"Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won; you earn it and win it in every generation." — Coretta Scott King - American author, activist, civil rights leader, and wife of Martin Luther King Jr.
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The Social Work Policy Network remains committed to sharing key news updates, policy changes, action opportunities, events & more - with content particularly focused on social justice, equity, and systemic change.
Thank you for your continued support of the Social Work Policy Network!
Professional Opportunities
Environmental Justice Organizer - Ironbound Community Corporation (Remote/Newark, NJ)
Staff Writer - ACLU of NJ (hybrid: Newark, NJ)
Policy Associate - AAPI New Jersey (hybrid: Montclair, NJ)
Managing Director - Workplace Justice Lab @ RU at the School of Management and Labor Relations (hybrid: New Brunswick, NJ)
PAID Fellowship Opportunities
Graduate Fellowship - Eagleton Institute for Politics (New Brunswick, NJ)
Summer Organizing Fellow - Sister District Project (remote)
Engagement & Leadership Summer Fellow - National Council of Jewish Women (Washington, DC)
National Policy News Highlights
Hospitals Are Curtailing Gender-Affirming Care Beyond Scope Set by Trump’s Order
truthout
“On January 28, Trump signed a sweeping order titled, “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which calls for the defunding of institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people under 19, including by stripping them of educational and research grants, as well as Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. The order directs leaders within government agencies, including the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, to issue a report outlining how they will comply.”
Trump administration is set to drop lawsuit pushing Idaho to allow emergency abortions, filing shows
The Associated Press
“The Trump administration signaled Tuesday it will let Idaho enforce its strict abortion ban in the treatment of pregnant women suffering medical emergencies, a dramatic reversal from the previous administration in a closely watched lawsuit. The Justice Department said it would move to dismiss the case originally filed by the Biden administration, according to court papers filed by the state’s largest hospital network.”
Congress is debating stricter SNAP and Medicaid work requirements—but research shows they don’t work
The Brookings Institution
“As congressional Republicans begin to fill in the details of President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, one proposal is expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. This raises a critical question: Are lawmakers forming policy through evidence-based decisions or through ideological preconceptions about poverty that ignore the complex and harsh realities low-income Americans face?”
To Stop Tariffs, Trump Demands Opioid Data That Doesn’t Yet Exist
The Upshot (NYT)
“One month ago, President Trump agreed to delay tariffs on Canada and Mexico after the two countries agreed to help stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed the tariffs anyway, saying that the countries had failed to do enough — and claiming that tariffs would be lifted only when drug deaths fall. But the administration has seemingly established an impossible standard.”
Regional Policy News Highlights
Gun legislation sparks disagreement among New Jersey Republicans
New Jersey Monitor
“GOP bills now stalled in the Statehouse range from exempting veterans from gun permit application fees, codifying the right of school and college cops to carry on campus, and clarifying that BB guns are not firearms under the law. But two Republicans leaped off the party bandwagon last fall to introduce a package of bills that would establish new gun crimes and add several other new firearm restrictions.”
1st immigration detention center of Trump's 2nd term to open in Newark
Gothamist
“Federal immigration officials plan to open the first new immigrant detention center of President Donald Trump’s second term in Newark, New Jersey, officials said. The 1,000-bed site will be located at a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, at a site known as Delaney Hall. The site will be used to grow ICE's detention capacity in the Northeast, the agency said.”
Inaction on bills to cut prison population prompts plea for lawmakers to act
New Jersey Monitor
“The New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission asked lawmakers in November to act on languishing legislation that would end mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders and give elderly, long-incarcerated people a path to release, among other things. Four months later, none of the measures have moved.”
Many NJ school districts ignore Trump administration’s DEI directive
NJ Spotlight News
“The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights directed schools and colleges to end practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion by the end of February, but many New Jersey school districts are choosing not to comply. The “Dear Colleague” letter from the department threatens to deny federal funding to any college or university that receives federal funding or K-12 school that considers race in any aspect of student life. The letter alone does not carry the force of law but rather explains the interpretation of federal civil rights law and the U.S. Constitution by President Donald Trump’s administration.”
Upcoming Events
ReEnter, Register, Vote:
An opportunity to register returning citizens!
Facilitated by the League of Women Voters of New Jersey
Monday March 10th, 2025
1:00pm - 2:00pm
NJ Association on Correction
1701 South Broad St. Hamilton, NJ
Help the League of Women Voters of New Jersey reach new voters!
In December 2019, New Jersey's Governor signed legislation into law that restored voting rights to people on parole and probation. As part of the League's Reenter, Register, Vote initiative League members and volunteers visit parole facilities to educate and register eligible voters.
Please reach out to mmarks@lwvnj.org or alsgrncbsn@aol.com with any questions.
To register for this event, click here.
Five Years Later: Women Writing History, A Coronavirus Journaling Project
Presented by the National Women's History Museum
Saturday March 15th, 2025
12:00pm - 1:00pm
*online*
Join for a conversation with project participants to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of the Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, NWHM initiated a rapid-collection project to ensure that the voices of women who experienced this unprecedented global event were not lost to history. Since March 2020, we have collected and made publicly available over 700 entries that demonstrate the diverse perspectives of women and their remarkable creative output in response to the pandemic. This commemoration event invites viewers to hear from selected participants about their experience contributing to the Women Writing History project and encourages them to create responses of their own to what they hear and their memories of the last five years since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Register for the zoom here.
