by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 29, 2026
Of the numerous books on writing I’ve read, one that stands out is “Show, Don’t Tell: A Writer’s Guide” by William Noble. It taught me that rather than describing the mood or setting, show the action. Rather than tell the reader that the character was angry, describe...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 3, 2026
Despite troubling policies and actions by the current administration in the White House, social workers should embrace the Declaration of Independence’s yet-unfulfilled aspirations as the nation celebrates 250 years of existence. Public opinion suggests that the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 1, 2026
Effective today, July 1, 2026, most incoming MSW students face a new and troubling financial reality. They will no longer be eligible for federal Grad PLUS loans, which many graduate students have relied on to cover the difference between ordinary federal aid and the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 9, 2026
From left: CRISP Director Charles Lewis, Jr.; former Congressman Ed Towns; Mayor Karen Bass; National Catholic School of Social Service Dean Jo Ann Regan; and former NASW CEO Angelo McClain at the 2018 CRISP Awards ceremony. Karen Bass was elected to Congress in 2010,...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 2, 2026
Social workers and nurses have one month to preserve their existing access to federal graduate student loans. Under the Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) final rule, published on May 1 and scheduled to take effect on July 1,...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 11, 2026
CRISP is proud to announce that Dr. Angelique Day, our Legislative Director, has accepted an appointment at Oxford University’s Rees Center as Senior Academic Research Leader in Children’s Social Care. This is a significant professional achievement for Dr. Day, but it...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 3, 2026
In its decision in Louisiana v. Callais, the John Roberts-led conservative majority of the Supreme Court struck another damaging blow to fair minority representation in our fragile democracy. Born out of struggles during the Civil Rights era, when people gave their...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Apr 20, 2026
Students from National Catholic University meet with members of Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s staff. The fact that democracy enabled Donald Trump’s election as president twice does not mean that a system in which the will of the people determines leadership...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 15, 2026
Attendees at the inaugural Social Work Day on the Hill reception in 2015 March is Social Work Month, and CRISP is bringing social workers to the nation’s capital to recognize and celebrate our contributions to society through our engagement with Congress and the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 9, 2026
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver In the age of performative, often dysfunctional leadership that we witness daily in the current administration and in the halls of Congress, Sheila Y. Oliver’s life provides a superb example of...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 5, 2026
President Trump’s decision to join Israel in launching massive aerial attacks on Iran is the latest and most frightening example of the authoritarian tendencies that have unnerved the majority of Americans. According to an October 2025 survey by the Public Religion...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 29, 2026
I am certain many social workers, like me, have been consumed by the trauma faced daily by residents of Minneapolis, especially those who have taken it upon themselves to exercise what they believe is their civic responsibility to protest the brutal overreach of the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 12, 2026
Hundreds of social work researchers, faculty, and students nationwide are gathering in the nation’s capital this week for the Society of Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Conference at Washington, DC’s Marriott Marquis Hotel, with a focus on the theme, “Leading...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 13, 2025
Millions of Americans suffered significant losses during the most recent federal government shutdown—the longest in the nation’s history. If there were any winners from this standoff, it is the Democratic Party. By forcing Trump and Republicans to take a stance...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 21, 2025
This blog post title is borrowed from Michael Anasara’s memoir of his decades-long journey on the front lines of social movements in the United States, beginning with his teenage years in Massachusetts as a white male who found his way to segregated lunch counters...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 1, 2025
On September 16, I had the distinct pleasure of moderating a meeting of the minds with three social work research scholars who have been engaged in shaping policies designed to support the development of children in the United States for decades. I’ve known fellow...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 24, 2025
From left: Dr. Charles E. Lewis, Jr., Victor Armstrong, Dr. Altha Stewart, and Dr. Anthony Estreet. The crisis of black youth suicide continues to ring alarms. On Thursday, July 10, dozens of researchers, practitioners, advocates, policymakers, and people with lived...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jun 12, 2025
Social worker and fellow alum from Columbia School of Social Work, Emily Ball Jabbour, decided to throw her hat into the ring as a candidate for mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. She was elected to the Hoboken City Council in 2017 and re-elected to a second four-year term...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | May 28, 2025
The late Congressman Charlie Rangel, Ed Towns, and I attended the launch reception for the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) at the Monocle Restaurant on April 16, 2013. Among the pleasant memories of my time in the U.S. House of...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Mar 18, 2025
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....
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Feb 3, 2025
From Left: Dr. Carrie Pettus, Legislative Aide Santos Marino, Dr. Angelique Day, and Rebecca Goodwin of WSIPP. It is fitting to title my first blog during Black History Month with this lyric from Billie Holiday’s iconic song, “God Bless the Child,” as it...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jan 12, 2025
The funeral service for former President James Earl Carter was an event of the magnitude deserving of someone who lived a life dedicated to helping others. The theme of that event attended by President Joseph Biden, who delivered the eulogy, and four remaining living...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Dec 22, 2024
If you are planning to arrive in Seattle early for the Society for Social Work and Research annual conference, we invite you to join CRISP, Wellbeing and Equity Innovations (WEI), and the University of Washington School of Social Work for an Innovation Day workshop on...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Dec 16, 2024
From left: CRISP Director Charles E. Lewis, Jr, CSWE CEO Dr. Halaevalu Vakalahi, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Sylvia Garcia, NASW CEO Dr. Anthony Estreet. Dozens of social workers braved the cold, rainy, and swirling winds Wednesday evening to gather in the Rayburn House...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 6, 2024
I spent the morning communicating with family, friends, colleagues, and students, devastated by the thought of Donald Trump returning to the White House in January. The depressing news hit me like a ton of bricks this morning when I learned the election results. I...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Nov 2, 2024
I expect Vice President Kamala Harris to be the 47th President of the United States soon after the polls close on Tuesday. She has the intelligence, temperament, and experience to lead post-MAGA America. Despite the polls reporting half of likely voters supporting the...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 21, 2024
The Social Work Democracy Project (SWDP) has launched a campaign in four battleground states to energize social work students and inspire young people to participate in the democratic process. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina students have been...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Oct 6, 2024
The Institute of International Education, a global not-for-profit organization facilitating international exchanges, requested CRISP meet with three senior-level professionals participating in the Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program on Leadership sponsored by...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Aug 21, 2024
If you have not watched former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, you owe it to yourself to watch what CNN’s Anderson Cooper called the most powerful political speech he’s ever heard. It is an extraordinary and necessary message...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Aug 19, 2024
The Social Work Democracy Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit and nonpartisan organization created to encourage social workers to step up our civic engagement in the wake of increasing threats to destabilize and end democracy as we know it in the United States, is embarking...
by Charles E Lewis Jr | Jul 30, 2024
One of the toughest things about growing old is seeing family, friends, colleagues, and people you admire end their life journeys. It is a fate that awaits us all, but we are never prepared for it when we learn of the passing of someone we cherish. It is with sadness...
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 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 | 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 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 | 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 | 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 | 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...
