Hicksville Resident Elissa D. Giffords Chosen as
Nassau County Social Worker of the Year

Elissa D. Giffords, D.S.W., a resident of Hicksville, will be honored by the Nassau Division of the New York State Chapter, National Association of Social Workers (NASW) as the Social Worker of the Year at an awards ceremony on June 18, 2004 at the Milleridge Inn Cottage in Jericho.

Dr. Giffords, an Assistant Professor in the Social Work Program at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY, will be recognized for her outstanding achievements in the practice of advocacy, service to the community and championing of human rights. She possesses a vast blend of hands-on social service work, community advocacy and scholarly research experience that she enthusiastically brings to her students. Dr. Giffords entered the field as a paraprofessional in 1983 for Runaway Youth Coordinating Council, then worked as an outreach worker at Youth Environmental Services and as a Nassau County Department of Social Services (DSS) caseworker in Child Protective Services.

After receiving her master’s degree in social work from Adelphi, Dr. Giffords pursued her doctoral degree at Adelphi while working on several grant-funded projects to help individuals obtain health and human services through public and private agencies and community-based coalitions. She has served as the Homeless Prevention Coordinator at the Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN), SSI Outreach Director at Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, and the Family and Children’s Association. Dr. Giffords has also served on several community boards, including Advocacy Coalition for Equitable Social Services, Long Island Coalition for a National Health Plan, the Lupus Foundation, LI/Q Chapter, and Nassau County Presiding Supervisor’s Citizen Advisory Committee for the Physically Challenged.

Since joining the faculty in C.W. Post’s Department of Health Care and Public Administration in 2000, Dr. Giffords has lent her expertise to her students while contributing to scholarly research and service to the university and greater Long Island community. She serves as faculty mentor to C.W. Post Social Work students, faculty liaison to NASW, Nassau Division, the C.W. Post Social Work Club, and Phi Alpha, the social work honor society.

Dr. Giffords is currently an executive board member of Long Island Health Access Monitoring Project, a coalition group that focuses on efforts to gain access to healthcare for underserved people. In addition, she is involved in collaborative advocacy efforts to improve service delivery at DSS as a member of the Income Supports Advisory Committee to Nassau County DSS and serves on the Executive Committee of The Advisory Council to Nassau County DSS. She also sits on the board of a Robert Wood Johnson-sponsored Faith in Action grant project.