Social Work Spotlight

SOCIAL WORKERS CREATING LASTING CHANGE

Dr. Anthony Nicotera, LSW A Response to Crisis: Addressing the Illusion of Separateness

Dr. 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.

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.”

“The paradox at the heart of the COVID crisis is that we are asked to help one another by not congregating together” notes Nicotera. “That’s contrary to our nature. To meet the challenge of the COVID crisis—not to mention the crisis of racial justice before our nation—we need to embrace our connectedness and recognize the commonalities of the human experience, rather than allow constructs of class, race, religion, and national origin to separate us.”

In recognition of the fundamental human need for connection, FOR-USA initiated during the first week of the pandemic, FOR’s Coronavirus Prayer Petition, which Dr. Nicotera helped conceptualize and to which he contributed. The Prayer Petition has collected hundreds of prayers from individuals and congregations around the world and made them available for reflection and sharing to offer an outlet for emotion and maintain spiritual connection during the time of physical distancing.

This effort has since grown into FOR’s Gathering Voices Campaign, designed to lift up the stories of community and faith-based leaders and activists committed to confronting the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities. It also seeks to shine a light on the unjust structures and systems that perpetuate these injustices. Originally begun to connect activists facing the challenge of advocating for peace and justice during a time of quarantine, Gathering Voices has morphed into a platform for people of conscience, action, and justice to share and connect. Dr. Nicotera also worked with FOR-USA’s Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Emma JordanSimpson, to help chart the organization’s response to the killings of George Floyd and so many other Black civilians, honoring the righteous rage, agony, and despair of this global uprising. “The systemic inequities baked into America’s social and economic life will continue to lead to violence and death if unabated,” says Nicotera, referencing FOR’s public statement. “We cannot have peace without justice. There will be no reconciliation without truth and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson; and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh” shares Nicotera. “The voices of these advocates for peace and nonviolence are critical in this moment. Consistent with our mission as social workers, they invite us to realize, as Thich Nhat Hanh asserts, that ‘we are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.’” Dr. Anthony Nicotera teaches social policy, social work and the law, and social justice courses at Seton Hall University. He directs the Post-Master’s Program in Spirituality and Social Work at New York University, and continues to develop his Circle of Insight website and framework for deepening social work social justice pedagogy and practice. Learn more about his work at https://www.shu.edu/

repentance.” The work for peace and reconciliation " If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society with justice and accountability continues through violence. If we desire a throughout the United States via FOR-USA’s society without discrimination, Peace Fellowships and regional chapters, and then we must not discriminate internationally, via International FOR branches against anyone in the process of across the globe, says Nicotera. building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then “I have had the honor of working with many prominent FOR members over the years, including Nobel Peace Laureate Maired democracy must become a means as well as an end." Maguire, from Northern Ireland; Arun Gandhi, - Bayard Rustin

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SOCIAL WORK SPOTLIGHT:

SOCIAL WORKERS CREATING LASTING CHANGE

Dr. Widian Nicola, LCSW Creating Change through Narrative: Lived Experience Project

Social justice and antiracism work are intrinsic to the social work profession. Widian Nicola, DSW, LCSW, has not only a professional commitment to this work, but a very personal commitment, as well. Nicola is an immigrant to the U.S. who identifies as Arab-American or PalestinianAmerican. She was undocumented for nearly 30 years. Nicola says that while she has never experienced overt racism in her life, she understands what it means to be marginalized and to have to quantify her existence and worthiness as an immigrant.

“I have a personal sense of what the experience of racism might be like for others. And I’m not okay with it,” Nicola says. “I feel outraged at what is happening in the world right now. And the biggest question I ask myself in this situation—what I ask of myself in any crisis—is ‘what can I do to make a difference?’”

One way Nicola is making a difference is through her Lived Experience Project. Originally conceived during her doctoral studies, Nicola sees the project as a way—through narrative—to build empathy, compassion, and connection among people with seemingly different lived experiences and stories from what is presented in mainstream media. It is also a vehicle to center and amplify the lived experiences of minorities and persons of color.

The first podcast series Nicola developed, which was focused on the stories of undocumented immigrants, debuted in 2016. Nicola has been developing the second season of the podcast, this one focusing on the lived experiences of people directly impacted by climate change,

when the murder of George Floyd caused her to shift her focus.

“In the news, on television, on social media, I saw people making the same reductive arguments over and over again. And I knew I didn’t want to participate in the cycle of entrenched, rote argument and counterargument. I wanted to shift the narrative. And I realized—I have this podcast platform and an audience. This is something I can do.”

The result is her new live interview series, Lived Experience Project: Being Black in America. “I’m not just doing this because it’s the right thing to do at this time. I’m doing it because I have a visceral need—on a spiritual and deeply personal level—to help bring these stories to the fore” says Nicola. “This project allows us to witness the beautiful, nuanced, vulnerable, and fragile experiences of people,” Nicola says. “Being Black in America is not a homogenous experience, despite what the dominant discourse may suggest.”

Lived Experience Project: Being Black in America can be heard and seen on Facebook Live www.facebook.com/widian. nicola.50 and Zoom https://us02web. zoom.us/j/83903091156. At the time of this writing there are five more installments of the series planned. The interviews are being made available in real time, as they are being conducted, because of the urgency of the situation. Eventually, Nicola plans to weave the raw interview materials into a broader narrative to create a full podcast series. “Or maybe I won’t,” says Nicola. “The most important thing right now is that these stories are heard… the interviews themselves may stand on their own, as perhaps they should.”

Widian Nicola, DSW, LCSW, is an Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University and maintains a group private practice in central New Jersey. She was recently elected as NASW-NJ’s Presidentelect. Learn more about her at https:// nicolacounselingservices.com/widiannicola/.

SOCIAL WORK SPOTLIGHT:

SOCIAL WORKERS CREATING LASTING CHANGE

Marline Francois-Madden, LCSW All Black Lives Matter: The State of Black Girls in America

Asignificant body of research exists on the mental health and social needs of Black boys, but research and data on Black girls is much sparser. In her clinical practice, Marline Francois-Madden, LCSW says she kept hearing the same stories over and over again from black girls in her care—stories of negative attitudes towards them from teachers in schools, of not being listened to or having an opportunity to be heard, of being treated differently than white peers, of not receiving the same opportunities as their white peers, of feeling dehumanized by attitudes, policies and practices that unfairly penalized Black girls.

“There is research that shows Black girls are less likely to receive adequate mental health care compared to white girls,” says Francois-Madden. “And in New Jersey, Black girls are five times more likely to be suspended from school than their white peers. Our state also has the highest black/white disparity rate among incarcerated youth. The more I learned about this phenomenon during my research, the more I wondered ‘Incarceration? Suspension? What is exactly happening and who is helping these girls?’”

The more Francois-Madden reviewed existing data, the more she began to notice gaps in treatment and research among Black girls. She wondered how, as a social worker, she could bridge that gap. She continued to research the school to prison pipeline, attending seminars and congressional hearings. And she began writing. In July 2019, her first book, The State of Black Girls was published. A web-based learning platform for Black girls soon followed.

“I dedicate my book to every Black girl who feels invisible and misunderstood by people in this world,” says Francois-Madden. “For so long, the voices of Black girls have been silenced and they continue to face challenges and disparities in America. My book, contains strategies and tools to help Black girls successfully navigate each phase and chapter of their lives.”

Francois-Madden says one of the greatest struggles Black girls face in addition to dehumanization is adultification. “When Black girls are misdiagnosed by professionals, or labeled as loud, hypersexual, or aggressive— terms I frequently saw in the case files of Black girls I worked with from the foster care system—this reduces them to convenient stereotypes. It robs them of their unique, lived experiences and minimizes their voices,” explains Francois-Madden. “And with adultification— the process by which youth are prematurely, and often inappropriately, exposed to adult knowledge and assume extensive adult roles and responsibilities—we see Black girls as young as 5 treated in developmentally and socially inappropriate ways for their age. Young Black girls are treated as if they don’t need protection from the hazards of society. The media will portray black teens just 15 or 16 years old as if they were adult women and the justice system will treat them as such.”

Research from the Georgetown Center for Poverty and Inequality shows the same: adults, particularly white adults, view Black girls "as less innocent and more adult-like than white girls of the same age, especially between 5 -14 years old.”

Francois-Madden says social workers have a role to play in addressing the needs of Black girls. “We can increase our learning and develop more continuing education offerings for professionals that are specific to the needs and experiences of Black girls. In our schools and agencies, we can review and challenge existing policies and procedures to help create safe spaces for Black girls. We can also incorporate the voices of Black girls in programs we develop for them and create opportunities for Black girls to develop into leaders. We also need to ensure more Black girls have access to trauma-informed, strengths-based treatments, like the Nurtured Heart Approach.”

Francois-Madden is scheduled to present her work at TedX Penn this October, assuming the coronavirus pandemic allows the event to be held. Information on the program and speakers is available at www.tedxpenn.com/ tedxpenn-2020.

Marline Francois-Madden, LCSW, is the owner of Hearts Empowerment Counseling Center and a best-selling author. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Family Sciences and Human Development at Montclair State University. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Essence, Business Insider, MadameNoire, Fox 5, and on dozens of media platforms. Learn more at www.marlinefrancois. com and www.thestateofblackgirls.org.