District Coordinator:

Leilani Buddenhagen ~ leilani.buddenhagen@gmail.com

We continue to operate a vibrant district. We hold eight programs a year, with monthly meetings from September-May. We are historically on leave during the three summer months. An active steering committee helps to plan our meetings, which are 2-hour CE presentations. We have just moved locations and are now starting meetings at a local community center. Leilani Buddenhagen, ASW is officially the District Coordinator, but many other accomplished social workers in the area are very active and involved, including Nancy White, Mick Rogers, and Jean Rosenfeld.

We are actively trying to develop our programming to expand beyond CEU presentations, with a special focus on services for ASWs. This year, we started a consultation group for ASWs, led by two members. We are hoping to expand this to two groups that will start and end at designated times during the year in order to create a cohort experience. We are also discussing the feasibility of devoting our May program to an ASW symposium, at which we would invite ASWs to present short talks on their work, papers or theses. The symposium would be designed to elevate the voices of ASWs as critical players in the field who often serve on the front lines of the profession, as well as to give participants an opportunity to partake in professional development that could advance their careers.

We are also hoping to develop some workshops in the summer months for ASWs to complete BBS required licensure classes in an effort to attract more ASWs to our district.