Karen Gilman Named Social Worker of the Year in California

Under that humble, wholesome personality of Larchmont Village resident Karen Gilman you’ll find a dynamo: a community networking aficionado who also just won the Social Worker of the Year in California award from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW.)

Gilman is well known in the community as a member of the Board of the Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association as well as for her work on the Land Use Committee of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. She has received awards from the Temple Israel of Hollywood, the School of Social Work at USC, and from the City of Los Angeles for her “dedication to making our community a better place for all its residents” through her social work.

According to the NASW, Gilman “…always looks at situations from a strength-based approach, rather than focusing on problems.”  While her main job is with the Exceptional Children’s Foundation, Gilman volunteers with numerous other groups including Shane’s Inspiration which creates accessible playgrounds for disabled children, the Big Sunday city-wide volunteer community service program, and the Sisterhood, a Jewish women’s religious and service group affiliated with Temple Israel of Hollywood. Makes one wonder when she has time to sleep.

Gilman lives on Elmwood Avenue in a 1914 Craftsman/Prairie style home with her husband Michael Gilman, who is also actively involved in the neighborhood. They raised two daughters in the “village” who have now grown up and out, living in San Francisco and Seattle. No doubt they come home now and again to marvel, as many of us do, at this woman who gives so much to others in her (multiple) communities.