“I exemplify a PCS student: mature, older with lived experience, someone who came to Fordham to add to their education toward starting a new career,” said Burke, a graduate from both the School of Professional and Continuing Studies and the Graduate School of Social Service, in her graduation speech. “Fordham was able to help each of us see our experience, even our adverse experiences, from a universal perspective, helping us turn all those experiences into viable skills and insights we can use to help others.” 

Burke was born into a large family on Long Island. Her father was a decorated World War II veteran and a salesman who worked his way up in the garment industry until he owned his own textile mill. At age 46, he suddenly passed away from a heart attack, leaving behind his wife and their 10 children, including 6-year-old Burke. Over the years, the family has dealt with significant trauma, including alcoholism and suicide. Burke herself is in recovery. 

Burke dropped out of high school and followed in her father’s footsteps in the garment industry. She started working as a receptionist for a dress company and became a sales manager who worked with companies like Victoria’s Secret. But after more than three decades, she realized that the American textile industry was falling apart. Many U.S. businesses had moved their operations overseas, where other countries produced goods more cheaply, and the American mills couldn’t compete. Burke said she was also discouraged after working in a male-dominated field without equal pay for so long. 

“I just got so disillusioned,” Burke said, reflecting on her life over a phone call. “I was like, why am I doing this? I’m putting lace on a panty, and how is that helping the world?” 

At age 50, she decided to go to college. Burke was on track to become the second of her siblings to earn a college degree. Many of her brothers and sisters had dropped out of high school and found meaningful careers that didn’t require higher education. Agatha became an accomplished chef who worked for David Bouley; Bill was a war photographer who died while documenting 9/11; Christopher is a retired boat builder whose work took him around the world. But their children took a different path. 

“Oddly enough, every one of our children went to college. I guess we all realized after the fact how important the college experience really is,” said Burke, now married with one son. 

Burke earned her GED at age 50. The following spring, she was delighted when she received her acceptance letter from Fordham. But a month after she received the good news, she learned that one of her sisters was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.  

“She was living with me, and I was there every step of the way. I was holding her hand when she died. To be able to be present like that for someone is amazing,” Burke said. “It changed my whole life. Social work was what happened, and it was beautiful.”

In the fall of 2015, Burke became a student at Fordham. She hadn’t been in a classroom since 1978 and often felt scared and overwhelmed, especially when she received a zero on a test during her first semester. 

“People my age who are going back and trying again can get discouraged very easily,” said Burke, who was 52 when she returned to school. “But every step of the way, there was somebody there to help. It made a world of difference.”

In 2020, Burke earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. The following year, she earned a master’s degree in social work from the Graduate School of Social Service. 

This fall, Burke was promoted to clinical social worker at the Mental Health Association of Westchester, where she had served as a recovery specialist for three years. She now works with clients who are struggling with their mental health. 

“I’m not fixing or changing anyone. I’m helping people figure out what they need to do for themselves to help them find their way,” said Burke, who, as a recovering alcoholic, is able to empathize with many of her clients.

When Burke was selected as the student speaker for her graduation ceremony this past September, she chose to look back on her time at Fordham. She said she was stunned by one of her first courses, an introduction to social work through a trauma lens—a remarkable reflection of her life. 

“I was so taken aback by it: the culmination of my life in print, right before my eyes,” said Burke in her speech. “I was able to process grief and eventually heal, as it validated many of my feelings. It was cathartic and empowering, all at the same time.”

Now, at 59, she says she’s ready to continue helping others find themselves. 

“My perspective in the past five years has changed dramatically,” Burke said. “And everything that I’ve learned at Fordham has come into play.” 

Pandemic Exacerbated Health Challenges in Communities of Color

“While we are not yet on the other side of COVID-19, we know that this pandemic—which is likely the largest public health crisis we will see in our lifetimes—has been nothing short of a collective trauma,” said Ross, who spearheaded the grant effort and is the principal investigator. “It has disproportionately affected communities of color and has placed New York City’s youngest residents at risk of a host of adverse health and behavioral health outcomes. To mitigate these challenges, there is a dire need for a well-prepared behavioral health social work workforce equipped with skills in prevention, interprofessional practice, and health equity that mirrors the population most affected.”

Addressing Need for Social Workers from Diverse Backgrounds

The project, which is part of HRSA’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program for Professionals, sets out to address workforce shortages in social work and lack of diversity in the profession while equipping workers with skills designed to address the potential impact of adverse childhood experiences, said Debra McPhee, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Work.

“The overarching goal of PIPELINE for Youth Health is to create a sustainable pipeline of racially and ethnically diverse behavioral health practitioners equipped with the skills needed to work effectively with youth,” said McPhee.

Each year, a total of 27 student fellows—26 MSW students and one doctoral candidate—will be supported with stipends to offset the cost of tuition while they participate in a specialized training program that prioritizes prevention, integrated care, and health equity for underserved young people. The project has been funded for five years; 75% of the student fellowship slots are reserved for students of color.

The PIPELINE for Youth Health team is led by Ross and includes Binta Alleyne-Green, Ph.D., associate professor, Larry Farmer, Ph.D., associate professor, Janna Heyman, Ph.D., professor and Henry C. Ravazzin Chair; Christie Hunnicut, director of field education; Liz Matthews, Ph.D., assistant professor; Yvette Sealy, Ph.D., associate professor; Linda White-Ryan, Ph.D., associate dean of students; and Anne Williams-Isom, D.Min., professor and Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare.

Ross said the new training program will prioritize prevention, integrated care and interprofessional practice, and health equity in the youth behavioral health workforce. The program begins this fall, when students will participate in required coursework; a PIPELINE Integrative Seminar; and a special speaker series featuring innovations in prevention-oriented practice with children, youth, and their families.

“We were already facing a major shortage of youth behavioral health practitioners here in New York City even before COVID-19 emerged. The need is now greater than ever,” said Ross. “I am very excited to work with the PIPELINE for Youth Health team to develop and implement a specialized behavioral health training program that will greatly enhance the social work workforce dedicated to serving the children, youth, and families of New York City.”

Heyman is a well-known expert on intergenerational social work—something that she gets to practice in her own home, especially now. While granting a phone interview with Fordham News, she sat at a table cutting shapes out of paper with her grandchildren while her mother-in-law futilely tried to disengage a face-to-face video chat.

“My mother-in-law, who’s 94, tried to connect with us, but now she can’t figure out how to turn it off,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sitting here with three generations trying to help while making triangles and rectangles.”

Heyman noted that the phone situation with her mother-in-law, while amusing, is also a graphic example of the challenges sequestered older adults face during the COVID-19 restrictions. ­­­While much of America engages on social media and in video chats, many older adults do not know how to use the technology. Most are not just being cut off from the population at large, but from their family and friends as well.

“We talk about all our students and everybody going online, but for many older adults, they’re not online or able to connect,” said Heyman.

She said that some social workers who are used to seeing their clients at the senior centers for lunch and social activities are reaching out to them with phone calls to check in on their mental and physical health.

Social worker Colette Phipps spearheads one such effort in Westchester. After 10 years as an adjunct lecturer teaching human rights and social justice courses in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) at Fordham’s Westchester campus, Phipps was teaching “Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations” this semester when the pandemic broke out in her near her home in New Rochelle. She also works with seniors through Westchester’s TIPS program (the Telehealth Intervention Programs for Seniors), part of Westchester County Livable Communities/Age-Friendly Initiative, of which she is the executive director. She said the closing of community programs has been tragic for seniors.

“I was talking to a site director last week who said to me, one of the seniors came in when they knew that the site was going to close and said, ‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about feeding me a hot meal. I’ll just bring a whole sandwich. I just want to be here,’” recalled Phipps.

Up until the pandemic, the TIPS program sent trained student technicians, often GSS students, to take seniors’ vitals at community centers, nutrition sites, housing authorities, and independent living facilities for seniors. Referred to as social support associates, the students were trained to transmit the health care data to telehealth nurses who review it remotely, saving the county money by reducing unnecessary hospital and doctor visits. The program also familiarized seniors with county services and doctor referrals when necessary.

Phipps said the seniors adored the students and would happily go to get the routine procedure done in order to interact with the young people. With physical encounters halted, Phipps organized TIPS in Touch two weeks ago. The intergenerational program allows the same students to call and check in on the seniors, who now long to hear a familiar voice.

“Can you imagine when Daria calls and says, ‘Hi Ms. Jones, it’s me, Daria. How you doing?’ They’re gonna be thrilled!” Phipps said while planning the new intervention.

She said that while the students can no longer gather the vital signs data, they can get other important information by asking a series of questions.

“The trusty old phone is old school, but it works,” said Phipps.

As students began making the calls from their homes over the past week and a half, Phipps deemed the program a success. She said they ask key questions, including: Have you fallen? Have your medications changed? Are you taking them on time? How are you feeling? If the social worker determines there is a problem they will connect the senior with any number of services available to them within the county, from food delivery to emergency care.

Both Phipps and Heyman said there are lessons that all caregivers and families can take away from the skills social workers use in reaching out to their clients by phone. Here are a few tips:

Call! 

Phipps: “I think more than anything, we can simply talk to a person who is home alone because they feel so socially isolated.”

Be Kind

Phipps: “Let them know you miss them. You can say ‘Mary, I really miss you. I can’t wait to see you again. But this is what we’re going to do to keep as connected as possible.'”

Be Real

Phipps: “Acknowledge the obvious and simply say, ‘This really something. It’s really changed our lives around.’ You don’t want to talk with the older adult like you are above them or that you’re not experiencing some of the same things they’re experiencing.”

Be Blunt

Phipps: “You want to have a lilt to your voice, but you don’t want to invalidate how they’re feeling or how you’re feeling. It’s OK to say, ‘This really sucks!'”

Be Practical

Heyman: “Talk about any type of daily activities. Make sure they’re not having any further impairments, that they’re getting their nutrition, their meals. If not, in New York City there’s a lot of services through 3-1-1, and in Westchester, 2-1-1 is providing a lot of outreach as well.”

Listen

Phipps: “I can sort of tell just by the tone of voice, even though I can’t see the face, what kind of affect they have. I can tell if they are down. I like to be very careful about talking about being depressed. It is something many older adults are not interested in revealing. You might say, ‘Wow, your voice is not the same today, Agnes. What’s going on?’ Then listen to what they have to say.”

Finally, Heyman advised caretakers and social workers to care for themselves.

“When they’re on the frontline, they really need to take a deep breath and realize they’re doing the hero work just like our physicians, our nurses, and our caregivers,” said Heyman. “Day in and day out, they’re the ones really making the difference in the lives of the individuals and their families.”

Phipps also stressed self-care.

“You’ve got to take a little time off. You really do. You have to have some time for yourself because the stories that you hear are very much heartbreaking,” said Phipps. “You have to refresh. It may be that you just sit down and meditate for a bit or do a little exercise or read a book. You know, I tell my students that we are like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill, but we have to find joy in doing it.”

“Look who’s here!” a gray-haired woman beams at her.

Grant is the vice president of community connections and reach for the Food Bank for New York City, which seeks to connect the one-in-five New Yorkers who face food insecurity each year to long-term, sustainable ways to end hunger. This means providing 60 million free meals per year citywide, plus a range of other services, including free tax counseling and assistance with enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Grant frequents the Harlem location about once a week to chat with the approximately 150 seniors who come regularly for meals, fitness activities, cooking demonstrations, and to shop in the pantry. “I check in with everybody,” says Grant, GSS ’00, ’07. “I hear about their grandkids. They tell me what they need and what we can improve. If I notice someone hasn’t shown up in a few weeks, I call their family. And, if I miss a week or go on vacation, they’ll say, ‘We haven’t seen you in a while.’”

Her job is to build partnerships citywide to help people live independently and help families have security around food. But at the heart of her work is the human connection, the kind she fosters in this dining room.

A Focus on Children and Families

Grant joined the Food Bank as a senior director in 2013, after working 17 years in foster care at the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). During that time, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, and served as an adjunct professor at the school for nine years. As she worked on family reunification cases at the ACS, she learned that a lack of access to food was often equated to neglect.

“I thought it was criminal to have families be at risk of losing their children because they couldn’t afford to feed their families,” she says.

The realization struck a personal chord. A native of Rockaway, Queens, Grant grew up in a single-parent household. Her working mother used food stamps to help provide for Grant and her younger brother.

“I didn’t know anything about food banking [when I worked at the ACS], but I knew a whole lot about food insecurity—and I knew how to connect with people and how to problem-solve around what they need,” she says.

She’s trying to impart these lessons to her 8-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, who sometimes helps out at the community kitchen and pantry. Grant proudly holds up a notebook on a desk there in which Mackenzie had scribbled, “I AM A FOOD BANKER FOR LIFE,” and “#SquadGoals.”

Expanding the Food Bank’s Reach

Under Grant’s lead, the Food Bank has installed food pantries on 11 campuses of the City University of New York and in probation offices in all five boroughs. She also oversees a health education program in more than 200 low-income public schools that trains teachers to implement nutrition education lessons. The Food Bank also operates campus pantries in more than 40 low-income public schools citywide.

Yet her proudest achievement harkens back to her focus on children and families. Last year, she founded a food pantry at an ACS office that now also stocks clothing, diapers, books, toys, and other items for children and babies. She is currently working with ACS to install more food pantries at ACS locations across the city.

“To be able to focus on my love and passion for children and families and create partnerships to serve those families during some of the worst times they experience, it’s a joy and a victory,” she says.

At the Food Bank, Grant is a leader. In the community kitchen dining room, she prefers to be seen simply as a friend to the people she serves.

“I feel strongly that my ability to connect with people and to understand them in their environments comes from my background in social work,” Grant says. “It’s all about human dignity.”

—Gina Ciliberto, FCRH ’12

In a Sept. 12 talk, Charles E. Carter, Ph.D., deputy director and chief strategy officer of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, said the science behind early childhood development and the core capabilities that caretakers need to excel in life, parenting, and work must be reflected in policy and practice to create new theories of change.

The talk, “The Science of Child Development: Implications for Policy and Practice,” was part of the James R. Dumpson Memorial Lecture on Family Well-Being, co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), Fordham School of Law, and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

The event celebrated the legacy of late activist and leading social crusader James R. Dumpson, New York City’s first black commissioner. Dumpson served as GSS dean from1967 to 1974. After he died in 2012 at the age of 103, the University endowed the James R. Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies to honor his lifelong commitment to helping the poor.

Like Dumpson, Carter, who spent more than 20 years working with low-income children and families, is dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children.

Carter began his address at the Lincoln Center campus by recounting memories of his single mother. As a child, he marveled at her “superpowers,” which included working two jobs to support her young children and maintaining order in their household.

“What I call superpowers, scientists call core life skills,” said Carter, noting that successful caretakers are capable of planning ahead, focusing, exercising self-control, seeing things from different perspectives, and being flexible.

“These are the skills that you need in everyday life, whether it is school, work, marriage, family, or relationships.”

Scientific research shows that our brains continue to develop from birth through adulthood, Carter said.  Since it also shows that the stress of poverty and unresponsive child-parent relationships can disrupt childhood development, he believes critical interventions can help adults who are struggling with executive functioning skills, such as controlling impulsive behavior and adjusting to unexpected life demands.

“If you’re able to reduce external sources of stress, you’re able to possibly free up mental space for adults to be able to access those five core skills, and in turn be more responsive to their children,” said Carter.

He proposed reducing external excesses of stress, strengthening core life skills, and supporting responsive relationships as key principles for policy and practices. These principles are particularly important considering that current policies don’t typically take into account how a caretaker’s psychological, neurobiological, and self-regulation systems are impacted by their adversities.

What’s more, paperwork for assistance can be overwhelming and a lack of incentives for parents who work can cause further strains for families struggling to make ends meet, he said.

Because of these potential stressors, Carter encouraged practitioners to be clear, explicit, and strategic about how they work with families in order to make a meaningful impact in their lives.

“If we can be bold, we can recognize all of the superpowers of the people that we work with, and help build the skills of the systems that support the families that we most care about,” said Carter.

A foster care therapist works to make sure her kids “have better tomorrows”

A child’s drawing of two handprints sits atop Carolyn Catania’s bookshelf. Inside one is the child’s description of Catania: “She is kind, she helps kids feel better, and she likes coffee.”

One of the handprints is Catania’s. The other belongs to a girl Catania works with at Good Shepherd Services’ family foster care program in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx.

“This is my dream job,” says Catania, who provides individual supportive therapy to children ages 5 to 21 in New York City’s foster care system. “I feel lucky that I get to spend my days working to make sure my kids have better tomorrows by helping them heal from their past, learn to have hope, and recognize they are more than just a foster kid.”

A Long Island native, Catania majored in psychology at Fordham and went on to earn a master’s degree in social work at the Graduate School of Social Service—while also pursuing a master’s degree in public health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and working full time at Good Shepherd Services.

She became a staunch advocate for change within the foster care system, striving to help those who work with foster children understand childhood trauma and mental health conditions. The goal, she says, is for children to stay stable in their foster placements, develop healthy relationships, and avoid retraumatization. She creates fact sheets and training sessions to make issues such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder more approachable for staff members and families.

“I aspire to change the conversation tone from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What’s happened to you?’” she says.

In 2016, after completing her MSW and licensure requirements, she was promoted to her current position as a therapist. She hopes to work in international child welfare, an area she glimpsed while participating in two “life-changing” projects, in Guatemala and South Africa, sponsored by Fordham’s Global Outreach program.

Kathy Sommerich, the senior program director of health and mental health services at Good Shepherd Services, praises Catania’s “passion for doing the right thing, even if it’s the most difficult,” and says the children she works with reap the benefits, including the little girl who made the handprint drawing.

Inside her own handprint, the girl wrote, “I am brave.”

—Stefanie Sorrentino

Read more “20 in Their 20s” profiles.

This past January, GSS formed an additional partnership with the Beijing University of Technology.

Under the new partnership, students from CYU will earn a bachelor’s in social work from Fordham and, should they choose, would also continue on for a master’s. Fordham students get a summertime opportunity in China where they can choose between two three-credit courses while becoming familiar with the culture.

“It’s about bringing Chinese students to experience one of the most vibrant cities in the world and learn professional skills at Fordham that they can bring back home to have a positive effect,” Debra McPhee, PhD, dean of GSS.

After the Cultural Revolution, social work practice was not permitted in China, said David Koch, PhD, associate professor and director of the bachelor’s degree program in social work. He said that it was only in the 1990s that social work practice began to be taught again at universities.

“Like anywhere in the world, China’s families and culture are being taxed by social and economic realities that present a great many challenges, particularly in urban areas,” said McPhee.

Over the next 20 years China will need to employ approximately 2 million social workers to deal with the needs of a massive population and an “explosion in urban economy,” she said.

Koch, who taught at the last two summer sessions at CYU, said that while Beijing’s population of 21 million may impress, it pales in comparison to the megacity that the government plans to link together with bullet trains over the next decades.

“Beijing will be at the center of 130 million people, and that will affect how services are delivered,” he said. “That environment will require a different kind of practitioner. We’re helping to develop that.”

“We want to help China increase its effectiveness in helping people,” he said. “And in site visits with CYU and Fordham students, we really see what’s happening on the ground; it’s not just the 30,000-foot view.”

Koch said the local governments are far more forthcoming than in the past in revealing and confronting issues such as HIV, undersupervised migrant youth, and care for the elderly. Such a shift will be beneficial, especially on the growing professionalization of social work.

“What we’re seeing in the universities is an attentiveness to what social work can give them, something which in the past they couldn’t utilize,” he said.

“In these kind of partnerships there’s always a benefit on both sides,” said McPhee. “It’s about building bridges.”

There will be several information sessions in March for Fordham students interested in taking a three credit course in Beijing. For more information contact David Koch at [email protected]. 

When Barr was just 13, she was diagnosed with perceptual problems. “Even to this day I sometimes have a challenging time with spatial relations—it’s a form of dyslexia,” she says.

After the diagnosis, the New Jersey native was moved out of her eighth-grade classroom and into a resource room. “They thought it would be kinder to me, that it would make things easier. But I didn’t want things to be easier,” Barr says. “And I just felt really strongly that it wasn’t the right place for me, that I learn really well when I’m around a variety of other people.”

With support from her parents, Barr fought the decision and eventually rejoined her classmates. But the experience is something that has stayed with her.

Her decision to pursue a master’s degree in social work at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus was fueled by the feeling that, unlike other psychological professions, “social work is focused on the advocacy piece as well as the clinical realm,” Barr explains. “The advocacy piece teaches people how to advocate on their own behalf and how they can make their life better.”

As a licensed clinical social worker, Barr has a private practice in Brooklyn and also works with adolescents through the educational consulting group Forster-Thomas and the Center Against Domestic Violence in New York City.

“It’s a really inspiring group to work with,” she says. “It’s amazing to see the resilience they have, to see their creativity, to see the dreams they want to achieve. Witnessing their growth is very inspiring to me.”

Barr’s interest in working with adolescents “definitely stems from things that I went through,” she says. “I do feel that, if you successfully work your way through a crisis or trauma at a younger age, you have those problem-solving skills for life.”

Barr also hosts workshops for various groups, giving them an opportunity to learn not only from her but also from each other, “in a collective environment among their peers.” She has focused on topics from bullying and relationship abuse prevention to career advancement and stress management.

Barr particularly enjoys speaking at Fordham, where she has led workshops focused on career exploration, professional transitions, and having difficult conversations in the workplace.

“The students are always excited to be there and are very curious,” she says. “There is a culture of learners at Fordham and a culture of people who are really committed to doing good, to wanting to see social change.”

In her upcoming Fordham workshop, Predicting Happiness, she’ll be talking about the key factors she believes influence the decisions people make in their personal and professional lives.

“Happiness is a very trendy concept right now, but it’s also a really timely and important [one],” Barr says. “I think that we have, as a society, fallen into a trend where we look externally for our happiness. We need to recognize that much of our happiness is an internal job.”

That kind of self-discovery is an ongoing process, she adds. “But I do believe that, if you go after your dreams, and you put in the work and the time, you could do well. It takes creativity, it takes entrepreneurial skills, but people can achieve really extraordinary things.”

Alby Tello, director of career development at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, helped Barr organize her first workshops at Fordham.

“Aimee started offering workshops at Fordham because she wanted to get involved and give back,” Tello says. “She’s so easy to engage and easy for the students to relate to. She took her MSW and got creative with it. She opened her own practice but also does works through other organizations and centers—she really shows students what you can do with your degree.”

Barr particularly wants to inspire students and alumni who find that their passions lie in fields that are typically considered unprofitable, such as social work.

“I just feel really lucky because I love what I do. And I believe you do the best job in things you enjoy and find interesting. I get to do work that’s meaningful and make a difference but I also get paid well,” she says. “I want to show people that that’s possible.”

As a social worker at New Alternatives For Children in Manhattan, she helps kids who have severe physical, emotional, and behavioral challenges and developmental disabilities. They come from all five boroughs of New York City, and many of them live at the poverty level, Whitlock says. She connects them with a range of health and social services, helping them find the support they need to remain at home with their family or, in some cases, find an adoptive family.

“I really love [working in] child welfare,” she says. “I think the biggest impact a social worker can make is with a child, before other outside factors come in. Nothing will keep you more grounded.”

Whitlock’s path to social work was one lined with detours and transformative experiences. A native of Cheshire, Connecticut, she dreamed of becoming an artist. At Roger Williams University, she majored in visual arts, later adding minors in marine biology and sociology. “I was totally lost,” she says. “I wanted to do everything.”

After graduating in 2003, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a paralegal at a law firm, conducting research on low-income housing policy. Three years later, she left for New York City to take a job at the Nonprofit Finance Fund, analyzing social impact data and reviewing loans for nonprofit clients. She also would be close to her younger brother, Mark, who was living in the city while attending Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Not long after she moved to the city, Mark was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Whitlock shared an apartment with her brother and supported him while he was undergoing treatments. After 18 months battling the disease, Mark passed away on May 19, 2010, two weeks before his law school graduation day.

“I had an awesome journey with him,” says Whitlock, who is an active volunteer with the National Brain Tumor Society. “Something happened to me while he was sick. That experience, I couldn’t go back to my office job. I wanted to do something more meaningful.”

She enrolled in Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) and found an immediate camaraderie with her fellow students. Like her, she says, they all had a significant reason for wanting to be a social worker. In the MSW program, she studied leadership and macro policy, and completed internships at the Brooklyn Family Defense Project and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center.

“Sarah’s leadership skills were clearly evident” early on, says Susan Egan, Ph.D., associate dean for student services and administration. During the first half of the MSW program, Whitlock spoke with Egan about the need for a formal mentoring program. She and her fellow students recruited volunteers, implemented a training system, and began mentoring incoming students, Egan says. “In turn the mentees become mentors and the program continues to have success.”

With the support of Whitlock’s peers, Fordham faculty and administrators selected her to speak at the GSS diploma ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall on May 20, 2013.

It was an especially poignant day for Whitlock, as three years prior, on the same stage, she had accepted Mark’s posthumously awarded J.D. diploma.

“Today I want to remind you of why it was that you decided to become a social worker and urge you to never forget that reason,” she told her fellow classmates. “Never lose site of your own personal mission. You are here to change the world in whatever way means the most to you, and I know you can do it. You already have.”

Whitlock says she “loved every second of being at GSS,” and she’s staying connected to the school and her peers through the Fordham Social Workers Group, which she formed before graduating. The group, led by Whitlock with a committee of five other 2013 graduates, hosts picnics, support group meetings, training sessions, and happy hours for all GSS alumni.

“I didn’t connect so much to my [undergraduate] college experience because I wasn’t connected to what I was studying. But choosing my master’s program, I was committed to it,” Whitlock says. “It was so meaningful.”

– Rachel Buttner

“From the time I walked into the correctional settings, I said there’s something wrong with this picture,” said Maschi, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS).

She could help the incarcerated men, women, and youngsters she met by offering them therapy during their prison stays and preparing them when it came to time to reenter society. But she was only one person with limited resources. It would require more extensive, communal efforts to halt the cycle of traumatized youth moving in and out the prison system.

Maschi’s frustration became the seeds for the Be The Evidence Project (BTEP), a wide-ranging effort to spread awareness of critical social issues of the day. Run under the GSS, the project functions as a channel to provide information on issues of human rights and social justice with the aim of enlisting help from the community at large.

“It dawned on me that large-scale societal change is a long haul, and it takes a lot of organization and collective grassroots activism,” said Maschi, who is the executive director of BTEP. “But one thing that we have control over is how we think. Each one of us can change our outlook on current social issues.”

An allusion to Gandhi’s call to be the change you wish to see in the world, BTEP began in 2010 with awareness-raising events on topics such as trauma among incarcerated individuals. In October of 2011, the project launched its first major event with the Aging Prisoner Forum. The event drew more than 150 attendees, and resulted in a white paper penned by national experts who provided the latest research on prisoners growing old and dying in prison.

Since then, BTEP has hosted an array of projects, from the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community to the use of the arts to promote well-being and to fuel social change. The group hosts town hall meetings, public forums and conferences—all of which are free and open to the public—and sponsors research on the issues raised. The events are collaborative, involving affected populations, clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and more.

“Some institutes are founded on one particular issue, but we try to be flexible with the projects,” Maschi said. “A broader umbrella allows us to adopt current human rights and social justice issues as they arise.”

Raising public awareness is at the heart of BTEP’s mission. According to Maschi, the idea is to shed light on social issues in order to help individuals and communities develop a critical consciousness about the issues and respond to them knowledgably.

To accomplish this goal, BTEP affiliates—Maschi and a rotating group of graduate and undergraduate students, interns, and community partners—also use the project to disseminate the latest in scholarly research.

“Academic articles can take two years to be published,” she said. “A system of rapid dissemination to the public is important because if research is only in academic journals, only certain people have access to it.

Information sharing is also critical for those working in the field, said Linda Hood, GRE ’07, a doctoral student at GSS who works with BTEP, because 21st-century social work is facing a number of new challenges. Dwindling funds have forced many cash-strapped agencies to rethink the way they run their organizations.

“Agencies have had to take on the business model to survive,” Hood said. “It’s now about efficiency—doing the job for the least amount possible, just like a business. In many ways, that hurts access to and quality of services.”

Advocacy has suffered as a result, Hood said. In some cases, organizations’ public awareness campaigns have been used to fundraise, rather than as a tool to educate persons about the needs of a population. Such campaigns sometimes breed misinformation that ultimately confuses and even harms clients.

That is why, Hood said, BTEP is critically important for the social work field and its beneficiaries, as well as for the community at large.

“It’s about coming up with creative solutions, new ways to solve old problems,” she said. “And Tina is a creative risk-taker.”

In just three years, BTEP has garnered national attention from agencies, universities, and other organizations seeking to employ BTEP’s method of advocacy, research, and education, Maschi said. And since the project is not tied to a particular grant (it is funded through a number of channels, including the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Gerontological Society of America, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Community Trust Fund, and Fordham’s Office of Research), there is no end in sight.

Maschi said that in the future, BTEP will continue to sponsor events and research on a variety of issues in order to increase public awareness about social justice, as well as to “be the evidence” for the next generation of social workers.

“We’re making a unique contribution toward an understanding of societal issues, and we’re advancing our set of practices,” she said.

“Because if we don’t change the collective thinking about issues, if we don’t have a spirit of tolerance in society, then we can have all the laws on the books you want but nothing will change.”

In addition to the campus events slated for this academic year, BTEP will host the National Organization of Forensic Social Work at Fordham in July 2014.

“We’ll be advocating for a new era of forensic practice that calls for cultural justice and ends disparities,” she said.

For more information about BTEP visit www.fordham.edu/btep.