拉丁裔领导倡议 marks 10th anniversary
The 电子游戏软件社会工作学院’s widely praised 拉丁裔领导倡议 will commemorate its 10th anniversary with a daylong event on March 15, “Well-Being of Latinx Communities: Social Work Response,” bringing together notable experts in social work 教育 and practice, 以及其他相关领域.
Guest speakers at the LLI event will include past Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, a former BCSSW faculty member; Joy Rosen, vice president of Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts General Physician Organization & 布里格姆少将, 系统行为和心理健康, who will give the keynote; and University of California-Berkeley School of Social Welfare Professor Kurt Organista, 谁致闭幕词.
BCSSW Professor and LLI Founding Director Rocio卡尔沃 and LLI Assistant Director Ximena Soto will be among the BC-affiliated speakers at the invitation-only event, 故事发生在巴拉特府.
LLI Founding Director Rocio卡尔沃 (Caitlin Cunningham)
卡尔沃于2013年创立了LLI, designing a cohort-based program that has prepared almost 240 bilingual and bicultural social workers to accompany Latinx communities in developing sustainable solutions to complex problems in health, 教育, 住房, 以及其他领域. Students in the program take courses in Spanish, 完成学校实习, 医院, 和监狱, and conduct cutting-edge research that shapes social workers’ strategies to support Latinx clients.
The initiative has been recognized as a Model Program for Diversity Education by the Council on Social Work Education’s Center for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice, and it received a top national award from Excelencia in Education.
当她第一次构思LLI的概念时, Calvo wondered if her idea would even be considered, 更不用说接受了:“我基本上是说, “相信我, 会成功的.“幸运的是, 她于2009年在bcssw获得博士学位, joining the faculty in 2011 after a postdoc fellowship at Harvard—proved supportive.
“BC is the very embodiment of Jesuit 教育: student formation,”她说。, citing a quote by former Jesuit Superior Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.: “The real measure of Jesuit universities lies in who our students become.”
“LLI学生, 他们中的许多人是移民的孩子, relate to the mission for which BC was originally founded, 为移民家庭服务,卡尔沃继续说. “作为社区的一员, LLI students and alumni become the bridge between the production of knowledge and the application of that knowledge to address issues identified by the community. So, as the birthplace of LLI, BC has had a significant impact on others.
“By teaching in Spanish, we open the door to changing the learning space in which students interact. 为学生, 很多都是第一次, this change enables them to bring their authentic selves into academic spaces that have historically denied the full expression of their lived experiences.”
Rather than hold a 10th-anniversary celebration to sing the program’s praises, BCSSW organizers saw an opportunity for assessing LLI’s strengths and challenges, 以及它未来的道路. 让活动更有影响力, the school invited deans from other social work schools—including Columbia University, 芝加哥大学, and University of Washington— as well as representatives from LLI’s partner organizations to discuss the health and mental health issues confronting Latinx communities in Massachusetts and nationwide; how to enable agencies to deliver culturally and linguistically congruent social work practice; and how bridging social work practice and research can address challenges facing Latinx communities.
“我们想，‘为什么不深入一点呢? Let’s bring in our social work colleagues as well as our community partners—like the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center and the Boston Public Schools—to look at what’s been done so far, 我们能做什么,’”卡尔沃说, crediting BCSSW Dean Gautam Yadama for suggesting the format. “我想学习. 我们都想学习. 这就是做这件事的方法.”
“A decade of 拉丁裔领导倡议 indicates BCSSW’s national leadership in innovative social work practice,亚达玛说。, who along with Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley will give a welcome at the event. “In convening prominent scholars and deans from other leading schools of social work, we look forward to paving the way toward a collective social work response to securing the well-being of Latinx communities nationwide.”
BCSSW Director of Community-Based Initiatives Yvonne Castañeda and faculty members Carolina Vélez-Grau, 克里斯汀•戴维森, 克里斯托弗Salas-Wright, and María Fernanda Piñeros-Leaño also will participate in the gathering.
Calvo—who cites LLI’s financial sustainability as an important challenge in the coming years—is gratified by the overall success of LLI, 但它是该项目规模较小的, 每天的胜利对她来说是最重要的.
“What keeps me going are the students,”她说。. “看着他们去上课, 做工作, 发现他们的优势和能力, and observe their transformation into caring professionals committed to improving people’s lives—that is our mission at its core.”
For more information about the 拉丁裔领导倡议, visit shark10.com/lli.