School of Social Work's 10th Annual All Gifts Count

Thanks to alums and supporters like you, we reached our goal for the 10th All Gifts Count Campaign! Gifts will support immediate needs that impact students and the School, increase J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) initiatives, advance research, offer scholarship support, and expand community outreach programs.

Today is the last day of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work.

Stacey Greaves is a second-year student at the School and is also one of three recipients of this year’s Alumni Association Scholarship. As a Substance Use Disorders Interventions Fellowship (SUDIF) Fellow, Stacey receives specialized training and coursework while attending the MSW program. Her field internships include facilitating Substance Use Disorder groups and seeing individual clients at Healthy Lives, a behavioral health agency in Baltimore City, and facilitating IOP groups and individual clients at IBR Reach, a methadone clinic in Baltimore. This year, Stacey also attended the Tuerk Conference and was a student volunteer at the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence Conference. She has also become an Alcohol and Drug Trainee (ADT) and has been certified as a Child and Family Resiliency Practitioner (CFRP).

This National Social Work Month, please consider supporting social work students like Stacey by making a gift to our General Scholarship Fund.

“After my divorce, I decided it was time for me to go back to school. I knew it would be tough as a single mom of five. There was a lot to figure out to ensure that my family was still provided for emotionally, physically, and financially. As a mother, a full-time employee, and a full-time grad student, there is always something to stress about. At one time I had to get a second job to make ends meet. Scholarships have allowed me to continue my social work education while providing some relief from the never-ending financial worries. The best part – this education will allow me to help others in the same situation!”

-Stacey Greaves, MSW ’23 

The Alumni Association Scholarship is a fund that was established by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. This scholarship is an example of how UMSSW alums can make a lasting impact on social work students like Stacey. Gifts to the Scholarship Fund today will go towards supplementing the Alumni Association Scholarship for next year.

Please continue this tradition of alumni support by supporting the School’s General Scholarship Fund.

Today is Day 9 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10^th for our Homecoming celebrations!  

Megan Bautista is the Program Manager for Tax Partnerships at the CASH Campaign of Maryland, a non-profit organization that promotes economic advancement for low-to-moderate income individuals through financial services and education. Although Megan is not a social worker, she completed UMSSW’s Financial Social Work Certificate Program, which provides social workers, non-social workers, and other helping professionals with the tools to advance their clients’ and communities’ financial health and well-being.

This certificate program is only one of many different ways that Financial Social Work Initiative (FSWI), which works with the Behavioral Health and Well-Being (BHWell) Lab and other UMSSW entities, endeavors to advance economic justice. FSWI also provides important student engagement opportunities in financial social work, as well as critical research that evaluates practice, both clinical and macro.  

"As a non-social worker, I attribute so much of my work style and approach to working with clients to the Financial Social Work Certificate program. Not only did my FSW training provide me with the tools and skills needed to center financial capability and empathy in all of my programs and services, it also compelled me to process and formulate my own financial identity, and helped me to better articulate my lived experiences until I transformed them into professional strengths."

- Megan Gisela Bautista (they/them or she/her)

Program Manager for Tax Partnerships CASH Campaign of Maryland

Financial well-being is essential for everybody. Through its integrated approach, FSWI enables social workers and non-social workers to advance their clients’ financial needs and well-being. With your contributions, you provide critical resources that support programmatic needs.

Today is Day 8 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10th for our Homecoming celebrations!

Mental health and well-being are so critical to the workplace. The University of Maryland School of Social Work’s Social Work in the Workplace/Employee Assistance sub-specialization is recognized for preparing social workers to enter the world of workplace social work and Employee Assistance.

By investing in the Social Work in the Workplace/Employee Assistance Fund, you support the next generation of social workers.

“Throughout my career I have noticed that holding an extensive background knowledge of what it means to establish and manage an EAP can also assist in reaching populations within the jobsite that might not understand their mental health or wellbeing. By supporting the Social Work in the Workplace & Employee Assistance Fund you increase the visibility of mental healthcare workers and their interactions with the population. Advocating to have mental health resources within the workplace not only normalizes the need to check in every once in a while but it shows how this is an issue that can impact anyone, anywhere. Lastly, by increasing support for the Social Work in the Workplace & Employee Assistance Fund you aid in growing the student-to-provider pipeline as well as an already established network. This in my opinion is core to the health and continued success of the program.”

-Ramonte Crowder, MSW ’16, LCSW-C, SAP (he/him) 
Founder & President, Dedication Counseling LLC 

This National Social Work Month, please consider supporting the School of Social Work in the Social Work in the Workplace & Employee Assistance Fund. Your contributions impact students and programs that support this growing field. This includes students who work with faculty and staff connected to the field, the International Employee Assistance Digital Archive, and events supporting the growth of Employee Assistance and broader social work in the workplace fields.

Today is Day 7 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10th for our Homecoming celebrations!

Jodi Frey, PhD ‘04, MSW ’98 is a Professor and the Associate Dean for Research at the School as well as the Founder and Faculty Executive Director of the recently launched the Behavioral Health & Well-Being (BHWell) Lab. The BHWell Lab focuses on research and research-based practice and training on emerging adult and adult behavioral health and well-being. At the BHWell Lab, researchers collaborate with students and community partners to conduct important studies to improve prevention, education, and intervention in five major areas:

1. mental health and well-being;
2. addictive behaviors;
3. trauma, abuse, and suicide;
4. work-life integration;
5. financial well-being and economic justice.

As a newly established organization, the BHWell Lab needs support for operational and programmatic expenses, including support for MSW and PhD students. With your investment, the Lab will take Social Work Research to the next level in behavioral health. Please consider supporting the BHWell Lab and the impactful work they do. 

“Social work is a leader in behavioral health and wellbeing practice – we also need to support our field in research to ensure that new programs and practices are effective, equitable and just. As social workers, we bring a unique lens focused on social justice to this work. The BHWell Lab also provides hands-on experiences in all areas of adult and emerging adult behavioral health and well-being research; to learn to respond to the needs of the community and to shape the BHWell Lab's research agenda. Together the BHWell Lab teams work to translate research into practice and integrate practice into research.” 

Jodi J. Frey, PhD ’04, MSW ’98, LCSW-C, CEAP Professor and Associate Dean for Research  Founder & Faculty Executive Director of The Behavioral Health & Well-Being (BHWell) Lab

The BHWell Lab provides MSW and PhD students with resources to pursue research opportunities both as a student and post graduation. For National Social Work Month, will you invest in the BHWell Lab and critical research?

Pictured: Julia Scott, MSW '24 (left) and Neijma Celestine-Donnor, MSW '09, J.D. (right)

Today is Day 6 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10th for our Homecoming celebrations!

Since its establishment in 2020, the School’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI) have coordinated and implemented numerous initiatives and programs within the School. They have organized educational initiatives, awards recognition for UMSSW community members who show commitment to DEI, and other programs designed to make the School a better place for everyone. One example of their impact is the Book Lending Program, an initiative that enables students to borrow textbooks for the semester.

By making a gift to the School’s DEI Fund, you invest in initiatives like this that make the School of Social Work a better place for everyone.

“The ODEI Book Lending Program has worked towards more equitable outcomes for SSW by reducing the burden of textbook costs for our MSW students and ensuring that all students regardless of their circumstances, have access to textbooks. Since its inception in Fall 2022 to present time, student participation in the book lending program has increased by 27%. By giving to the DEI Fund, you support impactful projects like the Book Lending Program, which helps us achieve our goal of making SSW more equitable institution where every student can thrive.”

- Neijma Celestine-Donnor, MSW ‘09, J.D. (she/her)
Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Director, ODEI

 - Julia Scott, MSW ‘24 (she/her)
DEI Coordinator

By supporting the DEI Fund, you give ODEI the opportunity to continue and to grow their programs. During this National Social Work Month, please consider investing in critical DEI Programs at the School.

We are grateful for support from our alumni and friends during our 10th Annual All Gifts Count Campaign.

During this National Social Work Month, we hope you make a gift to support our students, invest in research, and help us serve our community.

We need your help to reach our goal of 100 donors. There’s still time to make your gift!

Today is Day 3 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10th for our Homecoming celebrations!

LaTia Glasgow is a second-year student at the School and a macro social work student under SWCOS, a program within the new Center for Restorative Change. During her field internship at the Julie Community Center (JCC), LaTia has had a significant impact on the organizations and communities she serves, including:

• Increasing JCC’s capacity, as well as the capacity of two other community-university partner organizations. Because of her efforts, families served by Soccer Without Borders can now access services available through JCC.
• Coordinating community engagement and support for a mural.

• Supporting management of pantry and food distribution at JCC in partnership with Wolfe Street Academy.
• Partnering with University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law students to support and provide resource referrals to families facing eviction in Prince George's County

Will you support macro social work students like LaTia during National Social Work Month?

“SWCOS provides opportunities, resources, and a supportive network of professional macro social workers that enrich my training in a way that I would not otherwise receive. I'm also given the opportunity to engage with my peers in a way that creates a supportive community, encouraging and holding each other accountable. My experiences with SWCOS have affirmed my journey toward macro social work and its potential for my life and career.” 

-LaTia Glasgow, MSW ’23 (she/her/they/them) 

SWCOS has been training social work students and serving the community for over 30 years through programs like Family Connections Baltimore and the Positive Schools Center. In 2021, SWCOS and Promise Heights merged in order to create a more aligned strategy for community partnership and improve collaborative partnerships. To recognize the evolution of SWCOS and Promise Heights, their leadership and staff are renaming their unit to The Center for Restorative Change (The Center). Click here to learn more about the reason behind the name change.

Please consider supporting macro social work students like LaTia by making a gift to SWCOS or to other units within The Center for Restorative Change.  

Today is Day 2 of our All Gifts Count Campaign: Ten Days of Social Work. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift. During our campaign, we are featuring Changemakers who make an impact on the School of Social Work. Please also join us on March 10th for our Homecoming celebrations!

Jamie Rosen is a second-year student at the School and is also one of three recipients of this year's Alumni Association Scholarship. Jamie has had two field internships at Montgomery County Child Welfare Services and Jonah Green and Associates, where she provides low-cost therapy to children and families. She also had the opportunity to co-author two peer-reviewed research publications on the experiences of parents raising biracial, multiracial, and bi-ethnic children with Professor Geoffrey Greif and some of her peers.

This National Social Work Month, please consider supporting social work students by making a gift to our General Scholarship Fund. 

“Scholarship support helped offset my tuition expenses, reducing the financial burden of the MSW program on my family at a time when my husband and I have two kids in preschool and I gave birth to a third baby who needs childcare too. It also made me feel like the university, its alumni, and my community were all rooting for me on my journey to become a social worker serving children and families in Maryland.”

- Jamie Rosen, MSW '23 (she/her)

Scholarship awards provide critical financial support that enable students to begin or to continue their social work education. Please consider supporting students like Jamie today by making a gift to the School’s General Scholarship Fund. 

Happy National Social Work Month! Although there is still more work to do and more barriers to break, this month is an opportunity to pause and celebrate our work – and us!

I hope that you will be able to join us for Homecoming and Critical Convos. I’m especially looking forward to hearing from Dr. Anthony Estreet, the new CEO of the National Association of Social Workers and our Homecoming keynote speaker this year. 

March is also when we hold our All Gifts Count fundraising campaign, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. This campaign is all about the power of giving, no matter the amount of your gift.

In honor of this milestone, our campaign will run from March 1st to March 10th with the Ten Days of Social Work. Throughout the campaign, we’ll feature Changemakers for the School, and supporters will have an opportunity to give. As we celebrate National Social Work Month, please consider supporting the next generation of social workers – whether it’s through making a contribution to scholarships, community outreach, or one of the many academic programs that enhance social work education for our students.

This year, our goal is for 100 alumni and friends to participate – please help us make our goal by making a gift of any amount!

We are so lucky to have a supportive network of alums and friends – your support makes an impact on our students and School every day. Thank you so much for considering a gift!

With warmest regards,

Judy L. Postmus, PhD, ACSW
Dean & Professor