This year's grantees and projects are as follows:
Survivor Voice: Enhancing Global Social Work Education through Survivor-Led Initiatives
Project Lead: Jerri Middleton, PhD
California Baptist University
Survivor Voice is an innovative project initiated by California Baptist University's Division of Social Work in partnership with the Eleison Foundation, a non-government organization serving survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence in Cebu, Philippines. This initiative seeks to address a critical gap in social work education by introducing U.S. students to global issues of human trafficking and gender-based violence (GBV) through participatory research methods that emphasize survivor voices and empowerment.
International Conversation Series
Project Lead: Sarah Collins, PhD
Concordia University Wisconsin
This project intends to bridge the gap that exists among curriculum expectations, instructor experience, and individual student resources available to engage in international study. It expands on the International Conversation Series (ICS) which has built an international learning community of faculty, staff and practitioners; facilitates a global discussion about justice issues and the field of social work; fosters international and interprofessional collaborations between faculty, students and practitioners; and challenges participants to critically reflect on issues of cultural humility and responsiveness through global engagement.
Fostering Global Innovators in Social Work: A COIL Approach to Social Entrepreneurship
Project Lead: Limei Chen, PhD
George Mason University
In a world where social and economic disparities are increasingly entrenched, the field of social work is called upon to embrace innovation and resilience to effect meaningful change. Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, this project proposes a pioneering initiative to integrate Social Entrepreneurship (SE) into social work education through a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program.
Global Perspectives on Equitable Aging and Social Justice
Project Lead: Angela Perone, PhD
University of California, Berkeley
This project seeks to introduce social work students to global perspectives on equitable aging in foundational social work classes by creating a publicly accessible educational toolkit, database, and website with resources and international examples of equitable aging.
Dialogic Engagement in Global Social Work: A Resource Guide
Project Lead: Kelly Melekis, PhD
University of Vermont
The proposed project seeks to advance international social work education for US students by bringing global social work scholars, practitioners, and students together through hybrid (online and in classroom) panels for authentic dialogic engagement based on the strengths, interests, and social work content foci of participants. We plan to develop and disseminate Dialogic Engagement in Global Social Work: A Resource Guide consisting of a series of videos of the initial dialogic interactions, corresponding guides for developing dialogic lessons and plans based on social work core curricula, and educational resources dedicated to enhancing student, faculty, and practitioner knowledge about local, national, and international issues. While social work issues shift and change, all materials will underscore process and methods to ensure sustainability and replicability.