What is Political Social Work and Why Does it Matter?
Political social work navigates power in policymaking and politics to create social change. It is grounded in core social work values and ethics.
Political social workers address systemic barriers to social, political, economic, and racial justice, and engage in political action to promote individual and communal well-being.
Through engaging individuals and communities in political processes; influencing policy agendas and decision-making; holding professional and political staff positions; engaging with electoral campaigns; and seeking and holding elected office, political social workers work to create meaningful and lasting social change.
Our Impact
By connecting social work values with democratic action, the Humphreys Institute develops leaders, informs policy, and strengthens communities. Our work helps ensure that social workers and the communities they serve have a voice in the decisions that shape their futures.
Our Signature Programs
The Campaign School for Social Workers
For more than 30 years, the Campaign School for Social Workers has trained over 3,000 social workers, students, advocates, and community leaders to lead in policy and politics. Participants gain practical skills to serve as candidates, campaign staff, advocates, board members, and civic leaders. Graduates have run for offices from Board of Education to Congress.
Voting Is Social Work
The Voting Is Social Work campaign provides resource for anyone who wants to do meaningful nonpartisan voter engagement. As the public face of the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, we seek to integrate nonpartisan voter registration, education, and outreach into social work education, social work practice and social services across the country. The Campaign believes that social work is uniquely positioned to transform and strengthen our democracy by supporting people to register, giving them information about where, when, and how to vote, and most importantly, sharing why their vote matters to them and their community.
Research and Scholarship
The Humphreys Institute advances research on political participation, civic engagement, voting rights, and voting as a social determinant of health. Through collaborations with scholars across the country, we generate evidence that informs practice, strengthens democracy, and expands opportunities for civic participation. The Institute both produces our own research and supports social work researchers and interdisciplinary partners engaging in collaborative work.
Community Engaged Practice
Democracy is strongest when everyone has a voice.
The Humphreys Institute is a partner in current initiatives including Social Work Lobby Day at the Connecticut State Capitol, Student Advocacy Day on the Hill, Social Work Day on the Hill, and the Hartford Votes~Votas Coalition. Past collaborative initiatives include UConn Hartford Power Voting Corps and the Scholars Strategy Network’s Election Protection and Enhancement Program. These experiential learning opportunities equip social workers with the skills and knowledge to engage in advocacy, influence public policy, and strengthen democratic participation.
Consultation and Capacity Building
The Humphreys Institute provides individualized consultation, mentorship, and strategic support to social workers, educators, students, community organizations, and institutions seeking to strengthen civic engagement and democratic participation. We help partners develop initiatives, build capacity, and translate ideas into action.
Meet the Directors and Founders
Shannon R. Lane ’09 Ph.D. (SSW), MSW is professor-in-residence and director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Her research interests include political justice, social policy, macro social work practice, voting rights, voter engagement, civic engagement, and democracy, with a primary focus on political social work.
Before entering academia, Dr. Lane spent more than a decade working for the United States Senate, and has been an advocate and researcher on local, state, and federal social policy. She has been studying political social work and voting for more than 20 years.
At the Humphreys Institute, Dr. Lane oversees the national Voting is Social Work campaign and the Campaign School for Social Workers, a two-day training that has prepared nearly 3,000 social work students and professionals from around the world try to run for political office and hold leadership positions in political and policy settings.
Dr. Lane earned her Ph.D. from UConn and joined the School of Social Work faculty in 2025. Read more about Dr. Lane in her faculty bio and in this UConn Today article.
Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, served as the director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work and instructor-in-residence in the Policy Practice concentration for 11 years. In 2015, she co-founded the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign (now, “Voting is Social Work”), which works to integrate voter engagement into social work education and practice. She is a proud political social worker, voting rights advocate, and campaign leader. Her experience includes legislative and systems advocacy, community organizing, research, and leadership development.
The late Nancy A. Humphreys, Ph.D., founded the Institute for Political Social Work at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work in 1995 to investigate ways that social workers can facilitate the political empowerment of clients as well as increase the number of social workers who are directly involved with electoral politics.
Humphreys had a long and accomplished professional history, and her academic work left an indelible mark here in the United States and abroad. She served as director of the School of Social Work at Michigan State University and dean at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Beginning in 1991, Humphreys worked with what is now the Republic of Armenia to establish social work education in that country.
Humphreys’ teaching, mentorship, and leadership was instrumental in establishing political social work as an accepted area of practice and building a strong network of political social work leaders in Connecticut. She received numerous achievement awards, including the NASW Social Work Pioneer award, as well as an honorary doctorate from Yerevan State University.