The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has recently chosen Barry University doctoral student Tania Paredes, LCSW, for the organization’s Minority Fellowship Program doctoral grant for 2015-16.
Supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the prestigious fellowship aims to mentor and develop the future leaders in social work education. The purpose of the program is to reduce health disparities and improve health care outcomes of racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the number of culturally competent behavioral health professionals with doctoral degrees available to underserved populations in the public and private nonprofit sectors.
CSWE Minority Fellowship grant recipients are chosen yearly. Award winners must have a master’s degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited program and be starting full-time study leading to a doctoral degree in social work or be currently enrolled as a full-time student in a doctoral social work program. Recipients must demonstrate potential for assuming leadership roles, potential for success in doctoral studies, and a commitment to a career providing mental health and substance abuse services to ethnic, racial, social, and cultural minority individuals and communities.
The award will provide Paredes with a monthly stipend for a 1-year period to defray living expenses and tuition support. The duration of the grant is 3 years and contingent on funding and whether the fellow maintains satisfactory progress toward degree objectives
Paredes is the first Barry University student to earn the prestigious award. School of Social Work Associate Professor Sharron Singleton is a previous winner of the award in 1988-89.
Funds for the MHSAFP are provided by the Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
For more information on minority fellowship grants available from the CSWE, visit their site at www.cswe.org.