From the Director
Dear MFP Fellows and Alumni:
Happy New Year!
Can you believe that it’s 2022 and we are still here, despite it all? I hope that you have spent at least a few minutes to be grateful for life and health!
We start this new year with some wonderful information for you. We have entered our MFP recruitment season! This year, MFP staff are intensifying our efforts to connect with alumni, current fellows, and potential MFP applicants. Read on to find dates and times for specific events, including an application launch party, recruitment week, and virtual application support sessions. These initiatives are all to ensure we include and support the best and brightest BIPOC social work scholars committed to uplifting communities of color.
Based on input from our volunteer Advisory Committee members, we have updated our application requirements for the 2022–2023 fellowship year. These updates will be provided during the information sessions and will also be available on the CSWE MFP website. Provided that we have continued funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), we plan to appoint approximately 20 new and renewing doctoral fellows and approximately 40 master’s fellows for the 2022–2023 fellowship year. The MFP doctoral fellowship application period will open January 24, and we expect the master’s fellowship application cycle to open in April.
In addition to funding for CSWE’s MFP program, SAMHSA is also supporting our Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program (IMFP), which is managed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Alongside APA and several other professional organizations, CSWE supports the IMFP as an active partner. IMFP provides funding and professional development opportunities for a cohort of new and renewing master’s and doctoral students in social work, psychology, nursing, marriage and family therapy, and counseling and addictions counseling (master’s only) in preparation for interdisciplinary professional practice. The IMFP application period closes on January 15, 2022, so please spread the word and apply.
Finally, if you are an alum of MFP or IMFP and you are wondering how you can give back, we have an answer for you! We would love for you to help us with recruiting others by TELLING YOUR STORY! That’s right. We want to feature YOU in our 2022 recruitment campaign! If you are interested in learning more about how you can share your success, please email mfp@cswe.org.
Finally, for those who are in the job market, read on for details about professional development and job opportunities. Our hope is that we have prepared you to take the world by storm and you will take full advantage of the available opportunities.
Well, that’s it for now. We wish you well and look forward to hearing from you soon. Be safe and be well.
In Fellowship,
Kesslyn Brade Stennis, PhD
Director, Minority Fellowship Program
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'Tis the Season to Apply to the MFP
The MFP staff cordially invites MFP alumni to an application launch party scheduled for 3:00 PM (ET) January 28, 2022, to celebrate the beginning of our 2022–2023 doctoral fellowship application cycle! Please register for the event and be sure to invite MFP alumni in your networks. The MFP staff team looks forward to seeing you then!
The application period for the 2022–2023 doctoral fellowship opens January 24 and closes on March 16. Sign up here to receive a notification when the doctoral fellowship application period opens. The notification will include up-to-date news on informational and application support sessions, set to be held on Zoom for potential applicants and university faculty and staff members who engage with them. Please register for one or more of these sessions and help us get the word out by sharing with potential applicants!
CSWE-MFP Information Sessions
Application Support Sessions
January is National Mentoring Month, and this year the MFP celebrated the annual campaign aimed at expanding quality mentoring opportunities for students by hosting “Mentoring Monday,” a speed mentoring event for current MFP master's fellows. A mentor-matching event tailored to the needs of doctoral fellows is also in the works.
Access to mentorship is a key benefit of MFP. Among doctoral fellows who transitioned from fellows to alumni in 2021, 100% shared that mentorship from the MFP director greatly benefited them. Two out of three 2020–2021 master’s fellows found the mentorship component of the MFP beneficial, too. MFP staff members and fellows alike are grateful for the time, knowledge, and expertise our dedicated mentors and advisory members share in support of students' personal, academic, and professional goals. We look forward to continuing to engage individuals within and beyond the MFP community in our growing mentorship–networking program.
APM On-Demand
All fellows registered for CSWE’s in-person Annual Program Meeting (APM), along with those who were unable to attend the in-person event, were invited to participate in CSWE’s APM On-Demand, where educators built on the critical conversations on racial, economic, and environmental justice that began at the in-person 2021 APM. Fellows participated in numerous sessions. Of note, current fellow Justin Harty, MSW, and recent alumna Mariama Diallo, LCSW, gave presentations at the in-person event titled “Developing Evidence-Based and Evidence-Supported Social Work Interventions With Diverse Populations” and “Intimate Partner Violence During COVID-19 and the Challenges to Access Relevant Services,” respectively, and their presentations were chosen as two of the 40 to be featured as On-Demand offerings.
SSWR
This month we look forward to gathering doctoral fellows again for the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Conference. MFP will host a special interest group for current fellows and alumni during the event. The special interest group will be held virtually Friday, January 14, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM (ET). Please register here.
MFP is pleased to share that half of all current doctoral fellows were selected to present at SSWR. Presentation titles include the following:
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Mental Health Service Adherence Among Asian American Adolescents: Asian Clinician Perspectives of Facilitators and Barriers (Jessica C. Kim)
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More Than Just a Parent: Examining Parental Subgroup Differences for Foster Care Alumni (Justin Harty)
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Parenting and Caregiving in the Early Years—Who Are We Leaving Out? (Justin Harty)
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Is Antiracism in Social Work Doomed to Fail? A Roundtable on Interrogating Antiracism Through Critical Colonialism (Autumn Asher, Justin Harty)
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Strengths-Focused Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention: Current Approaches and Future Directions (Autumn Asher)
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Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth Among Health Care and Social Service Providers in Disasters (Wan-Jung Wendy Hsieh)
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Use of Mental Health Counseling Services Among Clinic-Attending Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Malaysia (Mohamed Adam Brooks)
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Associations of Engagement in Preventive Sexual Health Services Use, and PrEP Interest Among Young Black Women (Laurenia Mangum)
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Applying a Healing Centered Framework With Middle-Class Black Women Navigating COVID-19 (Gabrielle Aquino-Adriatico)
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Suicidal Ideation Among Generation Z Rap Artists: A Content Analysis of Lyrics With Clinical Recommendations (Cortney VanHook)
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Social Support and Integration Among Central American Immigrants (Andrea Guadalupe Perez Portillo)
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Public Perceptions and Responses on the COVID-19 and COVID Vaccination in Rural Alabama (Cho Rong Won)
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Barriers to Pain Management Among Rural Older Adults and Strategies to Address Them: Service Provider Perspective (Cho Rong Won)
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Associations Among Demographic Characteristics and Means of Human Trafficking: A Global Examination (Cho Rong Won)
MFP Database
Have you changed jobs in the last few years? Changed your primary email address? The MFP relies on current contact information for our internal database, which we use to contact alumni and help us prepare our reports for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Please use this link to share your updated contact information. Additionally, you are encouraged to reach out to your MFP alumni connections and request that they share their updated information, too. Thank you in advance for supporting MFP staff efforts to enhance connectedness in the MFP community.
Resources
Job Opportunities
The School of Social Work at San José State University seeks qualified candidates for two full-time tenure-track positions in generalist and advanced generalist social work practice with diverse populations.
These positions are open until filled. Review of applications will start January 24, 2022, for those who have submitted all the required documents. The anticipated start date is August 2022.
Professional Development
The T37 LEAD Global Training Program application is open for the 2022 summer cohort. The LEAD Global Training Program provides doctoral and postdoctoral trainees from underrepresented groups with the skills and hands-on experiences needed to lead multidisciplinary collaborative research teams focused on mental health disparities research in low-resource communities. Program options include a short-term summer training experience and a full-time 1- or 2-year postdoctoral position. The program is offered through the Washington University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and the International Center for Child Health and Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
The National Association of Social Workers is hosting a Virtual Career Fair on January 26 from 10:00 AM–4:00 PM (ET). Participants will have the opportunity to network with professionals and companies near and far and make connections that will be advantageous to searching for new employees or looking for an exciting opportunity in social work. Learn more and register here.
CSWE Diversity Center’s January Educator|Resource
Visit CSWE’s Center for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice to view the January edition of the Educator|Resource. The Educator|Resource of the Month offers creative pedagogical approaches to diversity and justice education. The resources featured are developed by experts in the field and map to the CSWE 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards competencies in diversity and social justice. Educators can use the materials for developing assignments or a variety of teaching activities.