Social Work Amplified

Macro social work is all about advocacy and community organizing! Alán M. De León joins us for episode 4 of the podcast to discuss his work within MOVE Texas. MOVE Texas is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization building power in underrepresented youth communities in Texas through civic education, leadership development, and issue advocacy. Alán works as the Harris County Advocacy Organizer, building coalitions with community members and other advocacy organizations that seek to promote progressive change and social justice. While Alán is not a social worker, he points out that he works alongside many social workers who are doing this type of work.

Listen to episode 4 now to hear about how Alán and MOVE Texas were able to bring a voting polling place into a local jail through their advocacy and organizing.

Advocacy organizations make huge impacts in the social policy arena. Episode 3 of the podcast features Molly Broadway, MSW, who works at Disability Rights Texas as a HAVA Trainer and Technical Specialist focusing on voting rights.

Molly received her Masters Degree in Social Work from Texas State University.  She works with Disability Rights Texas as the Training and Technical Support Specialist for Voting Rights.  This role allows her to travel all across the state to provide voting rights trainings for community members and election officials, as well as provide no-cost accessibility inspections of voting polls. Over the last twenty years, Molly has worked in various roles serving the disability community. She has served as a job coach, house parent, advocate, case manager, mentor, and inclusion transition specialist. While at Disability Rights Texas, Molly has brought statewide and national attention to the Disability Rights Texas HAVA program through her collaboration with community groups to improve local voting accessibility, and advocacy for statewide, systematic change.

Macro social work provides social workers with a variety of career opportunities. Listen to episode 3 of the podcast as Molly discusses the history of Disability Rights Texas, the ways that Disability Rights Texas is making a difference regarding voting rights for people with disabilities, and the reasons why she chose to pursue a career in advocacy and macro social work practice. Come and learn about another type of social work career in advocacy!

Did you know that there are social work lobbyists in state legislatures across the country? The second episode of SPEAK’s podcast, Social Work Amplified, features Alison Mohr Boleware, LMSW, who is the Government Relations Director at the National Association of Social Workers - Texas Chapter.

Alison Mohr Boleware, LMSW, joins us to discuss her position as the Government Relations Director at National Association of Social Workers -Texas Chapter. She most recently worked as a Health Policy Analyst in the Governmental Affairs Department of the Texas Medical Association.  Previously Alison served as a Policy Fellow for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, participating in the Hogg Mental Health Policy Academy.  During the 84th legislative session Alison served as a Legislative Aide to former State Representative Elliott Naishtat, also a social worker. She staffed the House Human Services committee, working primarily on policy issues related to child welfare, mental health, disability services, and Medicaid.  Alison received her Master of Science in Social Work from the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin with a Community and Administrative Leadership focus.

Join us for episode 2 of the Social Work Amplified podcast with Alison as she discusses what led her to macro social work practice and reviews her current work as a lobbyist in social work practice. Listen now to find out how a trip to China pushed Alison toward macro social work!

Do you ever wonder what it looks like to work in the legislature as a social worker? Bethany Gutierrez joins us to discusses her social work background, her current role as the District Director for the Texas State Representative Diego Bernal, and her thoughts on social work and politics.

Bethany is a Latina, Cisgender, Social Worker (MSW) (May 2020), member of the NASW Human Rights Committee, a 2019 Archer Fellow almna, 2018 AmeriCorps VISTA alumna, and a first generation college graduate from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) born and raised in hometown Victoria, TX.

Within her position as the District Director for Texas Representative Diego Bernal, she works to increase the Representative’s visibility to his constituents during COVID-19, assist constituents with bureaucratic concerns, develop policy for the Texas 87th Legislative Session, collaborate and form resolutions to address racism in schools, develop asset maps for constituent outreach, and mentor MSW students in the office.
Bethany does a deep dive into a day in the life of a social worker in the legislature, discussing what it looks like to work in the state legislature as a social worker. Come find out how micro and macro social work collide for a social worker in a legislative position!

The Social Work Amplified Podcast is hosted by SPEAK. SPEAK stands for Social Policy, Education, Advocacy, and Knowledge. SPEAK’s mission is to amplify the voices of social workers in politics and social policy by providing resources, increasing students’ political engagement and facilitating networking opportunities. SPEAK would like to gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Simmons Sister Fund at Texas Women’s Foundation.