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Schiff, Philip

As headworker at Madison House during The Great Depression, Schiff, like so many other settlement house workers, tried to cope with the immediate problems of relief, unemployment, and evictions. He established a day care center, introduced venereal disease and tuberculosis control programs, and started a vocational training program for unemployed youth. he was also was a community organizer and helped create a network of Lower East Side social service agencies to advocate for social welfare policies, especially unemployment and housing. In 1936, Philip Schiff ran unsuccessfully on the American Labor Party’s ticket for First Assembly representative to the New York State legislature.

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Daniel Coit Gilman’s Contributions to Social Work

This article brings the reader some evidence of social work history that has at the very least been neglected. Most people when asked who are the founders of social work were will mention Jane Addams, Mary Richmond, the Abbotts and maybe Ida Cannon, Charles Loring Brace and S. Humphreys Gurteen. The name of Daniel Coit Gilman is never included in the list of the greats. The case I shall make to you today is that his contributions to helping create the profession were at least as great as those still listed.

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Social Security Act of 1935

On August 15, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped.

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was a cornerstone of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” (McLaughlin, 1975). This law brought education into the forefront of the national assault on poverty and represented a landmark commitment to equal access to quality education.

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Older Americans Act of 1965

Overview: The Older Americans Act of 1965   The Older Americans Act was originally signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 14, 1965. It established the Administration on Aging within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and called for the creation of State Units on Aging. William Bechill was named first…

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Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932

President Herbert Hoover said: “I expect to sign the relief bill on Tuesday. I do wish to express the appreciation which I have and I know that the country has to those leaders of both political parties who have cooperated to put the bill into effective shape and to eliminate the destructive proposals which were from time to time injected into it.

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Richmond, Mary

Mary Richmond is considered a principle founder of the profession of social work and the importance of professional education. She constructed the foundations for the scientific methodology development of professional social work. She searched for the causes of poverty and social exclusion in the interaction between an individual and his or her environment.

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Springer, Gertrude

“Gertrude Springer has sprung from Better Times to The Survey. With this issue of the Mid-monthly, she takes over, as associate editor, the Social Practice Department…. ” (15 October 1930, p. 106.) Springer undertook field trips and initiated contacts to determine the lay of the social welfare landscape beyond New York. In pithy writing about social issues, policy, and services across the country, she never neglected to explain how things came down to affecting individuals. “Amelia Bailey,” — “Miss Bailey” to most people — was a 1930s-style virtual-reality public relief supervisor. “Miss Baily Says…” columns dealt with issues such as: “When Your Client Has a Car,” “Are Relief Workers Policemen?,” “How We Behave in Other People’s Houses.”

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