Pioneering Contributions
Charles E. Lewis, Jr., PhD, MSW, is the founding director of the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP). Lewis also served as deputy chief of staff and communications director for former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY). Dr. Lewis was instrumental in creating the Congressional Social Work Caucus with the idea it would be a platform that would allow social workers to have more of a voice in Congress. While on the Hill as the staff coordinator for the Caucus, Lewis organized briefings for NASW, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). His work has significantly impacted the representation of social workers in Congress, providing them with a platform to voice their concerns and advocate for policies relevant to the profession and responding to critical social welfare issues as they arise. Lewis has inspired many social workers to pursue careers in political social work. He authors a blog about political social work that is widely read by professionals in the field, across the country.
Career Highlights
In 2012, Lewis founded CRISP as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, to complement the mission of the Social Work Caucus and to empower social workers on the Hill alongside congressional member organizations. The Caucus must be recertified every two years prior to the start of the new Congress. Following Congressman Towns’ retirement in 2013, Lewis led CRISP, which continued its work encouraging and assisting social workers to remain engaged with their congressional representatives, by keeping social welfare issues at the forefront.
Since March of 2016, Lewis has coordinated a Social Work Day on Hill, where social workers from diverse backgrounds come together to celebrate the many contributions their field has made in federal policymaking. Each year CRISP brings hundreds of social work students to Capitol Hill for Student Advocacy Day on the Hill where there are several days of programming. Students learn to engage with congressional staff and advocate for legislation relevant to social work and the state populations they serve. Many former students of Lewis, and Hill Day participants, now hold governmental and nongovernmental positions in the nation’s capital.
Lewis is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and supervises MSW students focusing on policy. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California where he taught communications courses in the Doctor of Social Work (DSW) program. He was on the faculty of Howard University School of Social Work prior to going to the Hill to work with Congressman Towns. He strongly believes that social workers have much to bring to policy discussions as a result of their hands-on knowledge about the real-world, hearing their constituents’ real-world concerns.
Lewis has been a strong advocate for children’s mental health as president of the Mental Health Association of the District of Columbia. He has published extensively about the need for preemptive detection of criminal behavior and positive treatment as a means to reduce the over-representation of African Americans and Latinos in the criminal justice system.
He is a strong proponent for increased mental health services in schools. Speaking at a forum at the Center for American Progress called “Everyone Isn’t Obama: Black Men and Social Policy,” Lewis highlighted the over-representation of young people of color in the criminal justice system. He cited incarceration as the number one civil rights issue today for African Americans because of how the economic and relational penalties impact individuals, families, and communities.
Biographic Data
Lewis grew up strongly influenced by the African American church. The son of a Baptist minister, he became a licensed minister and from 1989 to 1995, and served as the men’s ministry coordinator at Saint Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY. During that period, he encountered many African American males involved in the criminal justice system. The experience compelled him to return to school to complete his formal education in 1992, at the age of 42.
After earning a BA in psychology from the College of New Rochelle and an MSW in clinical counseling at the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Lewis was awarded a PhD in social policy analysis from the Columbia School of Social Work in 2002. His dissertation, titled “The Negative Effects of Incarceration on Fathers in Fragile Families,” documented employment and earnings penalties incurred by unwed fathers who had been incarcerated.
Significant Recognition and Awards
Lewis was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in recognition of his contribution to the emerging field of political social work.
Significant Publications
Lewis co-edited a book in 2011 with former Philadelphia Mayor Dr. W. Wilson Goode and Howard School of Divinity professor Dr. Harold Dean Trulear entitled, Miistry with Prisoners and Families: The Way Forward, presenting ideas to reduce the constant flow of young people of color into the criminal justice system by addressing their psychological and behavioral needs at an early age.
Lewis also authors Crisp's Blog, which is widely read by professionals in the field, across the country.