More than 50 School of Social Welfare BSW and MSW students, along with Professor Stephen Rabeno, joined with social workers and social work students from across New York State in Albany on March 28 to rally in support of raising the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years old and to demand that state legislators include this bill in the final budget.
Sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter (NASW-NYS), the New York State Association of Deans of Schools of Social Work, and the New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA), the Raise the Age rally kicked off the organizations’ annual Legislative Education Advocacy Day (LEAD). This event brings hundreds of social workers and social work students to the state capitol to advocate on behalf of the profession and important client issues.
The SSW students who participated in the rally described the experience of being with more than 850 social workers and social work students from across the state as one of the most energizing they had been part of. Legislative Advocacy Day is grounded in a strong social work tradition of advocacy for change, and we applaud our students and faculty who were a part of this movement for social change.
