SUPPORT

Proven impacto

Innovations in indigenous health

With more than $17 million in funding since 2012 from sources including the National Institutes of Health, the School-affiliated Indigenous Wellness Research Institute has created a pipeline of projects that apply science-based innovations to improving the health of indigenous peoples. They include a culturally adapted counseling program to address risk factors for cardiovascular disease, an online HIV prevention tool that taps the power of social networking, and an outdoor-based experiential program to reduce obesity among Choctaw women. The NIH has designated the Institute as a national Comprehensive Center of Excellence—a first for a school of social work. The Institute works with tribal organizations to build their research capacity and encourage indigenous youth to develop science and research skills.

New insights

into diversity, aging and health across generations

In 2014, the Gerontological Society of America selected the School as the site of a Healthy Generations Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work—one of only five such centers in the nation. The Center educates social work students in cross-generational health and wellbeing, develops curriculum for students and practitioners, and advances research, particularly in marginalized communities. “The Center enables us to respond in innovative ways to the changing nature of aging in our society,” says Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen, an expert on the intersection of health, aging and well-being in diverse communities.

The Center is currently piloting an initiative called Hidden Strengths, which aims to transform how kinship caregivers—such as grandparents caring for grandchildren—are served and supported. This project breaks down barriers to fragmented age-based services and helps practitioners enhance the strengths of families facing intergenerational trauma and other health challenges.

A MODEL FOR ONCOLOGY SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Over the past decade, the School’s Carol LaMare Oncology and Palliative Care Scholars Program has become a model for training practitioners in working with people who have life-threatening illnesses. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Taryn Lindhorst—recipient of a 2015 UW Distinguished Teaching Award—the program has expanded to include intensive mentoring and field placements at local hospices and Seattle’s leading cancer centers, as well as research opportunities for affiliated scholars. Of the 52 scholarship recipients to date, nearly one-fourth have been people of color. Several are cancer survivors. The professorship, scholarships and success of the program are the result of a generous endowment and gifts from alumna Lynn and Howard Behar.

Strong supporto

Realizing dreams, reducing debt

Social work professionals express high job satisfaction, but it comes at a cost: Nearly 70 percent of U.S. graduates in the field incur debt to finance their degree; about half describe the debt load as unreasonable. The School is doing all it can to offset this burden through fundraising and grants— about $1.7 million annually from various sources. Additional student support comes from a $1.44 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to educate social workers specializing in behavioral health. Over three academic years, 99 MSW students will each receive a stipend of $10,000 to fund their training toward a career in child and adolescent behavioral health. Another three-year, $939,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will support curriculum enhancements, faculty and community practitioner training, and stipends of $5,000 for students in clinical field placements—helping them realize their dream of creating enduring change without lingering debt.

Revenue Sources & Expenditures

Fiscal Year 2015

6% 19%

9%

MAJOR REVENUE SOURCES

45% 21%

45% Externally Funded Sponsored Research $27.8M ___________________________________________________________________________ 21% Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence $12.7M ___________________________________________________________________________ 19% UW Educational and Operational Revenue $12.1M ___________________________________________________________________________ 9% Philanthropic Contributions and Gift Interest $5.5M ___________________________________________________________________________ 6% Self-Sustaining Activities $3.8M ___________________________________________________________________________ TOTAL REVENUE $61.9M

MAJOR EXPENDITURES

26% 26% 8%

5%

8%

35%

35% Externally Funded Sponsored Research $14.5M ___________________________________________________________________________ 26% Educational and Operational Expenditures $11M ___________________________________________________________________________ 26% Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence $10.9M ___________________________________________________________________________ 8% Philanthropic Distributions and Awards $3.2M ___________________________________________________________________________ 5% Self-Sustaining Activities $2.3M ___________________________________________________________________________ TOTAL EXPENDITURES $41.9M

Note: The UW 2015 fiscal year began on July 1, 2014, and ended on June 30, 2015.