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September 2019 Educator | Resource of the Month
The Center for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice(Opens in a new window) Educator|Resource is a monthly feature that highlights curricular resources and social work educators who address diversity and justice.
Leading the Transformation: Working With Latinx Communities
If projections are accurate, one in four Americans will be of Latinx descent by 2060. Latinxs are the largest minority ethnoracial group in the United States, and they are also the youngest. The future of America rests on their shoulders. Yet social workers recognize they are not prepared to work effectively with Latinx communities. This Educator|Resource invites the social work profession to think about innovative ways to increase the number of Latinx social workers and to implement new models that prepare social work professionals to work with Latinx communities.
Teaching Resources
About the Educator
(Opens in a new window)Dr. Rocío Calvo is associate professor and founding director of the Latinx Leadership Initiative(Opens in a new window) (LLI) at the Boston College School of Social Work. The LLI has been recognized as one of the 2019 Examples of Excelencia(Opens in a new window). Dr. Calvo is the recipient of the 2019 CSWE Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award(Opens in a new window). A leading scholar in the field of immigration and social welfare, Dr. Calvo’s research focuses on the mechanisms that immigrants use to navigate different systems of social protection in receiving countries. Dr. Calvo’s research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Educator Q&A(Opens in a new window)
Why should we care about increasing the number of Latinx social workers?
Let me start with a qualifier. The term Latinx, or Latino/a, or even Hispanic, is socially constructed. There is not a unique understanding of who is Latinx, as there is not a single Latinx community. There is evidence that Latinx clients, especially first-generation Latinxs with languages other than English, benefit from having Latinx social workers who are able to communicate with them in their native language. By benefit I mean that they experience better quality of care, which translates to longer adherence to treatment and better outcomes for the clients and for their communities. Read the full Q&A(Opens in a new window).
The views expressed in the Educator|Resource are those of the educator(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Council on Social Work Education.
Interested in contributing to the Educator | Resource of the Month? Please contact Dr. Yolanda Padilla, CSWE Diversity Center Director, at ypadilla@cswe.org.