Celebrating Social Work Month: Meet Marina Oteiza, Director of Family Partnerships 

March is Social Work Month, an opportunity to celebrate the profession and help others learn about the many positive contributions its practitioners make to society. 

NYCHA has had its own social services department since 1978. The department, now known as Family Partnerships, has undergone several changes – in name and function – since its creation. Its current director, Marina Oteiza, said that the department continues to evolve.  

Ms. Oteiza has spent her career in the non-profit sector. She has worked with a wide range of clients, including people with mental health challenges, people living with HIV/AIDS, and seniors. She previously served as Director of Rehabilitation Services at Weston United and as Deputy Director of Adult Services at Hudson Guild.  

A longtime champion for affordable housing, Ms. Oteiza joined NYCHA in 2014. Her decision to come to NYCHA was inspired partly by her activism and her lived experiences as a New Yorker.  

“I’m a staunch advocate for affordable housing,” said Ms. Oteiza. “I’m a native New Yorker, born and raised, so affordable housing is near and dear to me – like most people, I can’t afford to live in the neighborhood that I grew up in because of gentrification.” 

Her passion for social justice (which she said is at the root of social work) was fueled by listening to one of her aunts, a social worker, share her experiences. “She ran a day care center next to Tompkins Square Park in the 1970s,” Ms. Oteiza said. “Seeing all the tremendous need of the people, she provided a lot more services to the community outside of childcare.”  

Through her aunt’s work, she said she came to understand “that our goal should always be to create a more equitable society and look out for each other and take care of each other. That’s the heart of social work.”  

The Family Partnerships Department provides residents with short-term social services and also refers them to external partners, when necessary, for long-term support.  

For instance, through the department’s grant-funded program for seniors, known as the Elderly Safe at Home program, case workers pay home visits to seniors and assist them with a wide range of services, including help with recertifying their tenancy and checking mail for potential predatory scams. 

“What’s really nice about the program is that there is someone on-site so the residents can come down and have office hours,” Ms. Oteiza said. “Most of our Elderly Safe at Home staff have the ability to speak in other languages, so the seniors can speak to someone in their native tongue.”  

And the department’s Family Re-entry Program reunites incarcerated individuals with family members living in NYCHA developments upon their release.  

Ms. Oteiza said that housing is the best way to combat recidivism: “For someone who is formerly incarcerated, what’s the first thing they need when they get out? They need a place to live, an opportunity for them to come home and rebuild their lives.” 

The theme of this year’s Social Work month is Social Work Breaks Barriers. For Ms. Oteiza, the theme summarizes what social workers have been doing for years:  

“It’s always the barriers that create the problems for anyone trying to navigate anything. As long as there are hurdles to jump, we always want to try to look at how we can do things better, how we can break the barriers that are put in front of people who want to live their fullest lives, to be happy and healthy and engaged in community.”