SOCIAL WORK SPOTLIGHT:
A Response to Crisis: Addressing the Illusion of Separateness
SOCIAL WORKERS CREATING
LASTING CHANGE
D
r. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his name to only two organizations in his lifetime: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation USA (FOR-USA). The SCLC is well known, but many do not know about FOR’s legacy and work. An interfaith organization, FOR-USA’s mission is to organize, train, and grow a diverse movement that welcomes all people of conscience to end structures of violence and war, and create peace through the transformative power of nonviolence.
Dr. Anthony Nicotera, LSW
NASW-NJ member, Anthony Nicotera, JD, DSW, LSW has been a member of FOR-USA for 25 years, previously serving on their National Council, and for the past year and half has served as an advisor for organizational development. “The social work profession has been informing and contributing to the work of FOR-USA since its inception,” says Nicotera. “Our very own Jane Adams, was one of the sixty-eight leaders committed to active, nonviolent peacemaking who helped found FOR-USA in 1915.” Adds Nicotera, “I view my role as mission advancement advisor with FOR-USA to be central to my work as a social worker and to my commitment to live the core social work values of social justice and respect for the inherent dignity of all human persons.” Nicotera has been instrumental in moving forward FOR-USA’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic and the concurrent struggle for racial equity and justice sparked by the killing of George Floyd. In a public statement on COVID-19 issued in March, FOR-USA asserted, “COVID-19 underscores more than ever that we are a world community that is profoundly connected across race, religion, gender, geography and nationality.”
8 July 2020 | www.naswnj.org
