Four Fredonia seniors from the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Action Group will be attending a special training for Advocacy Training Day at the University of Albany on March 24 and 25.
The BSW Action Group advocates reinstating the funding of Title IV-E monies that provided scholarships to Bachelor of Social Work students interested in working in public child welfare agencies.
With both Fredonia and University of Albany students in attendance, the purpose of the training is to educate participants on how to on how to find a cause, research the cause and advocate for said cause.
Students participating include Danny Galusha from Seneca Falls, majoring in Psychology and Sociology; Antonio Regulier from Roosevelt , majoring in Social Work and English; and Social Works majors Kelly Forstbauer from Rochester and Katie Oakes from Jamestown.
Following the training, students will be meeting with legislators from the Education Committee of New York State to further advocate for the same scholarship that was advocated for last spring as well as to discuss the current status of the literature regarding the outcomes of social workers in child welfare positions. The committee is comprised of 18 members, including State Senator John J. Flanagan, who serves as chairman.
A fierce advocate for education, Senator Flanagan is currently the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Education. He has been a constant voice for increasing the quality of education in New York State with a long history of fighting to ensure that all regions get their fair share of state aid to reduce class size and to protect property taxpayers.
In Spring 2014, research was presented by the BSW Action Group at the National Association of Social Workers’ Power of Social Work Conference in Albany to assess the value of social worker training and education at the bachelor’s level for workers involved in child welfare services at the county level.
The keynote speaker for the training event will be Mary McCarthy, assistant dean for Development at the University of Albany as well as the director of the Social Work Education Consortium, a statewide partnership between the New York State Association of Deans of Social Work Schools and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. As Consortium Director, McCarthy interacts with and guides a diverse group of stakeholders including deans of schools of social work, state agency administrators, administrators and supervisors of local social service districts, and workers themselves. She is Principal Investigator for two federal Children’s Bureau grants and contracts totaling more than $17 million.
The training speaker will be Bob Cohen, policy director of the Public Policy Education Fund of New York. His duties include research, the writing of reports, staff and member training, and providing research and policy assistance to Health Care for All New York (HCFANY). With over two decades of experience in lobbying and working on campaigns to influence the state legislature, Mr. Cohen is well versed in a variety of public and social issues from health care accessibility to education reform. He is a member of the Regional Advisory Committee to the Marketplace that was created by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2012 Executive Order for the Capital District and Northern New York.
