Social Work Leadership Identification Project
Building the Network of Social Work Leaders
This project identifies and elevates social work leaders across sectors, builds a national directory, and strengthens visibility, collaboration, and influence in advancing health, equity, and social change.
- Impact Areas:
- Work & Economy
- Democracy & Social Change
Impact
The Social Work Leadership Identification Project spotlights social workers leading change across health, public health, government, climate, and more. By building a national directory of social work leaders, we’re elevating their impact, fostering collaboration, and ensuring their voices shape future equity and well-being. Nominate leaders and help us map social work’s influence.
Social workers are advancing justice, driving innovation, and shaping change across every sector that influences health and well-being—from housing and education to climate, public health, and beyond. Yet their leadership often goes unrecognized in national dialogues, policy spaces, and strategic decision-making. The Social Work Leadership Identification Project (LIP) is changing that.
LIP is a national effort to systematically identify and celebrate social work leaders across diverse domains of practice, including—but not limited to—government, philanthropy, nonprofits, consulting, health care, and public health. Our goal is to build a living directory that reflects the depth, breadth, and diversity of social work leadership in action—highlighting those shaping the drivers of health at local, state, and national levels.
By recognizing these leaders and understanding where they are driving change, we are illuminating social work’s full contribution to systemic transformation, cultivating cross-sector collaborations, and strengthening our collective impact. This initiative is also informing future leadership development strategies, mentorship efforts, and policy engagement at a time when bold, equity-driven leadership is urgently needed.
We invite you to help shape this effort. Share the names and information of social work leaders you know—including yourself—through the [Social Work Leadership Identification Project link]. Together, we can build a stronger, more visible network of social work leadership committed to equity, dignity, and social change.
Key Partners
Convergent partnerships are at the heart of what we do. We are proud to partner with federal and state agencies, non-profit and advocacy organizations, philanthropic institutions, and universities to elevate social work leadership and to create equitable health and mental health care systems for all.
