The D.C. Council is looking for new ways to address the shortage of social workers in the district, and this time it's turning to education to encourage more residents to enter the job field.
The council passed the Pathways to Behavioral Health Degrees Act on Tuesday. It will fund a free master's program in social work at the University of the District of Columbia. The bill will cover the costs for books and student licensing exams and provide students with a monthly stipend for living expenses and transportation. The program is set to cost $6 million over four years, servicing 20 students in the first year and 40 in the years after, per the bill.
THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM A ROUGH 2023 ELECTION FOR THE GOP
There is a catch: Graduates are required to work in Washington for at least two years at a school, health provider, or nonprofit group that contracts with the city government.
D.C. Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George introduced the bill after calling attention to the “severe” social worker shortage in the city, according to DCist. Social workers in Washington are largely relied upon to deal with the district's vulnerable populations, such as homeless people, which is a rising crisis in the district. In May, the district's Department of Human Services, DHS, found that homelessness increased for the first time in years, with 4,922 people experiencing homelessness, an 11.6% increase from 2022.
Social workers typically assist with securing housing for homeless people, particularly regarding receiving vouchers. More than 3,100 housing vouchers have not been used, according to district records reported by the Washington Post. Of the 5,093 vouchers the D.C. Council has funded since fiscal 2022, which began on Oct. 1, 2021, fewer than 40% had been used to house people as of early October.
The time it takes to be approved for a voucher to the day one can move into an apartment takes more than four months on average, according to data from the District of Columbia Housing Authority and DHS.
The council is considering another bill, the Social Work License Modernization Amendment Act of 2023, which would remove exam requirements for associate and graduate social workers for licensure. DCist reported that the goal of the bill is to remove the requirements that have historically placed black students at a disadvantage.
Between 2018 and 2021, 76.2% of white test takers passed the bachelor's level exam on the first attempt. That rate dropped to 63.6% for Native American/Indigenous peoples, 59.6% for Asian test takers, and 52.8% for Hispanic applicants, according to data from the Virginia-based Association of Social Work Boards via NBC 4 Washington. Only 33% of black test takers passed, a 43-point difference from white test takers.
The exam is just one of the requirements needed for licensure in the district, in addition to degrees in the field. Bachelor’s and master’s level licensees typically work under the supervision of more experienced social workers, such as independent clinical social workers, and many eventually take the exam to practice independently if that is their wish, per NBC 4 Washington.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
If the district removes exam requirements, it would join several other states that have made similar moves. Illinois removed the testing requirement for the master's level two years ago and saw 3,000 social workers licensed the following year, according to the Association of Social Work Boards.
“We will not sort of release unqualified people onto the masses, but this exam is not a proven method of qualification,” D.C. Councilman Robert White said of the bill he helped introduce.