March 2024
Crime Victim Services is helping celebrate this year’s Social Work Month in March with the theme “Empowering Social Workers,” to highlight how social workers have inspired action and lead change to enrich our society. Social workers empower people and communities to overcome hurdles that prevent them from living life to the fullest.
The annual Social Work Month campaign is a time to inform community members, policymakers, and legislators about how social workers have a long history of breaking barriers when it comes to the services they provide in an array of sectors, including hospitals and mental health centers, federal, state, and local government, schools, community centers, and social service agencies.
Many people become social workers because they have a strong desire to help others and make our communities a better place. Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). More than 700,000 professional social workers are hard at work nationwide, but that number is expected to rise to almost 800,000 by 2030, BLS said. Becoming a licensed social worker requires a four-year degree and a licensure exam.
Social work began more than a century ago. The profession can trace a large part of its origins to Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Star, who in 1889 opened Hull House in Chicago to provide social services to the area, which had a large immigrant population. Other social work pioneers include anti-lynching advocate and women’s rights activist Ida B. Wells and George Edmund Haynes, a social worker who was co-founder of the National Urban League.
Social workers have helped drive significant, positive changes in our nation, as well as in our local community. From advocating for victim’s rights in the legal system, counseling survivors of trauma, to fighting for policy at the state and federal level, our staff work tirelessly to help our communities thrive.
“Each day, social workers help empower millions of Americans to live their best lives, and the social workers at CVS are no different. During Social Work Month I urge you to educate yourselves about our amazing profession, thank the social workers in your lives, and help support this important vocation,” said Ryn Farmer, deputy director of Crime Victim Services and licensed social worker.