New Perspectives on Poverty: Policies, Programs, and Practice

About Elissa D. GiffordsKaren R. Garber

Elissa D. Giffords (DSW MSW Adelphi University) is professor of social work at Long Island University Post Campus. Her responsibilities include oversight of the LIU MSW program's policy sequence and the child welfare concentration. She also currently serves as chairperson of Nassau County Department of Social Services Commissioner's Advisory Council and program cochair of Nassau County Executive's Family Violence Task Force. Professor Giffords has previously served as a child protective services caseworker homeless prevention coordinator policy advocate and direct service and outreach coordinator. She received the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) NYS Social Worker of the Year Award in 2008 became a New York Academy of Medicine fellow in 2010 and lectured on social work education at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in China in 2011. Karen R. Garber (BSW MSW Adelphi University; JD Touro Law Center) is a social worker attorney and adjunct professor at Long Island University. She currently manages the Office of Consumer and Public Information and is administrator for Adult Protective Services Family and Children's Services and Child Protective Services at the Nassau County Department of Social Services. Prior to her current administrative position Garber worked exclusively in child welfare directly overseeing programs that included foster care adoption persons in need of supervision juvenile delinquents mentoring and independent living. In 2012 Garber represented Long Island University Post Campus in Nanjing China where she taught students about current social work practices in the United States.