The Boston College School of Social Work鈥檚 Latinx Leadership Initiative is partnering with Mass General Brigham to improve care for Latinx communities in Massachusetts.
In social work and behavioral health settings, a level of shared cultural and linguistic understanding is vital for promoting clients鈥� health and well-being. For the Boston area鈥檚 diverse and growing Latinx communities, however, it is not always easy to access culturally-fluent, bilingual therapists and social workers. To address this critical gap, the Latinx Leadership Initiative in the 集美麻豆School of Social Work has received a $600,000 Community Fellows Grant from the Mass General Brigham health care system to develop the workforce of bilingual, bicultural social workers in Massachusetts. The grant is part of a new $50 million investment by Mass General Brigham鈥擬assachusetts鈥檚 largest health care provider鈥攖o improve mental health care capacity, workforce development, chronic disease management, nutrition security, and equity through partnerships with 20 community-based agencies and institutions of higher education in Massachusetts.
Roc铆o Calvo
Mass General Brigham approached the Latinx Leadership Initiative because of the work the BCSSW program was already doing to recruit and train social workers to work with Latinx communities, said Associate Professor Roc铆o Calvo, the LLI鈥檚 founding director and the new grant鈥檚 principal investigator.
鈥淭here is an acute need for behavioral health providers in Latinx communities, especially after those communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID,鈥� Calvo said. 鈥淢ass General Brigham鈥檚 goal is to address that need, and we have a history of training professionals to do that work successfully.鈥�
Since Calvo founded the LLI in 2013, some 185 master of social work students have graduated from the program, completing all eight of Boston College鈥檚 core social work courses entirely in Spanish. Under the stewardship of Calvo and Assistant Director Ximena Soto, the initiative has been recognized as a Model Program for Diversity Education by the Council on Social Work Education鈥檚 , and it received a top national award from Excelencia in Education in 2020. The Mass General Brigham grant will allow the LLI to provide living stipends and professional development to fellows within BCSSW鈥檚 M.S.W. program as they complete their behavioral rotations in community health settings that predominantly serve Latinx communities.
“鈥淭here is an acute need for behavioral health providers in Latinx communities, especially after those communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID. Mass General Brigham鈥檚 goal is to address that need, and we have a history of training professionals to do that work successfully.鈥�”