Social Welfare Newsletter | Spring 2012

IN THIS

ISSUE 3 4 7 8 10

Legislative Lobby Days

Alumnus named National Social Worker of the Year

by NASW

10th Annual Social Services and Latino Community Conference

National Community Development Week

CSW Policy Brief Award Winners

SPRING 2012

6 Jorja Leap '78, MSW '80, PhD '88 named as Alumnus of the Year; Senator Sheila Kuehl, Community Service Awardee

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

Fernando Torres­Gil Department Chair and Professor of Social Welfare

As we approach the end of the 2011‐2012 academic year in the Depart‐ ment of Social Welfare, we take great pride in sharing the many accom‐ plishments of our faculty, students, and alumni. Very soon another cohort will graduate with their MSW and PhD degrees, and I am confident they will do great work in the years to come. I congratulate them all.

Since our last newsletter, we ‐‐ the faculty, staff and students ‐‐ have been very busy. This newsletter will highlight many of the activities that give prominence and prestige to our department, the Luskin School of Public Affairs and UCLA. I do want to point out several department activities that illuminate the added value of our being part of the Luskin School and this great university. The Social Welfare Speakers series has been a great suc‐ cess and is widely acknowledged to one of the best all‐around set of in‐ spiring and accomplished speaker series on campus. We hope to emulate this high standard in the coming year. The micro curriculum continues to benefit from the upgrading begun by our former Chair, Professor Rob Schil‐ ling. This year we began to identify ways to enhance the macro aspects of our curriculum and training. Thanks to the initiative of one of our stellar 2nd year macro students, we will hold a Master's level class in Leadership with two featured guests: Dr. Marv Southard, Director of the County of Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and Phillip Browning, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Several 5‐week mini‐courses were inaugurated this year: Public Health Perspectives in Social Work taught by Professor Shilling; Using So‐ cial Media in Advocacy taught by Lecturer, Morgan Brown; and Financial Management for Social Service Agencies taught by Lecturer and Field In‐ structor, Corina Caso. We plan to continue enhancements of the macro program in the next year while taking advantage of Luskin School Initia‐ tives on leadership development. We commend the Field Faculty and Field Instructors in our field education program and appreciate that several are alums giving back to a new generation of students. This year we have a tal‐ ented new professor joining our faculty and a highly experienced and ac‐ complished professor serving in a new role in the department: Ian Hollo‐ way, already recognized for his intervention research on HIV/AIDS, will be our newest Assistant Professor and Dr. Rosina Becerra has been appointed as our new Director of the Field Education program.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year as Chair of the Department of So‐ cial Welfare, and I am proud to represent our department in venues such as NADD and CALSWEC and in overseeing our all‐important training grants: IUC and CALSWEC. I especially enjoyed speaking at the annual Social Work Lobby Days in Sacramento, and I was most proud of the presence and lead‐ ership at that event of our UCLA students. I look forward to the upcoming commencement and to using this summer to plan for an exciting and pro‐ ductive next academic year.

2012 Legislative Lobby Days

Department Chair and Professor of Social Welfare, Fernando Torres-Gil and current UCLA Social Welfare students

JENNIFER M. VALLEJO MSW ’12

Fifty‐eight UCLA MSW students at‐ tended NASW’s Legislative Lobby Days this year. All of the planning, fundraising, and preparing were finally coming to an end. The stu‐ dents’ nerves and excitement inten‐ sified at the beginning of spring quarter. We knew this was going to be an exciting and memorable year for our UCLA MSW’s. Our field fac‐ ulty, Mary Kay Oliveri, would be acting as NASW California Chapter

President for one last year. Our department Chair, Fernando Tor‐ res‐Gil, would be delivering the keynote address. This was a big year for us as representatives of UCLA, and we could not wait to see what happened.

The time had come for the stu‐ dents to represent their clients in a big arena. Everything they learned about advocacy was finally going

Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium's (GSWEC) Poster Presentation and End-of-the-Year Celebration Left to right: Field Director Rosina Becerra, Denice Frieden MSW ’12, Adelaida Cervantes MSW ’12, Kim Spencer-Suarez MSW ’12, Brittany Rudinica MSW ’12, Megan Ebor MSW ’12, Field Faculty member Gerry Lavina, MSW ’88

to be tested and put into practice.

They were going to lobby and re‐ mind legislators that their decisions directly affect our clients. Students brought a little piece of their com‐ munity, agency, and clinic to Sacra‐ mento. Micro and Macro students worked together to carefully craft their presentations and talking points. They became a voice, and, with the rest of the MSW commu‐ nity, we became a powerful pres‐ ence. >> CONT. PAGE FIVE

Marshall Wong, MSW ’86 has been selected as the National Social Worker of the Year by NASW what keeps me grounded and focused are the foundation that my “ But family built for me and the strength of those who have gone before us.

What keeps me nourished are the deep bonds that have been forged with my dear friends at API Equality-LA and other people I'm proud to call my brothers and sisters. And what keeps me hopeful about the future are the courageous young people I have met like Carlos [Amador].

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Marshall was also awarded this honor originally by Region H last year, and went on to become the California Chapter Social Worker of the Year this fall. Marshall works with the LA Commission on Human Rights and with many other groups in the community advocating for social justice and equality. In his remarks last spring, as he spoke about the struggle for access he has been part of with the API community, the GLBT community, and, most recently with young immigrant col‐ lege students and others around the Dream Act, he concluded with:

But what keeps me grounded and focused are the foundation that my family built for me and the strength of those who have gone before us. What keeps me nourished are the deep bonds that have been forged with my dear friends at API Equality­LA and other people I'm proud to call my brothers and sisters. And what keeps me hopeful about the future are the courageous young people I have met like Carlos [Amador].

Two Social Welfare Students Awarded the Social Justice Student Fellowship Megan Ebor, MSW ’12 “EVEN ME: a documentary addressing Aging, sexuality, & HIV”

Greg Flaxman, MSW/MPH ’13 Magnet Schools in the City of Los Angeles: Making Good on their Promise

About the Social Justice Initiative: The Social Justice Initiative advances the argument that a social justice perspective – a lens on the systemic, insti‐ tutional and structural conditions that constrain individual and community development – is a necessary and un‐ derdeveloped analytical tool in public affairs education. Questions of equity and justice ought to be treated as a core element of public affairs pedagogy. Not only does democratic theory require it, but the changing demo‐ graphic patterns across the globe make it imperative that new cadres of public managers are properly trained and equipped to deal with the realities of program design and management, service delivery, and policy implementa‐ tion in a diverse, globalized workforce. Social justice includes issues of economic, social, racial or ethnic inequi‐ ties or disparities, or barriers to equal opportunities or outcomes affecting disadvantaged groups.

students and professionals about important “ Educating legislation affecting clients and the social work profession. >> CONT. FROM PAGE THREE

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UCLA was also fortunate to have four first year MSW students present on the mental well‐being of undocu‐ mented youth. Our very own Betsy Estudillo Sevlian MSW ’13 shared her story in front of 1100 social work stu‐ dents. Betsy used her story to inspire a room full of leaders. It became clear that State Senator Kevin De Leon’s bill CA SB 1064 needed our support to keep children safe from the traumatizing effects of losing their families due to deportation. Many immigrant families are not given the opportunity for family reunification because of detention or deportation. However, several counties, including Los Angeles and Fresno, have policies that make relative placement feasible.

Our students also work directly with families who have suffered job loss. The unemployment rate is currently at 11%; thus it was critical for our students to advocate for CalWORKs to remain intact. The Governor proposes to restructure the CalWORKs program by limiting family grants and services up to 24 months in a lifetime. Cal‐ WORKs has proven to be a successful model for increasing work and self‐sufficiency. It has been a safety net for many of our clients who have become unemployed in recent years. We were aware that we needed to voice our concerns about the Governor’s proposal to reduce CalWORKs.

Lastly, the entire MSW community rallied in support of AB 154 Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity. Some of our students shared their struggles with mental illness and the inability to obtain coverage for their treatment.

Many clients have fallen into the counties’ indigent health care pool due to inadequate access. Students asked legislators to end the discrimination against Californians with substance abuse issues and mental disorders.

These issues are extremely important to the families we serve and therefore it was an honor to be an NASW rep‐ resentative on April 16, 2012. In the end, lobbying in teams was rewarding, exciting, and unifying.

As we rode the bus back to Los Angeles, we couldn’t help but smile. We, as students, had finally gotten to experi‐ ence the mechanisms that begin the path to social change. We put our books down and made a difference by uniting as one voice. We felt empowered and inspired. For many of us, this isn’t going to be the last trip to Sac‐ ramento.

Summer University 2012, End of Life and Social Work The Summer University in social work aims at promoting exchanges between participants from various backgrounds, at facilitating comparative analysis and at stimulating new theoretical and professional approaches in social work. It of‐ fers a privileged place for discussions and debates to profes‐ sors and students coming from many different countries (among others: Burkina Faso, Canada, England, France, Ger‐ many, India, Switzerland and United States). http://www.susw.ch/

Courtney Bleecher MSW ’ 13

Greg Flaxman MSW/MPH ’13

Eun Ha Suh MSW ’13

Diana Uribe MSW ’13

2012 Joseph A. Nunn Alumnus of the Year Award Reception On the evening of April 26th, UCLA Luskin Social Welfare held its 2012 Joseph A. Nunn Alumnus of the Year Award Reception. Over 90 Social Welfare alumni joined faculty, staff, student volunteers, and esteemed guests in honoring Dr. Jorja Leap, recipient of this year’s Joseph A. Nunn Alumnus of the Year Award, and the Honor‐ able Sheila Kuehl, recipient of the Social Welfare Community Service Award. Carlos Amador, MSW ’11 served as program host with grace and humor. It was a festive evening as old friends, colleagues, and teachers reminisced, told stories of personal and professional lives, networked, and shared plans for the future. Guests mingled and networked while enjoying live music, cocktails, a bountiful buffet catered by Loteria Grill and Sprinkles cup‐ cakes for dessert. For a full recap, visit http://bit.ly/KgmEeT 1. Lauren Maher MSW ’08, Yadira Flores MSW ’08, Stephen Cheung ’00, MSW ’07, Elena Angulo MSW ’08, Nicole Vazquez MSW/MPP ’09; 2. Joseph Nunn ’65, MSW ’70, PhD ’90, Rosina Becerra, Alex Norman DSW ’74; 3. Michelle Talley MSW ’98, Linh Huynh MSW ’04; 4. Judy Verduzco, Cherie Hudson MSW ’07, Rosemary Flores MSW ’07; 5. Mary Kay Oliveri, Carlos Amador MSW ’11, Alfreda Iglehart; 6. Jorja Leap ’78, MSW '80, PhD '88, Joseph Nunn ’65, MSW ’70, PhD ’90; 7. Sepideh Saremi MSW ’12 (right); 8. Nancy Greenstein MSW ’73, EdD ’02, Sheila Kuehl ’62, Barrie Levy; 9. Elaine Zavala Ruiz MSW ’04, Linda Garcia’00, MSW ’04, Theresa Cronin MSW ’04, Gerry Lavina MSW ’88, Fabiola Gomez MSW ’04, Jennifer Green MSW ’04; 10. Fernando Torres-Gil, Gerry Lavina MSW ’88

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10th Social Services in the Latina/o Community Conference GLORIA HOLGUIN MSW ’12

On April 21st, the UCLA Social Wel‐ fare Latina/o Caucus hosted its 10th Social Services in the Latina/ o Community Conference. The event was a huge success with ap‐ proximately 130 students and practitioners from the community in attendance. Alumni from the UCLA MSW program in 2001 were recognized for their efforts in be‐ ginning this annual event. These alumni included Tracy Colunga MSW ’01, Jennifer Calmelat MSW

’01, Derrick Perez‐Johnson MSW ’01 and Joey Nunez‐Estrada, Jr. PhD. Keynote Speaker, Dr. Fer‐ nando Torres‐Gil delivered in‐ credible insight and knowledge on the nexus of aging and diversity, Hispanics in social work and pol‐ icy, challenges facing L.A., CA and the U.S. and the opportunity for leadership in a post‐20th century world where no one racial or eth‐ nic group can claim dominance. Dr. Torres‐Gil drew on his personal

Gerry Lavina, MSW ’88 and students at the annual Social Services in the Latina/o Community Conference

The Aztec dance group, Grupo Folklorico de West LA, entertains during the lunch break

professional experiences to sug‐ gest that Latina/o’s can present a new model of leadership to more effectively address issues of immi‐ gration reform, economic dispari‐ ties and creating a more civil soci‐ ety. The Caucus looks forward to fulfilling our education mission by continuing this conference that brings very practical tools and knowledge about the Latina/o community.

Social Welfare students continuing the model of leadership a decade later

2011-2012 Social Welfare Speaker Series January 19, 2012 Steve Lopez What’s On My Mind

January 24, 2012 Sheila Kuehl I’ve Tasted Freedom and I’m Not Going Back: A Short History of the American LGBT Movement

February 23, 2012 Jonathan Metzl Race, Politics, and the History of Stigma Against Schizo­ phrenia

May 10, 2012 Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Co­ lorblindness

June 5, 2012 Fernando Torres‐Gil Brown vs. Gray: The Coming Conflict of Age, Race and Politics (or Why Tea Party Retirees Should Support the Dream Act)

For a complete listing of this speaker series, visit http://bit.ly/LtwOgu

Ian Holloway hired as Assistant Professor of Social Welfare, Fall 2012 Ian Holloway has been hired as an assistant professor of social welfare for the fall of 2012. Mr. Holloway holds a B.A. degree from the University of Cali‐ fornia, San Diego, M.S.W and M.P.H. degrees from Columbia University. As a doctoral student at University of Southern California, he received an NIH Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has received an award from the American Public Health As‐ sociation for “Best Student Paper” in the Social Work division. Although just finishing his doctoral program, Mr. Holloway has already published ten arti‐ cles in peer‐reviewed journals, three as first author.

His research seeks to understand the influence of social networks and social contexts on the substance use and sexual risk behavior of young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in Los Angeles. With respect to his substantive research interests and his methods of inquiry, Ian Holloway brings obvious assets to our department.

He also has experience in teaching social work courses and will be teaching several areas of the curriculum. UCLA is fortunate to have landed this promising young scholar to our faculty.

Marking National Community Development Week

Center: Alfreda Iglehart and Richard Alarcón

The Community & Family Services Commission, along with the Community Development Depart‐ ment, the Los Angeles Housing Department and the City Council, celebrated National Community Devel‐ opment Week on Friday, April 13, 2012, with a proc‐ lamation by Councilman Richard Alarcón.

Marc Little, Commission President and Barbara Yaroslavsky, Commission Vice President, along with Commissioners Alfreda Iglehart, Michael Manigault, For the full summary, visit: http://bit.ly/JvoKp7

Department Inaugurates Master Class in Leadership Program

Social Welfare students taking the next step as leaders

LUIS QUINTANILLA MSW ’12

On May 25, 2012, eighteen first‐and‐second‐year Master of Social Welfare students attended the first Master Class in Leadership program at the Los An‐ geles Athletic Club in downtown Los Angeles. The guest lecturers included Marvin J. Southard, DSW '83, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and Phillip L. Browning, MSW, MBA, director of the Los Angeles County For the full summary, visit http://bit.ly/LWxlVx

Fall SW 241 Course, Policy Practice

Homelessness in Sun Valley

Left to right: Luis Quintanilla MSW ’12, Emily Williams, Alma Campos-Garcia MSW ’12, and Tanya Trumbull MSW ’12 Left to right: Amanda Smick MSW ’12, Cassandra Peterson MSW ’12, Assembly Member Holly J. Mitchell, JulieAnn Steinberger MSW ’12, Barbara Ferri MSW ’12

This is a course taught by Professor Alfreda Iglehart for second‐year MSW students who are interested in fur‐ ther developing their policy skills. The goal of the class is to provide students with actual projects that are of use to elected officials. With the planning and schedul‐ ing assistance of VC Powe, Luskin's executive director of External Programs, and Francesca Vega, assistant di‐ rector, UCLA State and Government Relations Office, Assembly Member Holly J. Mitchell visited the class to discuss policy areas that could serve as projects for the class. One of the issues discussed was the need for leg‐ islation that would assist youth in having their juvenile records expunged. Four students from the class, Emily Blake, Barbara Ferri, Sigall Rave, and Amanda Smick, spent the fall quarter on this topic. Another issue raised

by Assembly Member Mitchell was the need to more effectively address challenges faced by women veter‐ ans. Five students, Anne Soon Choi, Andrea De La Riva Moreno, Cassandra Peterson, Emmanuel Santana, and JulieAnn Steinberger, devoted the course to this topic. All groups engaged in a variety of activities that included : a) reviewing the literature as well as rele‐ vant state and federal policies; b) interviewing relevant stakeholders and key informants; and c) compiling re‐ ports that summarized findings and provided policy recommendations. On March 23, 2012, in the UCLA Fac‐ ulty Center, members of the groups shared their find‐ ings with Assembly Member Mitchell, members of her staff (Sydney Kamlager and John Kernick), Francesca Vega, VC Powe, and Alfreda Iglehart. The students are pictured with Assembly Member Mitchell in the at‐ tached photo with copies of their reports.

VC Powe contacted Luskin Public Policy Alumna Emily Williams, deputy chief of staff for Los Angeles City Councilmember Tony Cardenas, to determine if this office had an issue that could be a policy project for students in the class. Homelessness in Sun Val‐ ley emerged as the policy topic for a class group (Alma Campos‐Garcia, Stephanie Enano, April Li‐ mayo, Luis Quintanilla, and Tanya Trumbull) to pur‐ sue. Using the same methods as the other two groups, this group was able to compile a report with recommendations for this office. On April 10, 2012, Alma Campos‐Garcia, Luis Quintanilla, and Tanya Trumbull presented their findings to the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council. Emily Williams and Olga Ayala from the Councilmember's office and Profes‐ sor Iglehart were also present at this meeting.

California Chapter 2012 Elected Representatives Mary Kay Oliveri UCLA Field Education Faculty Delegate Assembly at Large—South 2

Sharon Chun Wetterau UCLA Field Education Faculty Committee on Nominations & Leadership Identifica­ tion Reg. G, H, & I

2012 CSW Policy Brief Award Winners Top to bottom: Patty Chung, Ashley DeBaun, Lauren Permenter, Marisol Sanchez

The Center for the Study of Women is pleased to announce our 2012 Policy Brief Award Winners! The CSW Policy Brief Award was developed in 2010 to recognize outstanding applied feminist scholarship by graduate students. In ad‐ dition to a monetary award, the winners of the Policy Brief Award are given the opportunity to work with CSW research‐ ers and staff to revise their policy briefs for publication in the CSW Policy Brief Special Issue which is added to the CSW collection in the California Digital Li‐ brary, as well as distributed to key com‐ munity partners and public officials throughout California. The 2011 Policy Brief Special Issue, which focused on food insecurity and local, national and global solutions to this problem, was circulated to over 200 highly influential community partners and public officials.

CSW received a great deal of positive feedback from these community part‐ ners and public officials, and we are ex‐ cited to repeat last year’s success with our 2012 award winners.

The theme of our 2012 Policy Brief Spe‐ cial Issue is "LGBT Youth at Risk: Educa‐ tion, Health, and Safety." This year’s win‐ ners have done an exemplary job of ad‐ dressing this issue within their policy briefs, tackling problems such as bully‐ ing and harassment of LGBT youth in schools, the disproportionate number of homeless LGBT youth, and suicide rates in the LGBT youth community. The 2012 Policy Brief Award winners have taken great care in addressing these issues and proposing innovative solutions to them.

For more on the 2012 Policy Brief Award Winners, visit http://bit.ly/K0bIRC

Jumped In: A UCLA Scholar’s 10-Year Journey into L.A.’s Gang Culture Jorja Leap '78, MSW '80, PhD '88 was recently featured in the UCLA Magazine. For her, scholarship isn't in a library, on a computer screen or at some exotic faraway dig. Her focus is the street—more precisely, the mean and very dangerous streets where Los An‐ geles gangs hold sway. For the full story, visit http://bit.ly/LSBPLL

The UCLA Department of Social Welfare also sponsored the publication launch of Jorja's new book, Jumped In. She was joined by friends and colleagues all celebrating their love and admiration for Jorja and her candid and insightful examination of her personal growth process. >> PHOTOS ON PAGE ELEVEN

Alumni News Maria (Carpiac) Claver, MSW ’01, PhD ’06 was awarded the James & Betty Birren Emerging Lead‐ ership Award from the California Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics at their April 2011 annual meeting.

JoAnn Damron­Rodriguez, MSW ’88, PhD ’90 has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Cali‐ fornia Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics. http://bit.ly/KE6Y60

Mark Henrickson, PhD ’96 has been on the social work staff of Massey University’s Auckland (New Zealand) campus since 2003. Mark led Lavender Islands: Portrait of the Whole Family, the first na‐ tional strengths based study of sexual minorities in New Zealand, and which resulted in a number of international publications. This year Mark won Massey’s Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Ex‐ cellence, and has been promoted to associate pro‐ fessor. For more on Mark: http://bit.ly/Kfd3np

Megan R. Holmes, MSW ’08 will complete her Ph.D. in May and has accepted a tenure‐track faculty posi‐ tion at Case Western Reserve University.

Nancy Jo (Williams) Kepple, MSW ’07 was named as a student editor for a two year term on the board of Child Maltreatment Journal.

Alice (Laughlin) Kitchen, MSW ’72 is among ten “Champions of Change” honored recently by the White House. http://bit.ly/Kl5j77

“Jumped In” Book Launch March 15, 2012

Left to right: Marcia Berris, Michael Cummings, Jorja Leap, Andre Christian

Dean Frank Gilliam, Jorja Leap, Father Greg Boyle

Have you made a recent career move or have any news?

We would love to hear from you!

Jorja Leap adding a personalized touch to the evening

Faculty News Laura Abrams, PhD has a book scheduled for a September release entitled: Compassionate Confine­ ment: A Year in the Life of Unit C. This singular achievement addresses a crucial and relatively un‐ explored area of juvenile correction institutions.

JoAnn Damron­Rodriguez, MSW ’88, PhD ’90 will be retiring this year and has taught at UCLA since 1992. She was awarded with the UCLA Distin‐ guished Teaching Award in 2006.

Bridget Freisthler, PhD received a John Randolph and Doris Haynes Faculty Fellowship for a study on “How Social Relationships Respond to Changing In‐ frastructure.” This study addresses a unique area for Social Welfare ‐‐ How the Expo Line through the Cheviot Hills and Rancho Park areas affect social supports and social relationships ‐‐ but the award also highlights the growing interconnection with issues relevant to Urban Planning and Public Policy.

In addition, Dr. Freisthler and two current doctoral students, Nancy Jo Kepple, MSW ’07 and Megan R. Holmes, MSW ’08 published an article entitled “The Geography of Drug Market Activities and Child Mal‐ treatment” in the May issue of Child Maltreatment.

Todd Franke, PhD, and Jorja Leap, PhD, were awarded a California Community Foundation grant of $500,000 to evaluate the impact of the Bloom project, a program that redirects Black male youths involved with the LA County probation system to‐ ward a path that produces improved education and employment opportunities. http://bit.ly/JpjoRU

Zeke Hasenfeld, PhD examines the interplay of so‐ cial goals and business orientations in social welfare organizations in his book entitled: Social Enter­ prises: An Organizational Perspective. This book will add to the growing importance of adapting to busi‐ ness and market forces while maintaining a social and non‐profit mission.

Alfreda Iglehart, PhD along with UCLA senior Ash‐ ley Williams, presented at the National Association of Black Social Workers Annual Conference, April 4 ‐ 6, 2012, in Atlanta. Their topic was, "From Foster Care to College: The Role of the Social Worker." Ash‐ ley, a former foster youth, has maintained a focus on the ways in which the public child welfare system can further support the transition from foster care to college for youth who age out of foster care. Pro‐ fessor Iglehart serves as her research mentor.

Aurora Jackson, PhD has been awarded a Spring 2011 Transdisiplinary Seed Grant from the Aca‐ demic Senate Council on Research and the Cabinet of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.

This grant award will enable Professor Jackson to examine an intervention approach that can improve relationships between single black mothers and nonresident fathers. The grant will expand her on‐ going research in this important social policy area.

In addition to serving as Principal Investigator, her project involves a multi‐disciplinary team of col‐ leagues from the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Fernando Torres­Gil, PhD delivered a plenary speech (The Nexus of Aging and Diversity) at the annual meeting of the American Society on Aging (March), was a keynote speaker at the National Press Club (April) in Washington, D.C. on "Latino Retirement Summit," and most recently, chaired a symposium on "Aging‐in‐Place" at the National Building Museum (April) in Washington, D.C. This latter event included the release of a book in which his chapter on "Vulnerable Populations" is fea‐ tured. Chair Torres‐Gil was also featured in a recent PBS special on caregiving and long‐term care. Also released this year was his co‐edited book entitled Aging, Health, and Longevity in the Mexican­Origin Population.

Student Internship News STEPHANIE ENANO MSW ’12

Parents in Partnership Program Evaluation: Over the course of the academic year I have been conduct‐ ing a program evaluation for the Los Angeles County of Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), as part of my macro field education experience and year‐long independent research project. The program I am evaluating is Parents in Partnership (PIP) at the DCFS South County regional office. PIP consists of birth parents that have previously had open DCFS cases and successfully reunified with their children, providing services and mentorship to birth parents with currently open cases. My evaluation is focused on determining whether or not attendance to the PIP parent orientation led to the desired pro‐ gram outcome of increasing birth parent reunification with their chil‐ dren, as well as whether it de‐ creased the children’s length of stay in foster care. The PIP participants were more likely to reunify with their children than the comparison group. In addition, parents who at‐ tended a PIP parent orientation within the first 90 days of having their children removed, reunified more quickly than parents who at‐ tended a PIP parent orientation after their children had been in foster care for over a year. I am planning to present these positive research findings during a DCFS staff meeting with the Casey Family Programs, as well as submit my findings to an aca‐ demic journal for publishing consid‐ eration.

ELISA GERACI MSW ’12

In the course of my second year MSW student internship at the UCLA Medical Center, I've worked with a number of patients who

have required long hospitaliza‐ tions. Although the medical needs of these patients were well ad‐ dressed, their personal care needs, such as haircuts and haircare, nail‐ care, and non‐medical skin care, were not. Recognizing the need for intervention on behalf of my young female patient with the longest stay, and after obtaining the necessary consent from my supervi‐ sor, the patient, and the medical team, I was able to contact local beauty schools to reach out for help.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Several students came to UCLA and pampered our patient on the day before her husband came into town to visit. From this wonder‐ ful experience, I decided to work on making the program a permanent one. With coordination and plan‐ ning, we have been able to set up referral procedures for the hospital and the school. The final touches are being made on the program, and it will be fully operational in late spring. Now patients with long hos‐ pitalizations who are interested in self‐care services will be able to ob‐ tain them, all provided on a volun‐ teer basis, with the facilitation of their social workers. The pro‐ gram aims to improve the emotional wellbeing of patients, and with the help of a community working to‐ gether, I have great confidence this goal will be attained.

NIKKI HOWELL MSW ’12

I recently ended my internship at Community Coalition (CoCo) in South LA. I am continuing to be in‐ volved by working on a proposal for the organization to use to inform their opinion and determine a plan of action to address the numerous vacant lots in South LA. The lots are a result of the Civil Unrest and the disinvestment in the area. My

proposal will include research that includes a literature review, history of the area, and suggestions on how CoCo can take back the land and use community organizing to rebuild South LA. In addition, I will be sur‐ veying a sample of South LA to iden‐ tify and map the locations of the lots using GIS mapping. Since the city does not have any materials avail‐ able to do so, my mapping will help CoCo to get a clear visual of the is‐ sue. The proposal will be presented to CoCo in a 20‐page report with maps and a large poster to highlight the problem and the solution. This type of visual presentation has been a useful tool in educating the popu‐ lation CoCo serves. As previously done in the past, CoCo will be able to use my report to move forward with their mission.

LUIS QUINTANILLA MSW ’12

My internship placement for this year was with the Director (and Bruin) of the County of Los Angeles Department of Mental Health (DMH), Marvin J. Southard. I was fortunate to participate in many ex‐ citing and innovative projects the DMH is implementing. One of these projects was working with the Eth‐ nic Services Manager to evaluate the training component of three con‐ tract agencies for the Promotores de Salud pilot program. The informa‐ tion from this project will help guide future curriculum choices and pro‐ gram needs to provide appropriate mental health services for the Latin@ community. Additionally, I worked in collaboration with DMH personnel and California Institute for Mental Health experts on the Mental Health and Spirituality Initia‐ tive to develop a curriculum for more than 5,000 mental health clini‐ cians that incorporates spirituality and religion in the assessment and treatment planning of consumers.

CONTACT US

Social Welfare at UCLA 337 Charles E. Young Drive East Los Angeles, CA 90095 (310) 825‐2892 http://publicaffairs.ucla.edu/social‐welfare

EDITOR Paul Phootrakul