A writer who shined a bright light on challenging social issues throughout Southern California, a longtime advocate for vulnerable children and families, and an innovative social work education program received laudatory recognition from the California Social Welfare Archives during its annual awards reception.

Former Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks accepted the George D. Nickel Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Welfare. Susan Edelstein, who founded a multidisciplinary program to ensure the successful adoption and growth of children with special needs, received the George D. Nickel Award for Outstanding Professional Services by a Social Worker.

For the first time in its history, the Frances Lomas Feldman Excellence in Education Award went to a program rather than an individual—in this case to the USC School of Social Work’s web-based master’s program, known as the Virtual Academic Center (VAC), in recognition of its groundbreaking efforts to immerse social work education in the technological revolution.

In a keynote address, Banks described some of the lessons she learned during four decades as a reporter and writer and acknowledged the difficulty in stepping away from her twice-weekly column at the Los Angeles Times last year.

“It had been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn things, to stand in the shoes of other people and to share their stories,” she said.

Personal touch

Banks drew on her personal experiences to inform her work, including her transition from working-class Cleveland to the flashy glam of Los Angeles and the challenges she faced as a single mother raising three children in suburbia after her husband passed away.

“The process of becoming one of you, one of us, taught me a lot that I was able to use later in my column,” she said.

Two lessons in particular have stood out, Banks said. First, what we know is often based on the limits of our experience. Second, we are more alike than we are different.

To illustrate her point, she described moving with her husband and first child to Northridge in 1985 and realizing they were the only black family in the neighborhood. It wasn’t unusual for someone to stop her on her morning walk and ask where she was from, and she never quite knew how to respond. Van Nuys? Cleveland?

It all seemed harmless until one morning when she stepped outside to get the newspaper and found a watermelon on her front porch. She went back inside to tell her husband.

“He came downstairs running, ready to do battle and rushed out onto the front yard,” Banks said. “And then he looked around and realized that every porch had a watermelon. That was just how they welcomed summer in Northridge. We realized we needed to get over ourselves and be part of the neighborhood.”

Tackling the taboo

As a reporter and columnist for 36 years at the Los Angeles Times, Banks often tackled issues that others felt were too controversial or challenging, including homelessness, criminal justice, mental health and foster care.

Storytelling became a way for her to personalize these social problems for thousands of readers, exposing them to new perspectives and striving to erase an increasingly dualistic view of the world as good or evil, black or white.

“If we knew about the challenges people faced, if we knew about the circumstances they’ve overcome, if we knew about the roadblocks that were in their way, we might do better,” she said. “As a people and a country and a culture, there is no time more important than right now that we do better. We know better, and it’s time to do better.”

In presenting her award, Rafael Angulo, a clinical professor at the USC School of Social Work, noted how he had read her column for many years, often sharing her stories with friends, colleagues and students.

“Our awardee has for many years opened our eyes,” he said, adding later, “Your articles are stories of the human condition. Facts inform; stories transform.”

Banks is now teaching journalism at California State University, Northridge, consulting with community groups and writing a book reflecting on the knowledge she gained throughout her career.

Homeward bound

Similar to the lessons imparted by Banks in her writing, Edelstein also sought to convey a powerful message to the local community. Before presenting her award, Michael Nash, retired presiding judge of Los Angeles County Juvenile Court and current director of the county’s new Office of Child Protection, described the challenge of trying to find adoptive families for thousands of children during the last few decades.

“One of the messages we attempted to deliver during that time was that all God’s children need a home,” he said. “We are here to honor somebody tonight who truly helped deliver that message in a big way.”

A licensed clinical social worker, Edelstein began her career in protective services and foster care with Los Angeles County. Convinced she had found her calling, she earned a master of social work from USC and went on to develop UCLA TIES for Families, a program that supports children with special needs, particularly those in foster care or who experienced prenatal substance exposure.

The innovative program helps reduce barriers to adoption for these vulnerable children and supports their transition into permanent homes with nurturing families.

“I feel so very fortunate to have had a 46-year career in social work, which has exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations,” Edelstein said. “It’s very true that in giving, we receive. I have received so very much more than I have given in terms of hope, in terms of inspiration and joy.”

A new paradigm

Presenting the final award of the night, Esther Gillies, president of the California Social Welfare Archives, acknowledged that she had her doubts about the honoree. As a clinical professor at the USC School of Social Work in 2010 when Dean Marilyn Flynn first approached the faculty with the concept of a web-based master’s program, Gillies did not shy away from sharing her skepticism.

“Can’t be done, I thought. Social work education requires face-to-face contact between teacher and student,” she said. “Too much of these critical interactions will be lost in an online program.”

Eager to point out its shortcomings, she quickly volunteered to teach one of the inaugural classes. Contrary to her expectations, however, she was floored by the expertise and commitment of the team of faculty members, administrators, staff members and consultants tasked with building the VAC, the first accredited web-based MSW program offered by a top-ranked school.

“I was converted, became a believer, and I am today one of the staunchest supporters of the VAC,” she said.

Before the program launched in fall 2010, the school had 40 faculty members, 100 adjunct lecturers and 900 students. Now the school employs 135 faculty members and more than 250 adjuncts, in addition to enrolling 2,200 students in all 50 states and 14 countries.

June Wiley, director of the VAC, credited Flynn’s creativity and innovative thinking for the success of the program, in addition to recognizing the tireless efforts of the VAC team to reimagine the virtual classroom in a dynamic and engaging way that stays true to the rigor and quality of instruction in the on-campus program.

“The teaching and learning that occurs in this delivery format has made a lasting impression upon students and alumni across the nation,” she said. “This gargantuan effort has been easily accomplished by the willingness to take risks and be unafraid of exploring a new paradigm.”

The archives also honored Norchelle Brown and Corinna Espino, master’s students at the USC School of Social Work, with the Madeleine Stoner and Ralph Fertig CSWA Social Work Scholar Award in recognition of their role in the drafting of a resolution recently passed by the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education to increase services and resources to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Los Angeles County.

For more than 35 years, the California Social Welfare Archives has documented the development of social welfare in California for educators, scholars and researchers by preserving and making available materials of historical significance and publishing oral history interviews with social work pioneers. Its California Social Work Hall of Distinction honors exceptional contributors to social welfare and the social work profession and supports curricula in social work programs throughout the state. Visit YouTube to see a video of the keynote address and award presentation.