by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 25, 2024
The political landscape appears to be a swirling sandstorm with Kamala Harris’s ascension to the top spot of the Democratic ticket. After agonizing weeks of waiting to see if President Biden would accept the bleak prognosis for his reelection, he finally...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 17, 2024
I was surprised by Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance was a late convert to the MAGA cult. He offered several deprecating appraisals of Donald Trump during the runup to the 2016 election, referring to him as “cultural heroin” and fearing Trump...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 11, 2024
On Sunday, July 21, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., family and friends of former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns will gather at the Berean Baptist Church to celebrate 90 years of a life well lived. He will share his big day with his son, Darryl C. Towns, whose 63rd birthday falls...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 8, 2024
November 5, 2024, looms as a defining day in the struggle to preserve democracy in the United States. Democrats seek to fend off Donald Trump’s quest to usher in his brand of authoritarianism. The Supreme Court has set the stage with its determination that the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 12, 2024
Who is Angela Alsobrooks? Barring any unforeseen developments, she probably will be the next United States Senator from the great state of Maryland, the first African American from Maryland to hold the prestigious office, and just the fourth black woman to serve in...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 31, 2024
Donald Trump is finally being held accountable for all the crap he has done over the many decades of his inglorious life. And it is just the beginning. I was surprised by the verdict. I did not expect a guilty verdict on all counts. I was prepared for a hung jury. The...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 21, 2024
With so many issues filling the airwaves, from political polarization, roiling campus protests about the war in Gaza and its antisemitic antecedents, the growing threat of global warming, and threats even to our democratic system, the sad plight of the many thousands...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 20, 2024
With the capable Lead Organizer, Amani Desamours, and her Student Leadership Team handling Thursday’s virtual Student Advocacy Day, I had the privilege of attending the pivotal Children’s Bureau’s National Convening on Kinship Care. This gathering, which...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 10, 2024
Former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns, a distinguished figure in the U.S. House of Representatives, will return to the Hill on Wednesday, March 13, to celebrate another Social Work Day on the Hill, an event he created shortly after retiring from Congress in 2013...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 3, 2024
I am late sharing my thoughts on Black History Month this year because I have been concentrating on our upcoming Social Work Day on the Hill and Student Advocacy Days. Each year, I look for history that helps me understand the current circumstances of black people in...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Feb 28, 2024
CRISP will resume in-person events on Wednesday, March 13, to celebrate March as Social Work Month after a four-hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme is Lifting Every Voice: The Power of Storytelling in Social Work. Our Social Work Day on the Hill day...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Feb 8, 2024
Tuesday was a bad day for the Republican Party, both in substance and appearance. The catastrophes were led by House Republicans’ failure to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. This was not surprising because the Republicans’ slim majority of 219...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 5, 2024
With so much madness in the world, vulnerable populations are being left further behind. Children with incarcerated parents are of those forgotten groups. My dissertation completed in 2002 focused on fathers as part of the Fragile Families study. The prison population...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Dec 13, 2023
The title of this post is taken from a song popularized by the late Gwen Guthrie that made it to the top of the R&B charts in 1986. In the song, Guthrie sings about the reality of paying the rent and that money talks. “No romance without finance,” she croons....
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 21, 2023
Mary McKay, the outgoing President of the Board of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW), announced the results of the society’s recent elections, which selected Michael A. Lindsey as the new President of the Board and welcomed eight new...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 7, 2023
The recent tragic mass shooting in Lewistown, Maine, once again focused the nation’s attention on the growing menace of guns and firearms in the United States. Planned long before the shooting, about three dozen social work researchers, scholars, and practitioners...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 22, 2023
The power of storytelling in social work is the theme of our 2024 Social Work Day on the Hill and Student Advocacy Day events on March 13, 14, and 15. The very nature of social work requires lifting the voices of poor and vulnerable people so their stories are heard....
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 12, 2023
Chaos can and has been an effective strategy to disrupt the status quo. However, more often than not, it results in worsening the situation. Our government has come to a grinding halt because Republicans have chosen confrontation and retribution over governing. The...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Sep 11, 2023
It is always sad to bid farewell to great humanitarians who end their Earthly journey. It is also a time to celebrate the life and legacy of Douglas Graham Glasgow, a kind, gentle, and wise human being who devoted his life to improving the condition of black...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Aug 1, 2023
Much too soon after saying farewell to social justice champion Mit Joyner, we learned of the passing of New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, just days after temporarily assuming the duties as Governor during the absence of Governor Phil Murphy, who was with...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 11, 2023
Mit Joyner’s voice will continue to be heard. She was a passionate advocate for social justice and a superlative steward of the social work profession, holding many national and international leadership positions along with her academic responsibilities. I first got...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 30, 2023
As President Biden and Democratic leaders express their discontent and abhorrence about the Supreme Court’s decision to ban race-based consideration for college admissions, it would be disingenuous for them to suggest they did not see this coming and failed to prevent...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 23, 2023
The Covid-19 pandemic and its lingering effects have captured the attention of many Americans over the past several years. It certainly has changed our lives in how we work, play, and socialize. We are sifting through its after-effects, such as surging inflation and...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 13, 2023
CRISP and the National Foster Youth Institute will host a congressional briefing tomorrow, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Room 2075 in the Rayburn House Office Building on H.R. 1446 – Foster Youth and Drivers Act, and S.699, its companion bill in...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 30, 2023
Congratulations to the thousands of social workers graduating from Master of Social Work programs nationwide. Statistics are being compiled for 2022; however, according to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), more than 25,000 social work students graduated...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 29, 2023
Scores of macro practice social workers and students will gather at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis beginning Thursday for the first in-person conference since the Covid-19 pandemic. The four-day Macro United Conference, organized by Influencing...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 25, 2023
The Democratic Party has a long history of poor communications. President Jimmy Carter helped to undermine his chances for reelection by handing Republicans a public relations gift that is enshrined in the Hall of Fame of political gaffs. Although he never uttered the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 2, 2023
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Fittingly, addressing the mental health needs of children and youth in the United States has become an issue of bipartisan concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 42...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 25, 2023
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is a remarkable individual and incredibly talented political social worker. Her gifts and skills were displayed last week when she delivered her first State of the City address marking 100 days in office. She’s made reducing...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 12, 2023
Dr. Lenna Nepomnyaschy is an associate professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and a participant in the current faculty strike at the university. She is a member of the board of directors of the Social Work Democracy Project. I have known Lenna since...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 11, 2023
The Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School tracks the perceptions of young voters aged 18 to 29 years old with their semi-annual national polls. In the spring of 2021, pollsters found that despite the chaotic state of American politics, hope for the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Feb 6, 2023
For Black History Month, the Public Broadcasting Company (PBS) series Eyes on the Prize has been the go-to source for the most comprehensive understanding of the struggle for civil rights for black Americans. It is worth reviewing for those who have not seen it or...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 15, 2023
There is no way to know what Dr. Martin Luther King’s assessment of our progress toward racial reconciliation and healing the nation would be. I imagine he would welcome our progress and remind us of the need to do more. As we celebrate his birthday, it should be a...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 10, 2023
After four days and 15 ballots, and much trepidation, Kevin McCarthy was elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress. It may be a pyrrhic victory for the California congressman who must make good on numerous concessions to the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 3, 2023
The King of Football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known to the world as Pelé, was among the notables who passed away in 2022, a list that includes Pope Benedict XVI, Queen Elizabeth II, Sidney Poitier, Bill Russell, Barbara Walters, and many more familiar names as...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Dec 21, 2022
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is well-prepared to walk onto the biggest stage of his life. On January 3, 2023, he will make history when he succeeds the incomparable Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the Democratic Party. It is a tall order. Speaker Pelosi is generally...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 13, 2022
Those who favor the Democratic Party’s policies can breathe a sigh of relief that the red wave never materialized. I had my doubts. President Biden had the best outcome for a president during the midterm elections in 20 years since the Republicans gained 8 seats in...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 8, 2022
It seems like it took forever for this day to arrive, but today is Election Day, and we will learn much about our country. We’re going to see who goes to the polls. We will know how crucial reproductive freedom is to women and to which groups of women. We will get a...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 1, 2022
Yesterday, the Supreme Court began hearing two cases concerning admissions criteria using affirmative action as one means of determining who gets coveted entry into Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. According to media reports, most justices...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Sep 18, 2022
The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) and the National Foster Youth Initiative (NFYI) will convene a Congressional Briefing tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in Room HVC 201 in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, First Street and East Capitol...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Sep 4, 2022
“You cannot love your country only when you win.” These words, spoken by President Joe Biden during his address to the nation Thursday night, stood out for me. That phrase immediately took me back to President John F. Kennedy’s memorable statement during his...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Aug 25, 2022
As economic inequality grows unabated in the United States, policymakers are reaching for solutions to ensure the future of children born into low-income households. This is a quest that Brown School professor Michael Sherraden has been at for decades with notable...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 22, 2022
When I received the invite to attend Monday evening’s Capitol Hill dinner celebrating progress on legislation supporting the needs of foster care youth, I was a bit surprised by the nature of the bill. Of all the needs of foster care youth, particularly those who are...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 7, 2022
The United States economy is teetering on the brink these days, as are most of the world’s economies. Many are predicting dire days ahead. Stock market watchers such as British investor Jeremy Grantham believes bubbles created by the longest bull market in...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 29, 2022
One of most rewarding aspects of the work we do at CRISP is encountering so many gifted social workers in all parts of the country who are eager to become change agents and difference makers by working in the policy and political arenas. Many are young and in the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 21, 2022
The Social Work Democracy Project, officially launched last month during CRISP’s Social Work Day on the Hill event, is pleased to welcome Marla Blunt-Carter to its Board of Directors. An Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers School of Social Work, to...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 13, 2022
I was back on Capitol Hill Tuesday, April 5, for the first time in two years. My last visit to the Hill was CRISP’s Social Work Day on the Hill reception in the Rayburn Building in March 2020. We cancelled Student Advocacy Day scheduled for the next day as the House...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 28, 2022
The future belongs to the young and I am encouraged by the incredibly gifted young people who are joining the social work profession these days. Our 2022 Student Advocacy Day was a testament to growing activism among young people generally and the passion within our...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 22, 2022
Those who seem hellbent on following Trump and Republican downs the path to authoritarianism may not be thinking about what life might be under a Trump monarchy. The liberties and freedoms that these folks cling to so zealously could easily vanish. Once in power,...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 19, 2022
As a social worker I implore you to reconsider your staunch opposition to amending the current Senate practice of requiring a 60-vote threshold to allow a motion to end debate in the United States Senate and allow a vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis...
