About Us

Who We Are:

The mission of #MacroSW is to promote macro-focused social work practice and education, while creating a community for macro practitioners:

• To promote macro social work through the use of social media.
• To join with like-minded partners to share resources and ideas.
• To discuss the capabilities and value of macro focused practice, create an understanding of its importance in the social work profession and assist with better integration of this practice throughout social work.
• To advocate the benefits of macro practice and involve more social workers in this type of work.
• To reinfuse macro practice philosophies in the many facets of the social work profession: e.g. how clinicians in direct practice can participate in developing policy.

#MacroSW Twitter chats take place every Thursday at 9:00 PM EST/ 6:00 PM PST. Visit the blog, macrosw.com, for chat announcements and transcripts of past chats.

Evolving the structure and mission of the chats, #MacroSW, Inc was formed as a benefit corporation in New York State in November 2018.
This is an entity with an entrepreneurial spirit rooted in a social work mission. The partners will raise funds to grow the #MacroSW online community, develop new content and create conversation around macro social work practice.

The Partners of MacroSW, Inc.:

• Kristin Battista-Frazee, MSW, Author and Marketing Consultant, @porndaughter
• Stephen Cummings, ACSW, LISW, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Iowa School of Social Work, @spcummings
• Sunya Folayan, MSW, ACSW, founder/executive director, The Empowerment Project, Inc., @SunyaFolayan
• Vilissa Thompson, LMSW, Founder of @RampYourVoice, Disability Rights Consultant and Advocate, Macro Social Worker @VilissaThompson   http://rampyourvoice.com/
• Rachel L. West, LMSW, The Political Social Worker, @poliSW
• Karen Zgoda, MSW, LCSW, @karenzgoda

Chat Contributors:

Contributors regularly host chats (4 to 6 per year), develop topics, and promote macro social work and the chats.
(You can become a contributor too! Apply here.)

Our contributors as of 2019: ACOSA.org, University at Buffalo School of Social Work, and Alyssa Lotmore, LMSW.

@acosaorg
ACOSA: Advancing social change through community practice
is represented by Zane May. ACOSA is the home for the Macro Social Work Student Network, and for the Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in Social Work.

@UBSSW

UBSSW is a graduate school of social work, offering degrees for MSW (including a 100% online option), PhD, and our online DSW. For the #MacroSW chats, UBSSW is represented by Pat Shelly, MSW, Director of Community Engagement and Expansion.

• Alyssa Lotmore, LMSW, Co-Host, The Social Workers Radio Talk Show, WCDB 90.9 FM (@AlyssaLotmore)

Media Partner:

Linda Grobman and The New Social Worker Magazine – We welcome The New Social Worker Magazine (@newsocialworker) as our media partner! The New Social Worker is the award-winning social work careers magazine founded by Linda Grobman in 1994. Website www.socialworker.com . This online magazine features practical articles on social work, ethics, field placement, practice issues  and specialties, technology in social work and more.

Former Chat Contributors:

• Laurel Hitchcock, PhD, @laurelhitchcock  (Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Alabama at Birmingham), was a chat contributor 2014-2018.
• Relando Thompkins-Jones, MSW, LLMSW, writer of Notes from an Aspiring Humanitarian (N.A.H.) @Relando_T and @N_A_H_Blog
• Network for Social Work Management (NSWM), @TheNSWM
• University of Southern California School of Social Work, @mswatusc

Founders:

• Rachel L. West, LMSW, The Political Social Worker, @poliSW
• Karen Zgoda, MSW, LCSW, @karenzgoda
• Deona Hooper, Social Work Helper (@swhelpercom), @deonahooper (Active 2014-2015)