Dr. Powers is keynote speaker at United Nations Annual Social Work Day
Dr. Meredith Powers, Assistant Professor in Social Work, was recently invited to New York as a keynote speaker at the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Change, and Social Work as part of the 35th Annual Social Work Day.
International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) co-host Social Work Day at the United Nations. This event brings together nearly 700 social workers from across the US and the world. The purpose is two-fold: to increase social workers’ knowledge of global social issues, and to increase the visibility of social work at the United Nations.
Dr. Powers spoke about how social workers are addressing climate justice issues, and the connections between social work and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This topic is urgent in the current context of a global climate crisis, and is particularly important within the profession as “Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability” is the third pillar of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development.
Dr. Powers teaches an interdisciplinary course on environmental justice, social work courses on diversity, and on practice with immigrant and refugee populations. Dr. Powers was also awarded a Sustainability Faculty Fellowship at UNCG for her work promoting collaboration for sustainability practice and research across campus and in the community.
She founded and administers the growing international online network “Green/Environmental Social Work Collaborative Network” and a Facebook group “Ecologically Conscious Social Workers” for social workers around the world who are committed to ecological justice.
She is co-editor on a series of workbooks for global social workers and educators titled “Social Work Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability”, which is published by the IFSW and available free as a downloadable PDF on the IFSW website.
Dr. Powers will speak to the Joint World Conference for Social Work and Social Development to be held in Dublin, Ireland in July 2018, where she will help to launch the second volume of this workbook series and co-present on “Next Steps for Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability: Education of Social Workers in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals”.
Contact Dr. Powers at mcfpowers@uncg.edu