Urgent Call to Action in Georgia: Please Help

This is an URGENT CALL TO ACTION

Let's JAM UP the telephone lines! Please help today. The talking points are provided below and the Board of Regents telephone numbers are just below them.

Please do whatever you can--nothing more, nothing less

WRITE OR CALL:
Dalton State College President
Chancellor
BOARD OF REGENTS MEMBERS

Dalton State College Social Work Program in Jeopardy

Budget Cuts Wide and Deep

If you have been following the news, the Board of Regents has been asked to cut over $265 MILLION out of the higher education budget. One immediate effect of this could be the loss of the social work program at Dalton State College. Unlike other state budget entities, the Board of Regents is given a “lump sum” of money. Cuts to this money are determined first by the President of the college/university and then by the Board of Regents. Our legislators do not have a hand in making these cuts. Thus, our FIRST priority is to write, call and email the Presidents, Chancellor and the Board of Regents.

As NASW-GA members, please join your Board and Legislative Committee in advocating against these cuts with the President of Dalton State University, the Chancellor and the Board of Regents. Writing to the other Presidents of Georgia’s Colleges and Universities would be helpful, but not as urgent.

Enough is enough! The very future of our State is at stake. As the dean at DSC said, “Let them know that while the cost of education is significant, the cost of ignorance is much greater.”

Specific messages about cuts to social work programs can include:

1) Social work education is a priority need for the future.

Backup:

The 2006 Task Force on Health Professions Education published by the Board of Regents cited Clinical Social Work as the second most needed profession to meet the health care needs of Georgians and requires a priority focus. The report reads: “Limited resources and instructional capacity require that priority for the next five years be focused on those professions most in jeopardy. The Task Force has identified the following professions, in priority order, as the most fragile and in need of attention over the near term.”

The number one priority is nursing; number two is clinical social work (tied with clinical psychology)!

2) Georgia ’s per capita ratio of social workers per 100K population is among of the 5 lowest in the Nation.

3) More professional social workers are needed in Georgia ! The number of social workers in Georgia is less than half of the average of all the states!

4) Professional social workers are needed to meet the needs of Georgians in all areas: mental health, health, schools, businesses, nursing facilities, ETC.

Please add any information or example you have about the need for additional social workers, thus social work education!

Below please find contact information for all of those who need to hear from the social work profession:

President, Dalton State College

John O. Schwenn
President, Dalton State College
Westcott Building
650 College Drive
Dalton, GA 30720
706.272.4438
jschwenn@daltonstate.edu

Chancellor, University System of Georgia
Erroll B. Davis Jr., Chancellor
Office of the Chancellor
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
Suite 7025
270 Washington Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30334
office: 404-656-2202
fax: 404-657-6979
email: chancellor@usg.edu

Board of Regents: 18 total members
If you can only write a few letters or make a few calls, make they mean more by choosing Board members who live closest to you!

Kenneth R. Bernard, Jr.
Sherrod & Bernard
P.O. Box 1154
Douglasville, GA 30133
Phone: (770) 920-8350
Fax: (770) 920-8970

James “Jim” A. Bishop
The Bishop Law Firm
777 Gloucester St., Ste. 401
Brunswick, GA 31520
Phone: (912) 264-2390
Fax: (912) 264-5859

Frederick E. Cooper
P.O. Box 52367
Atlanta, GA 30355
Phone: (404) 467-0905

Larry R. Ellis
Ellis Services & Solutions Enterprises, LLC.
3835 Presidential Parkway, Suite 118
Atlanta, GA 30340
Phone: (770) 458-3773

Robert “Bob” F. Hatcher (Chair)
MidCountry Financial Corp.
201 Second St. , Ste. 950
Macon, GA 31201
Phone: (478) 746-8222
Fax: (478) 746-8005

Felton Jenkins
800 Crawford St.
Madison, GA 30650
Phone: (706) 342-3564
Fax: (706) 342-3564

W. Mansfield Jennings , Jr.
ComSouth Corporation
250 Broad St.
Hawkinsville, GA 31036
Phone: (478) 783-4001
Fax: (478) 783-4620

James R. Jolly
347 Ivey Gate Ridge #2
Dalton, GA 30720
Phone: (706) 226-2317
Fax: (706) 275-4433

Donald M. Leebern, Jr.
Georgia Crown Distributing Co.
P.O. Box 308
McDonough, GA 30253-0308
Phone: (770) 302-3000
Fax: (770) 302-3109

William “Dink” H. NeSmith, Jr.
Community Newspapers, Inc.
297 Prince Avenue Suite 14
Athens, GA 30601
Phone: (706) 548-0010
Fax: (706) 548-0808

Doreen Stiles Poitevint
2001 Twin Lakes Dr.
Bainbridge , GA 39819
Phone: (229) 246-8577
Fax: (229) 248-1922

Willis J. Potts, Jr. (Vice Chair)
2614 Horseleg Creek Rd., SW
Rome, GA 30165
Phone: (706) 802-1313
Fax: (706) 802-1313

Wanda Yancey Rodwell
5628 Silver Ridge Dr.
Stone Mountain , GA 30087
Phone: (770) 879-5700
Fax: (404) 598-1068

Kessel Stelling, Jr.
Bank of North Georgia
8025 Westside Parkway
Alpharetta , GA 30004
Phone: (770) 751-4778
Fax: (770) 754-9950

Benjamin “Ben” J. Tarbutton, III
Sandersville Railroad
206 North Smith St .
Sandersville , GA 31082
Phone: (478) 552-5151 x208
Fax: (478) 552-1118

Richard L. Tucker
Arlington Capital LLC
One Sugarloaf Centre, 1960 Satellite Blvd, Suite 3500
Duluth , GA 30097
Phone: (404) 463-0592
Fax: (404) 657-7913

Allan Vigil
Allan Vigil Ford
P.O. Box 100.001
Morrow, GA 30260
Phone: (678) 364-3673
Fax: (678) 364-3947

PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN! Thank you.

This e-mail is reprinted with permission from: Allison S. Huppmann, Member Services Coordinator, National Association of Social Workers Georgia Chapter in Atlanta, GA