Texas Border Business
Pharr, TX – Governor Abbott proclaimed March as Texas Professional Social Work Month. The local Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) branch of the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) celebrates this year’s theme of “Social Workers are Essential” with its annual awards announcement.
Each year the branch highlights the work of local social workers, and individuals who exemplify social work values, through their branch awards. The categories include Public Citizen of the Year, Media, Public Elected Official, Social Work Student, Social Worker, and Lifetime Achievement Award. Recipients for 2021 are as follows:
- Public Citizen of the Year – Stuart Haniff, CEO of Food Bank of the RGV
- Media Award of the Year – Nidia Cavazos
- Public Elected Official of the Year – Dr. Amos Hernandez, City of Pharr Mayor
- Social Work Student of the Year – Abigail Ramos
- Social Worker of the Year – Sandra Edith Orta, MSSW
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Noe Ramirez, Ph.D., LCSW
As this year’s theme suggests, social workers and their line of work are invaluable to our society, something made more apparent due to the Coronavirus pandemic—they continued providing services such as protecting children from abuse and neglect, providing mental health and substance use disorder treatment, assisting active-duty military, veterans, and their families, in schools, helping corporations better serve their communities, and in community organizations as well as in local, state and government. The award winners reflect this with notable awardees including the Food Bank CEO, City of Pharr Mayor, and UTRGV’s School of Social Work Faculty.
Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There are currently about 700,000 professional social workers in our nation, but that number is expected to rise to more than 800,000 by 2029.
LRGV NASW branch will host its award ceremony virtually on March 31st at 5:30 pm via Zoom. For more information or if you are a social worker and are interested in joining the chapter please contact Gilda Bowen at gildabowen@yahoo.com
Awards ceremony Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94534295432?pwd=VmZWWDVZcHIrWi9PeDZQMnMzN2N1dz09
