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 after 15 terms and 30 years of service. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, he will be honored with CRISP’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award during the 4:00 p.m. ceremony in Room 2168 in the Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20515. Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, a respected leader in her own right, will also be bestowed with this esteemed award. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a beacon of social work in Congress, was voted this year’s Outstanding Congressional Social Worker. She, too, will be leaving Congress at the end of her term after losing her primary race for the Senate.
Dr. Halaevalu Vakalahi will emcee the program. Special guest Dr. Stephanie Boddie, the Associate Professor of Church and Community Ministries at the University of Baylor School of Social Work and the producer of Unfinished Business, an oral history documentary of the Great Migration, will perform a musical selection. Special guest Dr. Bettina Love, the William F. Russell Professor at Teacher’s College at Columbia University and author of the New York Times bestseller Punished for Dreaming, will give remarks. Please register if you plan to attend.
Other CRISP Awards will be presented to:
- Emily Hopkins, a legislative assistant for Congresswoman Katie Porter, representing the 47th District in California. Ms. Hopkins, an MSW graduate from the University of Michigan School of Social Work and the recipient of a Presidential Management Fellowship, will receive the award as the Outstanding Congressional Staffer. She also serves as Vice President of the CRISP Board of Directors.
- Dr. Nancy Kusmaul, an associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County School of Social Work and a leader in social and policy, will receive the award for Outstanding Individual in Academia. Dr. Kusmaul works with the Eldercare Workforce Alliance, Moving Forward Coalition, and the NASW Maryland Committee on Aging and serves on the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to the Secretary on Aging for Maryland. She is the author of Aging and Social Policy in the United States.
- Jasmine Dearman, a leader for the Social Work Votes initiative at Columbia University School of Social Work, where she is completing her MSW degree with a concentration in Leadership, Management, and Entrepreneurship, was voted Outstanding Student of the Year. She works to organize students at the school to register voters and educate community residents on the political process. Ms. Dearman is a CRISP Fellow and assisted in organizing and managing the 2024 Student Advocacy Day events.
- LaCinda Jones, a health system specialist (mental health policy), will receive the Outstanding Social Worker in Government award. She works in inpatient/outpatient specialty care policy and as a clinical social worker across the Veterans Administration. She was a 2021-22 Fellow in the House of Representatives and the Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Jones provided leadership for the Coalition for Social Work and Health. She helped develop a bipartisan bill in the House to improve access to social work services across healthcare settings.
- Rebecca “Becca” Wong, who will receive the Outstanding Social Worker in Business award, provides impact analytics and communications at Working Capital Fund, a venture capital firm focused on technology solutions to human trafficking, forced labor, just climate transition, gender equity, and workers’ rights. One of few social workers in venture capital, Ms. Wong advocates for social work values, including social and economic justice through impact investing—a powerful vehicle in social movements.
Social workers will celebrate our contributions to Congress and the federal government, and students will advocate for The Freedom to Vote Act this week as our numbers in Congress dwindle. When I arrived on the Hill in 2010 to work for former Congressman Ed Towns, there were 14 social work members of Congress. When the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2025, just two social work members will be in Congress, Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29) and Hillary Scholten (D-MI-3). There will be no social workers in the U.S. Senate for the first time since Barbara Mikulski was first sworn in in 1987. Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema announced her intention to leave Congress last week.