Social Workers Making Change
Black and Latinx students are not receiving an equitable education due to generations of systemic racism ingrained in the United State’s institutions- education, health care, real estate, and criminal justice. Because systems such as these practice and perpetuate racism, discrimination, and implicit/explicit bias against Black and Latinx students and their families we are calling for a collaboration with New York City Department of Education, Principals and administration, and schools of social work in New York to develop the Social Work Internship Review Board (SWIRB) that can support the assessment of public school funding based on a holistic perspective of mental health by 2023.

With the implementation of a Social Work Internship Review Board in every public school that has a Social Work intern, each intern will be able to help identify the funding deficits in the schools.Through critical assessments and evaluations with the school, students, and guardians, the interns can identify and document critical mental health deficits like clean drinking water, after-school programming, additional Social Workers, and barriers to food security, and assist the schools in requesting adequate funds to address these needs. School social work internships are already fantastic opportunities for both the public schools and the interns, but it’s time for us all to do more to ensure Black and Latinx students receive the equitable education promised in Brown v. Board.