This spring, School of Social Work student Kayliee Bertrand-Henretta was in the New York State House of Assembly when Assemblywoman Chantel Jackson introduced a resolution to celebrate Human Rights Month Statewide Social Work. A social worker herself, Jackson listed each of the profession’s values and thanked the students gathered in the Capitol that day.
“We are the healers of the world. This is our month. We come here and do this work tirelessly, thanklessly, and today I say thank you for being here,” Jackson said before advocating for a raise for social workers.
For Bertrand-Henretta, a UB MSW student, it was a powerful moment that cemented her desire to follow Jackson and other social workers into politics.
“Social work is inherently political,” she says. “It’s right in our Code of Ethics: We must advocate to eradicate injustice and eliminate oppression and look critically at those systemic barriers that prevent so many people from reaching their true potential.”
Throughout the spring semester, students in the School of Social Work had multiple opportunities to see first-hand the policy process and consider how roles in politics and government, or in macro practice, fit the their professional goals.
In February, Bertrand-Henretta and doctoral student Jessica Mencia traveled to the University of Connecticut for the Campaign School for Social Workers. The two-day workshop teaches social work students how to be politically active as candidates, employees, volunteers or advocates for social change.
In one exercise, students were assigned roles in a fictional campaign, from the campaign manager and treasurer to the candidate himself, to learn about how a campaign works. Mencia enjoyed connecting with students from around the country and hearing from a panel of elected officials about how their experience helps them better serve their communities.
“I know I want to go into a non-academic sector, which is not that common for people who are getting PhDs,” says Mencia. “Meeting people at the Campaign School showed me that there are so many directions I can go in. It’s really exciting to know that a social work degree is so versatile that I bring so many valuable skills to so many different sectors.”
Mencia, too, is a strong supporter of the role of social work in politics. Before coming to UB for the dual MSW/PhD program, Mencia earned a degree in public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she did advocacy work to help undocumented students and increase access to abortion During her time at the UB, she has continued to be active as a volunteer with the New York Birth Control Access Project.
“Politics is really at the heart of what social work is,” Mencia says. “Even if you’re working at a micro level, the people you’re working with are very much influenced by politics and the way politics shapes society, either in a good way or in a way that makes them suffer.”
Later in the spring, several social work students saw advocacy in action during events at both the state and federal levels.
During the virtual Student Advocacy Day on the Hill, MSW student Clare Falkowski learned more about macro social work at the highest level of government.
“This program gave me the confidence to know that there are people in government and throughout the legislative process who stand up for social workers and basic human rights,” she says.
Falkowski also joined Bertrand-Henretta and four other MSW students in Albany for Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD).
During LEAD, students crossed the State Capitol building meeting, representing and advocating for critical social issues. Bertrand-Henretta says she logged about 12 miles walking the entire building in a single day.
Additionally, students participated in a press conference on the Capitol’s “Million Dollar Staircase” and observed legislative sessions, including Jackson and Senator Julia Salazar’s recognition and Labor Month speeches Social.
Bertrand-Henretta was so inspired by her experience at LEAD and the Campaign School, as well as her field placement in the office of Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera, that she decided to run for the school board local Moving forward in her career, she hopes to continue to be the voice of social workers and the wider community in government.
“Policy is very contentious, but social workers can see the big picture,” he says. “We have the ability to heal and change our communities.”
