* Social workers have the education, experience, and dedication to help people help themselves whenever and wherever they are needed. It takes a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral social work degree — with a minimum number of hours in supervised fieldwork — to become a social worker.

* Social workers help people in all stages of life, from children to the elderly, and in all situations, from adoption to hospice care.

* Social workers can be found in hospitals, police departments, mental health clinics, military facilities, and even corporations.

* Professional social workers are the nation's largest providers of mental health services. According to government sources, more than sixty percent of mental health treatment is delivered by social workers.

* More than 600,000 people in the United States hold social work degrees.

* The Veteran's Administration employs more than 3,800 MSWs to assist veterans and their families with individual and family counseling, patient education, end-of-life planning, substance abuse treatment, crisis intervention, and other services.

* Forty percent of mental health professionals working with the Red Cross Disaster Services Human Resources system are social workers.

* There are currently more than 170 social workers in national, state, and local elected office, including two U.S. Senators and four U.S. Representatives.

* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for social workers is expected to grow twice as fast as any other occupation in the coming years, especially in gerontology, home healthcare, substance abuse, private social service agencies, and school social work.