloads; by cutting technology or professional development from our agency budgets. While I understand that we may have to bend some, we must know when to "just say no." One of the examples we use in our book, which illustrates this point, and which got now Senator Barbara Mikulski, MSW, on the road toward the U.S. Senate is about a local community group in Baltimore, learning of a new highway project which would destroy the first black home ownership neighborhood, and also the proud neighborhoods of the Polish, Italians and Greeks and one of the most historic neighborhoods in Baltimore. A "rag tag" group of social workers and community activists talked to the planners, the architects, and the politicians; organized the neighborhoods, and challenged the cost-benefit analysis. They ran bake sales to get money to rent buses to take them to City Hall, the State House and Washington, D.C. They used a borrowed mimeograph machine versus expensive audio/video equipment of their opponents. In other words, they just "said no" and today tourism flourishes in revitalized Baltimore where neighborhoods were saved. SPEAK OUT Advocacy isn't just for students' day at the legislature; or the occasional letter \ telephone call to your legislator. You can do it in elevators, check out counters, cocktail parties whenever and wherever you hear misinformation and myths; if these go unchallenged, stereotyping goes on and only one side is providing the information. I was standing in line recently at a check out counter; 2 women in front of me, referring to a local news story, were maligning a mother who left her young children unattended at home. I interrupted...I asked if they realized how expensive child care was; how low the salaries were for part time, untrained workers...now, I admit, they looked at me rather strangely, but maybe I gave them some alternative view of the "story". Our silence only affirms the other point of view; we must "speak out". GET ANGRY
There are injustices and people are hurt by them; there are people who are either ignorant of the issues, or inhuman and uncaring...or both; anger is confrontational and that's okay. In the fourth edition of our book, we have a section entitled, "advocacy isn't for wimps" because effective advocacy sometimes takes confrontation; not always being nice; angering someone...that's okay when the cause is good. Advocacy isn't just head work, it's "the fire in your gut". It isn't just having the facts; it's having the passion to "get angry". Our former Commissioner of Mental Health, an MSW, Denny Jones, often took his righteous anger to the floor of the legislature to obtain more funding for children's mental health, for services for the mentally retarded, and he was clear that if his angry voice was absent from the discussion, a large number of vulnerable clients would suffer. Now, if you were counting, that was four pieces of advice. My fifth, remember these four always. They're the recipe for good advocacy: 1) you can make a difference; 2) just say no; 3) speak out; and 4) get angry. That's my vision of good social work practice; isn't it yours? CONCLUSION So, as you go off this afternoon to "lobby", please do not think of "them", whomever "them" is: your legislator, your delegation, as powerful and "us" as powerless. Think about the "power" you have in knowledge and compassion; think about the power that comes with knowing that social work is both an avocation and a vocation; think about the power that comes from understanding that service on behalf of others is the very purpose of life, and not something to be relegated to one's spare time. Arm yourselves with the power that comes from our "contract with America" which was not for 100 days; but one we have been committed to for more than 100 years. We don't offer quick fixes; we offer human dignity; nondiscrimination; equality; social justice. And if you are being an advocate and someone disparagingly calls you "bleeding heart or a do gooder", don't cringe and become apologetic. Stand tall and remind yourself that caring deeply and doing good is nothing to be ashamed of. If you are being an advocate and someone says, "you're just a social worker, what do you know about..."don't stutter and become tongue tied, tell them "I am a student in the only profession that teaches systems thinking; that examines problems and issues from multiple, not single, perspectives;. a profession that understands the synergism that derives from multi-disciplinary analysis; and a profession that has always valued collaborative rather than competitive practice. If you're being an advocate and someone asks, "how do you know what works, you're not a researcher, you're just a social worker." Do not disparage research or quantitative analysis, but say "I have the same level of expertness as lawyers and medical doctors...an expertness that comes from a sound professional education and from informed practice." If you're being an advocate and someone says, "what do social workers know about political action?", don't mutter something inaudible, reply loudly, looking them straight in the eye, "Politics is about interpersonal relations; group dynamics; mediation and negotiation; analyzing person in environment; and finding solutions to complex public problems. And that is exactly what social work is about!" That's my vision of good social work practice, isn't it yours? Now go down to the capital this afternoon and be a strong advocate because that's what good social work is about!
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