Social worker and Maine legislator Michael Brennan, second
from right, campaigns for mayor of Portland, Maine, during the 25th Annual
Southern Maine Pride Festival in 2011. He won the election later that year. Courtesy
photo
When Portland, Maine, Mayor Michael F. Brennan first entered
the world of politics, he had just enrolled in school full time for his MSW
degree. He did it to broaden his understanding of people and to make him a more
conscientious policymaker.
“I wanted a better understanding of how to pass policy using
clinical approaches,” he explained. “If you can mix intellectual justification
with a good heart you can formulate good policy.”
Brennan is one of many social workers who discovered their
education and clinical experiences can help them become highly effective
elected officials.
In the early 1990s, Brennan was in his first term as a member
of the Maine House of Representatives while he was earning an MSW degree. He
remained in the House for four terms.
When he was elected to the Maine Senate in 2002, he said his
MSW and field training proved invaluable.
“Throughout my legislator career I have used opportunities to
draft policy with the clinical approach using my MSW,” he said.
His education proved especially helpful while serving on
committees that dealt with health and behavioral health, he said, and also when
he shared a joint commission on health care reform in the state in 2003.
Brennan, who maintains his clinical social work license, said
he favors public office as a way to effect positive changes on a systemic
level.
“In my mid-20s I worked for Ralph Nader and I saw what one
person can do for thousands and even millions of people,” he said. “I
understand the role the social worker plays. I have always been attracted to
systemic change — to be involved in policy decisions that affect thousands of
people. I find it very exciting.”
He is particularly proud of being part of groundbreaking
pieces of legislation, including the laptop program to provide every Maine
student with a computer, efforts to reduce the negative impacts of No Child
Left Behind, and programs to expand health care access to all Mainers. Other
states and the nation have used the latter as a model in adopting universal
health care, Brennan said.
He feels serving in public office is tremendously rewarding
and he encourages more social workers to serve their communities as elected officials.
“I think it is important for social work to be at the table
and have a voice,” he said.
Brennan’s service in office has proved popular with residents.
In 2011, he was elected mayor of Portland, the state’s largest city. This is a
special achievement considering he is the city’s first elected mayor in 88
years.
A year before, city voters changed the city charter to an
elected-mayor form of government rather than continue the appointment-mayor
process by the city council.
As the city’s top elected official, Brennan has implemented
several initiatives designed to encourage economic development and job creation
as well as support and strengthen the city’s diverse neighborhoods.
His nonpolitical career includes being a policy associate with
the Cutler Institute of Child and Family Policy at the Muskie School of Public
Service, University of Southern Maine, specializing in education and health.
Before joining the Cutler Institute, Brennan worked as the
director of Community Initiatives at United Way of Greater Portland, as the
executive director of the Cumberland County Affordable Housing Venture, and for
the Coastal Economic Development Corporation.
Share your experience
Rafael E. Ortega, Ramsey County commissioner in St. Paul,
Minn., and a social worker, signs the ceremonial railroad tie to celebrate the
building of the central corridor light rail line between St. Paul and
Minneapolis. Courtesy photo
Another longtime lawmaker who has an MSW degree is Ramsey
County Commissioner Rafael E. Ortega. He has a full-time position in St. Paul,
Minn., where the county has the responsibility of running all government social
work programs in the state, he said.
“My knowledge of the needs of social workers, social work
agencies, and, most importantly, the clients, has been invaluable – not just to
me, but to all the commissioners since they do not share that background,”
Ortega said. “And when I meet constituents, business leaders or other elected
leaders — the same basic skill of a social worker finding out what they need or
want, and going to work to find out how I can provide it comes in handy.”
Ortega said while he was earning his MSW at the University of
Minnesota, he joined other students organizing a Latino social service agency
to better serve Latino and Latinas in Minnesota.
“I interacted with elected officials in my position and I had
a very good understanding of how their policy affected us,” Ortega said. “I
felt I could contribute in an elected role, and I have been able to serve many
more people than I did when I ran the agency — and make change closer to the
source.”
He was first elected to the commission in 1994.
“I really enjoy it,” Ortega said. “In the 18 years I have
served as a county commissioner, I am proud to have improved transit in the
Twin Cities with a new light rail line from Minneapolis downtown to St. Paul
downtown and a refurbished Union Depot, and overall better access to county
services for everyone in my communities.”
As far as advice for other social workers following a similar
path, Ortega said it starts by getting involved in the community.
“Share exactly how your experience, as a social worker and as
an agent of change in your community, relates to the public service you wish to
do,” he suggested. “It can certainly be an advantage when you can talk directly
about face-to-face experience you have had with clients when you talk
about how you’re going to serve people who need help in elected
office. Telling stories is an important thing to do and social workers
usually have good ones.”
Politics is local
Social worker and Denver, Colo., City Councilwoman Judy
Montero, center, stands with members of the Mile High Youth Corps, who helped
with the construction of the Mariposa Phase II project in Denver. It is set to
become a nationally recognized model for sustainable transit-oriented
development. Courtesy photo
Making communities better is also what inspired Judy Montero
to run for city council in Denver, Colo. She has represented District 9’s
52,000 residents since 2003.
“It’s been an incredible honor to be elected three times,” she
said.
Before politics, Montero said she had extensive experience
with Latino and Latina youth organizations. She championed state laws that
supported bicultural and bilingual education for students.
“My husband was a state representative for our district for
six years and I started working as a council aide to the previous District 9
councilwoman,” Montero said. “I started to see how politics is local.”
When the opportunity came to run for her boss’s council seat,
Montero said she felt she was the most qualified person for the job. Her
motivation was to advance the lives of those in her neighborhood.
“I am always trying to push the envelope — why can’t we have
more?” she said of how she leads. This attitude can be a challenge for
administrators and other policymakers to understand, she admitted. She
encourages the people she works with to pay attention to residents’ needs and
not just the processes.
“We can focus on infrastructure all day, but in the end,
people will remember how they were treated,” she said.
Montero’s social work background helps keep her mindful to
respect people by using the person-in-environment approach.
“I enjoy advocating for my neighborhoods,” the councilwoman
said of what she likes best about being an elected representative.
She is particularly proud to be part of the massive
redevelopment of Denver Union Station, a unique project that will tie together
several transportation modes alongside private development.
Besides bringing Denver a high-tech central transportation
hub, the project will provide affordable and mixed-income housing to the area,
something that is important to Montero.
“Most families spend the most of their income on housing and
transportation,” she said. “By living close to a transit system, it will save
by not having to pay for two cars and it will help keep the environment clean.”
Montero thinks social workers are ideally suited to serve in
public office and she said her staff includes social workers as well. Social
workers “have been trained to be agents of change,” she said. “We can’t let
others box us in — or box others in (when it comes to career choices).”
She said taking a chance by running for city council was a way
to keep her fresh.
“Every day I take the skills I have learned and I apply them,”
she said. “There is no reason why social workers shouldn’t be in elected
positions. It is a way to impact change.”
A different perspective
Becky Jones Jordon is a social worker who serves on the
Kanawha County School Board in Charleston, W.Va. Courtesy photo
Becky Jones Jordon said she decided to run for a seat on
Kanawha County Schools board in Charleston, W.Va., because at the time the
board lacked someone with a child in the school system.
“I thought the board deserved a parent perspective,” she said.
Jordon previously worked as a hospital psychiatric social
worker, a corrections department substance abuse counselor and a rehabilitation
specialist and a child protective services worker with the West Virginia
Department of Health & Human Resources.
“With my (MSW) degree, I bring a different perspective to our
board,” she said. “I tend to be more sensitive to people’s needs.”
Jordon said she advocates for hiring more social workers for
the district’s 28,000 students because social workers understand how a child’s
home life can challenge her or his ability to succeed in school.
“We have one social worker per 2,000 students,” she said. “The
social workers we have appreciate my representation on the board.”
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