NASW MA: On the Front Lines of Advocacy
Your membership with NASW includes a powerful, progressive effort to elevate the social work profession and change laws that can impact the profession and clients of social work.
To bring our social work voice into the State House, we:
- Testify at the State House on a variety of legislation
- Work with partners of various coalitions (full list below) to make a concerted effort for change
- Identify and endorse political candidates who promote social work values and help get them elected
- Build relationships with policymakers and state agency staff to postively impact policy and practice
- Encourage and educate our members to meet with and lobby their legislators
There are many ways to get acquainted with our political work:
- Action Center- Learn how a bill gets passed in Massachusetts and ways to take action
- Our Legislative Agenda- The priority bills that we are putting our efforts behind to get passed
- Committees & Shared Interest Groups (SIGs)- Open to all members; includes the Legislative Advocacy Committee and the PACE
- Legislative Education & Advocacy Day (LEAD)- Our annual day of advocacy in the State House that takes place each March during Social Work Month
Don't want to miss an opportunity? Fill out our Social Workers Interested in Advocacy Form and join our Legislative Alert Network to receive advocacy-related e-updates.
Commitment to Racial Justice
NASW-MA Legislation and Policy Setting with a Racial Justice Lens
As we continue to emphasize and infuse racial justice into all internal and external areas of our Chapter’s work, with the guidance of our 2021-2022 strategic plan, and Racial Justice Council, another important vehicle is policy and legislative priorities. Each time the Legislative Advocacy Committee (LAC) proposes a new legislative agenda (every two years) it will take into consideration and ensure that the proposed bills advance racial justice and will enhance the well-being of and promote equitable outcomes for people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.
Social workers understand that systemic racism leads to disenfranchisement and disproportionate harm to people of color. This harm may be personal, professional, social, civic, economic, or environmental. As an association, we must take action to combat racism through policy and legislative advocacy. We must use policy and legislative advocacy to help meet the needs of and empower people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.
The following questions are designed to guide our legislative agenda setting process and determine if we are meeting our goal to select and advocate for legislation that advances racial justice (Adapted from Race Forward and the Massachusetts Public Health Association):
- What is the policy under consideration? What are the desired results and outcomes and how will they be tracked for impact?
- Who are the bill’s supporters and stakeholders? Is there a coalition behind the bill? If so, who is in the coalition? Were the groups or communities who will be most impacted by the policy involved in its development?
- How would this policy reduce or address racial inequities and discrimination?
- What may be the unintended consequences of the bill? What adverse impacts could negatively impact underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, or those who are vulnerable, oppressed, and/or living in poverty? Are there strategies to mitigate the unintended consequences?
- How viable is this bill? What is the strategy to ensure that this policy proposal is palatable to the legislature this session and has momentum?
Our Partners
It takes a village to get good legislation passed, and we are proud to partner with the following coalitions:
- Alliance for Community Health Integration (ACHI)
- Children's Mental Health Campaign
- Coalition for Choice
- Health Care for All (HCFMA)
-Affordable Care Today (ACT! Coalition) - Healthy Youth Coalition
- Juvenile Justice Coalition
- Kids Count Advisory Council
- Lift the Cap on Kids Coalition
- Mass Alliance
- MA Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics: Children's Mental Health Taskforce
- MA Department of Children & Families Advisory Council
- Mental Health Coalition (Co-Chaired with Mass Psychological Assn)
- MIRA/Safe Communities Coalition
- Professional Advisory Committee on Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Raise Up Massachusetts
- SNAP Gap Coalition
- "What a Difference a DA Makes" Campaign headed by ACLU
Appointed:
- Children's Behavioral Health Partnership (CBHI)
- LGBTQ Commission established under Criminal Justice Reform Bill
- Solitary Confinement Oversight Committee established under Criminal Justice Reform Bill
- Prevent Promote Commission chaired by Secretary of EOHHS, Marylou Sudders
- Commission to Review Evidence-Based Treatments under Opioid Bill
- Commission to Review Efficacy of Involuntary Treatment of Individuals with SUD under Opioid Bill