For Social Work Month, we’re celebrating our amazing social services team here at the Literacy Coalition! The social work team is made up of four wonderful members: Veronica Alfalla, LMSW, who is our social services caseworker II; MariElena Herrera, our social services consultant; and Sydney Gray and KB Jares, who recently joined the Literacy Coalition as social work interns!
Social work is a practice-based profession that promotes social change, development, cohesion, and the empowerment of people and communities. Social work practice involves the understanding of human development, behavior and the social, economic and cultural institutions and interactions.
Veronica says, “At the heart of what [Literacy Coalition’s] Social Services offers our students is an unwavering dedication to empower our students to live a life they envision for themselves. Central to this concept is our commitment to student advocacy that ensures our students’ rights are respected at multiple levels of society and that allows our students to access needed services that range from: supporting victims of abuse/neglect through the Office of the Attorney General, immigration concerns, housing support, and daily living needs.”
For intern Sydney, social work means meeting people where they’re at.
Intern KB also shared, “A critical piece of Social Work is being able to “stick and move,” or be ready for whatever situation comes no matter what it is,” and that her internship with the Literacy Coalition has been an excellent intro into some situations that she has never dealt with before, “and that’s the beauty of it.”
Our students face a variety of challenges that might impede their ability to attend class and get their education, and our social services team is there to support them. By connecting students with needed resources, they are more able to pursue their GED, their family education courses, and career development.
Using trauma-informed care principles and motivational techniques, the Literacy Coalition social services team is able to guide students through complex networks of care and connect with resources from our wide community of partners.
Our students are the experts of their own lives and we are here to support their full journey.
At the Literacy Coalition, we envision a community that is 100 percent literate, employable, and self-sufficient. We could not achieve this goal without the help of the social work team, who support and empower our students through a variety of services. By advocating for our students’ needs, the social work team not only improves our students’ individual lives, but betters our Central Texas community as a whole.
The Literacy Coalition is so lucky to have the social services team! Thank you Veronica, Mari, Sydney, and KB!