It’s been a sleepy suburb for a long time, but Pasco County is the center of knowledge when it comes to acquiring a professional education in social work in the Sunshine State.
Pasco County has special challenges that come from being divided by some very scenic, but largely impassable, swamp preserves clumped right in the middle. The major highways run south to Tampa or north into Spring Hill or The Villages. But State Roads 52 or 54 are the lone connections between the population centers on the east and west sides of the county.
That’s led to a unique arrangement in local governance, where almost all human services programs are mirrored between Port Richey, on the coast, and Dade City in the interior. It’s double the opportunity to provide social services to two sometimes very different populations.
But Pasco County social services nonprofits and government agencies are up to the challenge, anchored by social work graduates who have been trained and gained experience in this environment.
Pasco County Comes Together to Protect Kids
While there are plenty of laws being passed in Florida these days under the guise of protecting kids and expanding parental rights, Pasco County parents found out that sometimes the biggest threat to their children is the law.
That’s what parents and child welfare social workers found in 2020 when a series of investigative articles by the Tampa Bay Times revealed that Pasco County Schools were sharing student data with a controversial predictive policing program run by the Sheriff’s Office. Profiled students were targeted without parental knowledge or permission.
By 2021, local activists had put together the P.A.S.C.O. Coalition: People Against the Surveillance of Children and Over policing. The group demanded an end to data sharing, erasure of targeting lists, and retaliation against students, staff, or parents. Working together with major nonprofits like the ACLU and SPLC, the group sparked an investigation of the school district by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
Finally, in March 2024, DOJ reached a settlement agreement with the Pasco County School District to end discrimination, threat assessment practices, and overuse of the Baker Act. It’s a significant victory for actual parental rights in Florida, and a step forward for social justice in Pasco County.
CSWE-Accredited Master of Social Work (MSW) & Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Degrees Serving Students in St. Leo and Throughout Pasco County
The expertise that the Pasco County social services community has built up over the years is reflected in the kind of studies you’ll find for social work here.
A degree from a CSWE (Council on Social Work Education)-accredited school is a must-have for any Florida social worker getting into the field. In many cases, a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) gets it done. But qualifying for state credentials means earning a graduate degree.
That’s true whether you are seeking the Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) credential required to provide clinical assessments and counseling, or the voluntary Certified Master Social Worker (CMSW) credential that professionals in mezzo- and macro-level practice can pursue when moving into advanced administrative and management roles. Either path requires a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree with the CSWE stamp of approval.
Having that same stamp on your BSW will also reduce the time it takes to earn that MSW, too. With a CSWE-accredited BSW, you will qualify for an advanced standing MSW, which cuts the total completion time down to just one year.
Of course, you can go the traditional MSW route with a Pasco County college as well, building on a bachelor’s you may have earned in a related field, such as human services, psychology, or counseling.
Fortunately, the sole Pasco County-based university with CSWE accredited programs offers all those options:
Saint Leo University
College of Health Professions
St. Leo, FL
Other Education Centers in California, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
- BSW (on-campus, hybrid)
- MSW (online)
Saint Leo is one of the oldest Catholic universities in the state of Florida. While the social work department doesn’t stretch back to the 1889 founding of the school, you can trace the charitable and public-minded approach to human services education to that traditional Catholic humanitarian ethos.
The BSW program sets graduates up for the Advanced Standing MSW option, a 4+1 model that gets you through a license-qualifying BSW + MSW in only five years, total. The school also accepts qualified AA or AS transfer degrees, allowing students to earn a BSW in only two years.
Saint Leo was also one of the first American universities to offer its programs through distance learning, a tradition it has built on with strong online and hybrid BSW and MSW programs.
Saint Leo offers its MSW degree in a one-year advanced standing option, with either full or part-time attendance, or in two- or three-year options.