It’s when the chips are down that New York City reveals its resiliency and steady nerves.
Substance use disorder, homelessness, a growing mental health crisis —they’re all pressing issues for Manhattan’s social workers, but it’s the migrant crisis here has garnered all the attention as of late. At least for now, Manhattan is the new face of the nation’s migrant crisis, as the nightly news shows a steady flow of asylum-seekers pushing NYC’s shelters and social services agencies to their limits.
As of March 2024, more than 64,000 asylum-seekers remain in city-run emergency shelters and in other makeshift shelters — everything from converted hotels to tent encampments. Manhattan is absorbing the largest proportion of asylum-seekers coming into the city, accounting for 38 percent. Social workers are a vital part of the support system that’s keeping them off the streets and preventing an even more dire situation, helping to connect them with everything from housing, to healthcare, to food assistance.
But their work doesn’t begin or end with the current migrant crisis. With any luck, this too shall pass, but the needs of New York’s resident population of underrepresented people are always there. Part healthcare worker, part mental health professional, part advocate, licensed social workers (LMSWs and LCSWs) are hard at work every day, providing Manhattan residents from East Harlem to SoHo to Hell’s Kitchen to the West Village and beyond with social services aimed at issues such as poverty, substance use disorder, disabilities, mental illness, and discrimination.
Manhattan is a place where opportunities for social work careers are never in short supply. Opportunities to land a fulfilling job supporting communities and the people within them can be found in schools, correctional institutions, healthcare facilities, nonprofits, and beyond. Manhattan will likely always provide the perfect foundation for an extraordinary career in social work.
Social Worker Jobs: What Does a Social Worker Do in Manhattan?
Help in the form of more qualified LMSWs and LCSWs to fill social worker jobs in Manhattan can’t come soon enough. A New York Police Department pilot program called B-HEARD that sends social workers and EMTs to mental health calls is expanding into four Harlem precincts and more in Manhattan… Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing to increase the number of social workers by more than 500 in NYC schools… and city payroll records show serious overtime for social workers at the city’s Department of Social Services and Department of Homeless Services as they continue to struggle to provide services for asylum seekers.
A Home to Asylum-Seekers From the Very Beginning
Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
They arrive frightened, weary, and desperate, seeking refuge from countries fraught with violence, poverty, and instability.
Through NYC’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS), which is home to about half of all asylum-seekers, social workers in Manhattan host thousands of refugees looking for a better life. Of the 162 DHS-run shelters, Manhattan’s District 5 operates ten, second to Queens, which hosts 44 shelters in Districts 1 and 12. Their work is vital – 93 percent of all asylum-seekers living in DHS shelters are families with children.
Social workers are also integral members of the city’s 17 Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, which are largely operated by NYC Health + Hospitals. They’re also busy making a positive difference in the lives of asylum-seekers being cared for by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
What are the city’s social workers doing for this vulnerable population? They’re improving access to vital resources – food, housing, clothing, healthcare, and other basic necessities. They’re connecting them with organizations that are ensuring their fundamental human rights.
Whether they’re working for, or partnering with, Catholic Charities, the Red Cross, or the NYC Immigration Coalition, social workers in NYC are the liaisons for agencies and organizations where asylum-seekers can turn for much-needed help.
They’re devising long-term solutions and garnering the support that allows migrants to better integrate into society. Most importantly, they help them achieve a sense of belonging while ensuring their needs are met within a framework of respect and dignity.
School Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
NYC is home to more than one million students that attend 1,870 public schools located in 32 districts – six of which are located in Manhattan. It’s a massive system that calls for social workers at every level. According to NYC Public Schools, about 2,000 social workers are employed within the system.
But school social work doesn’t end with the city’s public school system. NYC is also where you’ll find 18 charter schools run by KIPP NYC – the city’s nonprofit network of free public charter schools, six of which are located in Manhattan: KIPP Infinity Elementary School, KIPP STAR Harlem College Prep Elementary School, KIPP Washington Heights Elementary School, KIPP Beyond Middle School, KIPP STAR College Prep Middle School, and KIPP Washington Heights Middle School.
School social workers are also an important addition to Manhattan’s private school system. The private school system consists of 798 schools that educate nearly 20 percent of all the students in NYC. The Lorge School in Chelsea is one such school where school social workers are on staff to provide individual and group counseling, family support, classroom collaboration, and community outreach.
Whether they’re in the public, private, or charter school system, Manhattan’s school social workers provide counseling to students and families. They are there to manage crises and connect students and families with outside resources.
Healthcare Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
The healthcare system in Manhattan is vast, comprising a number of large hospital systems where social worker jobs involve providing counseling, formulating social work treatment plans, and connecting patients with community resources. For example, social workers within the NYC Health and Hospital System work at the Bellevue, Harlem, and Metropolitan facility complexes, which together include more than 200 clinics that provide a variety of ambulatory care services.
The New York-Presbyterian Hospital System is another major employer of healthcare social workers in Manhattan. Social workers in its three Manhattan institutions—Columbia University Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center and Presbyterian Allen Hospital provide evaluations, risk assessment, treatment planning services, and crisis management interventions, along with individual and group interventions.
Child Welfare Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
Social worker jobs aimed at child welfare are an important part of Manhattan’s social work system. At the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center within the Upper Manhattan Mental Health Center, child welfare social workers provide individual, family, and group therapy for children under the age of seven and their families. Their jobs encompass advocating for children through school visits, referrals, and interagency conferences.
Child welfare social worker jobs are also found in many of the region’s hospital systems. For example, these professionals serve as Child Protection Coordinators for NYC Health + Hospitals and are important members of the Child Protection Program team that also includes physicians, allied health professionals, and paraprofessionals. In this setting, child welfare social workers serve as clinical consultants in cases of child maltreatment.
Mental Health Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
Manhattan’s healthcare system is staffed with mental health social workers whose job it is to spot and attend to the psychological and emotional needs of patients. Problems that might otherwise get overlooked in fast-paced healthcare environments where staff are stretched thin. For example, within the NYC Health + Hospitals system, social workers lend their talents to areas like the domestic violence program, where they support the work of caseworkers.
Mental health social workers also work for community centers like the Upper Manhattan Mental Health Center, where they provide mental health and holistic services to families, children adolescents, and adults.
Substance Abuse Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
Social workers work alongside physicians, substance abuse counselors, and peer counselors to provide substance use disorder services in Manhattan. For example, at New York-Presbyterian, credentialed social workers (Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor) serve as treatment care coordinators while also providing direct counseling to individuals with substance use disorder.
And social workers at Gracie Square Hospital, the only freestanding inpatient mental healthcare institution in Manhattan, are part of an interdisciplinary treatment team that provides counseling, treatment, and education to patients with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
Homeless Outreach Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
Did you know? New Yorker Stanton Coit founded the nation’s first settlement house during a period known as the Progressive Era in the late 1800s. Located on Forsyth Street in the Lower East Side, the open household served as a place where university students and other members of the privileged class could live and work alongside immigrants as a way to assist them integrate, sharing their knowledge and supporting some of New York’s most ambitious education, healthcare, and social services programs at the time.
Social workers are often the first point of contact at shelters for people experiencing homelessness. For example, social workers at CAMBA Family Shelters are part of an interdisciplinary shelter team that schedules and completes psychiatric evaluations. CAMBA has been under contract with the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) for more than 20 years to provide shelter services for NYC’s homeless population.
Manhattan social workers are also making a difference through a wide range of other human services providers, including the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, which provides an array of services, including family housing. You’ll also find Covenant House located here, NYC’s largest provider of services for youth experiencing homelessness.
Military Veteran Social Worker Jobs in Manhattan
Social workers provide support and services to Manhattan’s veteran population, attending to the unique needs of former service members, many of which suffer with the scars of war. For example, the NY Vet Center in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood is staffed with social workers who provide free and confidential help to veterans, service members, and their families. Their counseling services address needs like depression, substance use disorder, and service-related PTSD.
They also work for the city’s Department of Veterans’ Services, which was created in 2016 as the nation’s first standalone agency dedicated to serving veterans and their families. Social workers here create and operate programs and services focused on education, employment, housing, food assistance, legal support, substance abuse, and much more.