In Honor of Social Work Month

IN HONOR OF SOCIAL WORK MONTH -- (House of Representatives - March 31, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today in observance of Social Work Month. Since 1984, March has officially been designated as a month to acknowledge and recognize that social workers make meaningful and humanitarian differences and contributions to people in communities all over the world.

According to government health statistics, 60 percent of the Nation's mental health services are delivered by social workers. Trained social workers provide more than 40 percent of disaster-related mental health services for the American Red Cross. Roughly 600,000 social workers are dedicated to ensuring that people of all ages, creeds, sexual orientations and nationalities have access to information, resources and services. They often make all the difference in the world to individuals and families who might otherwise fall through the cracks into hopelessness and despair. Social workers measure success by helping all those in need of basic services to achieve their goals on their own terms.

Often working behind the scenes, social workers are trained to address problems that some cannot see or issues that others hope will simply go away, drug addiction, family violence, joblessness, homelessness, mental illness, prejudice and many other conditions which affect millions of people every day, leaving them with little hope and few options.

According to the National Association of Social Workers, social workers help to open the doors of access and opportunity to those in greatest need through training and dedication. Moreover, social workers also actively advocate for changes in policy and legislation that strengthen the social safety nets that make a critical difference to so many.

Social workers have been at the forefront of many social movements. Some of the pioneers who were actively involved in creating social change include Dr. Dorothy Height, Jane Addams and Whitney Young.

Dr. Height was not only a giant in the civil rights movement, she also developed several model programs to combat teenage pregnancy, to address hunger in rural areas, worked as a proponent for AIDS education, implemented a project to expand business ownership by women and to provide funds for vocational training, and much more. She received a Congressional Gold Medal last week in recognition of these works as one of the preeminent social and civil rights activists of her time. In addition, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian distinction, by President Bill Clinton in 1994. In fact, she has been acknowledged for her leadership by every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Jane Addams, another great social worker who built Hull House, which is in Chicago in my district; Whitney Young, former president of the National Urban League, and the list goes on and on and on.

In addition, there are several social workers who serve in our body, individuals who were engaged as social workers before being elected to Congress: Representatives Susan Davis, Barbara Lee, Ciro Rodriguez and Ed Towns, as well as Senators Barbara Mikulski and Debbie Stabenow. All of these individuals have made tremendous differences.

I simply come, Madam Speaker, to commend those who engage themselves in the profession of social work, recognize the great achievements and accomplishments that they have made and urge we recognize their importance to our society.

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