CRISP 2019 Award Winners
We are pleased to announce the winners of our 2025 CRISP Awards. Each year, we recognize social workers and others who have contributed significantly to pursuing social work values and principles through Congress and the federal government. Members of Congress, congressional staff, outstanding academicians, students, government personnel, and individuals in business or philanthropy are presented with awards during our Social Work Day on the Hill reception, which will be held on Wednesday, March 26, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building.
We will present awards to the two social work Members of Congress—Congresswomen Sylvia Garcia and Hillary Scholten. Rep. Garcia represents the 29th district in Texas, which includes parts of Harris County and portions of Houston and Pasadena. She succeeded Rep. Barbara Lee as the chair of the Congressional Social Work Caucus. She recently introduced the More Social Workers (MSWs) in Libraries Act, which aims to strengthen public libraries as community hubs by creating a program for paid social work internships at libraries. The goal is to address issues like homelessness and domestic violence by connecting people with the services they need right where they are—at their local libraries. Her Chief of Staff, Chris McCarthy, who earned his MSW at the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work, was selected as the top social work Hill staffer.
Rep. Hillary Scholten was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022 from the third district in Michigan, where she was the first woman and mother to represent her district. She sits on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Small Business. Early in her career, she worked as a social worker, focusing on housing advocacy for the AIDS Action Committee, which gave her valuable insight into addressing homelessness and housing insecurity.
Two social workers, Wendy S. Sherman and Jared Bernstein, will be recognized for their extraordinary achievements in government. Sherman earned her MSW from the University of Maryland and served in several high-ranking positions. She served as the North Korean policy coordinator during the Clinton administration and undersecretary of state during the Obama administration before being nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate as the first woman Deputy Secretary of State. She also served as director of Emily’s list and was the founding president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation.
After earning his MSW from Hunter College, Jared Bernstein earned his doctorate at Columbia University School of Social Work. He established himself as one of the nation’s top economists as a senior official at the Economic Policy Institute and deputy chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. He served as Vice President Biden’s chief economist during the Obama administration and was nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. He authored several books and coauthored the last nine editions of The State of Working America.
Qin Gao was selected as the outstanding academic contributor. A leading authority on China’s social welfare system, Dr. Gao received her PhD at Columbia University School of Social Work, where she is the Associate Dean for Doctoral Education. She is a poverty scholar who focuses on the changing nature of the Chinese welfare system and its impact on poverty and inequality, as well as cross-national comparative social policies and programs. She is the founding director of Columbia University’s China Center for Social Policy.
This year’s top social work student is Matty Santiago, a first-generation Dominican American pursuing her MSW at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. She actively engages with advocacy organizations, including the Latino Social Work Coalition and Social Workers for Justice. She has dedicated nearly a decade to working in social services, advocating for marginalized communities in New York City.