Guadalupe Lara Elected to National Board of Directors

NASW-Michigan would like to congratulate chapter member Guadalupe G. Lara, LMSW on being elected to a three year term on the Board of Directors for NASW National! Ms. Lara also served on the Michigan Chapter Board and held the position of president from 2006-2008.

Ms. Lara dedicated 27 years advocating for families at Children’s Hospital of Michigan until she retired in 2006 to care for her ailing mother in Texas.  Ms. Lara held a variety of leadership positions while at the Detroit Medical Center including Corporate Director of Social Work. She is a motivational speaker who has been recognized for her work on inclusion and workplace conflict management by over 47 organizations.  Some of these recognitions include Martin Luther King Scholar by the University of Michigan, Whitney Young Scholar at Western Michigan University, Global Visiting Scholar at Arizona State University and Michigan Social Worker of the Year.  She has been invited to present her work in the United States, Norway, Australia, Mexico and Canada.  Ms. Lara has been named by five different Michigan governors to lead boards and commissions for her advocacy on behalf of the underserved.  Ms. Lara currently serves on the Early Childhood Investment Corporation Board, Vice-Chair, Credit Union One and New Detroit Board of Directors.

After Ms. Lara’s mother died in 2012 she worked for a year in Washington D.C. at Homeland Security, United States Citizenship Immigration Services to provide child welfare education to better serve the Unaccompanied Children arriving from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.  She returned to Detroit in 2014 as the Director of the Consortium of Hispanic Agencies where she works with the six member agencies to advocate on behalf of Hispanic issues at the local and state level. 

Ms. Lara has been a volunteer at LASED since 2015 where she provides supervision to graduate social workers who are working toward their State social work license.

Ms. Lara is originally from San Antonio, Texas and proudly calls both Detroit and San Antonio home. 

Congratulate Guadalupe with us at glara@chadetroit.org!