For Najeeb Kamil, the commitment to service began early. As he was growing up, Najeeb participated in street clean-ups in Oakland, fed the homeless in San Francisco, built homes with Habitat for Humanity, conducted basic health testing in a free clinic, and did prison outreach.

 

Najeeb was planning for a professional life of service when he entered UC Berkeley to study pre-med. Although those plans changed, he earned a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, never abandoning the idea of a service profession.

 

While working in biotechnology three years after graduation, Najeeb happened to meet someone who had an MSW. Until then, he never came across the idea of social work as a profession. The encounter proved fortuitous and that’s how Najeeb learned about social work and the opportunity to earn a living helping people.

Since graduating from the Masters in Social Work Program at California State University, East Bay (Title IV-E), Najeeb has held a number of positions in various child welfare settings. Najeeb was a Senior Social Worker in Children’s Services of Shasta County where he received an excellent introduction to rural social work and the importance of engagement with Native American tribes. He then moved to Alameda County as a Dependency Investigations child welfare worker in Alameda County and was immersed in urban social work and the court system.

 

After five years in direct services, Najeeb promoted to the position of child welfare trainer in Alameda County where he enjoyed working with new child welfare workers and helping them develop as engaging, culturally humble, and effective workers. Due to his interest in macro-level social work and systems change, Najeeb pursued a Masters in Public Administration (MPA), with a Policy-making and Analysis emphasis, from San Francisco State University. There he gained the knowledge and skills related to government agency structures and processes, data analyses, and policy and legislative approaches to change.

 

Najeeb was recently a Senior Human Services Analyst with the County of Santa Cruz Human Services Department, Family & Children’s Services division for almost six years where he conducted data analysis, policy and legislation analysis, program evaluation, and program management. Some of his areas of focus have been the development and implementation of policies to address child safety and child abuse investigations, resource family approval, commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), youth and family homelessness, father and male engagement, and racial equity.

 

Currently, Najeeb is a Senior Departmental Analyst with the Children and Family Health Unit in the County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, Public Health Division where he is providing administrative support and exploring ways to address health equity, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and social determinants of health.

 

When he’s not working, Najeeb continues his commitment to service as a volunteer. He is on the Steering Committee for the Racial and Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition (REMHDCO) that addresses major gaps in access to mental health services for communities of color and to culturally humble services. Giving back to his alma maters, Najeeb is a member of the Title IV-E Advisory Board for CSU, East Bay that helps to recruit students to the Title VI-E Stipend Program and participates in new MPA student orientations and guest lectures at San Francisco State University.