Center of Excellence | Centro de Excelencia

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  2. Center of Excellence | Centro de Excelencia
Staff, faculty, and students associated with the Center of Excellence
For Latinx/Hispanic Social Work Practice | Para la Práctica del Trabajo Social Latino/Hispano.

The Atrévete Center of Excellence for Latinx/Hispanic Social Work Practice is designed to build a pipeline of Latinx students from high schools and community colleges to the Accelerated B.S.W. to M.S.W. program, recruit and retain Latinx faculty, facilitate student-faculty research on cultural adaptations of evidence-based interventions, and build community partnerships to provide experiential learning for the clinical social work students.

Directly Combatting a State Inequity

11 students sitting around tables enthusiastically raising their hands

Housed inside the School of Social Work at Rhode Island College, and funded through a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Center of Excellence (COE) was created to fill the void of racial and cultural diversity in Rhode Island's behavioral healthcare workforce. By 2027, the COE anticipates it will add as many as 55 trained bilingual providers to the state. 

"Latinx/Hispanics in Rhode Island experience the highest rates of fair/poor health overall among all racial and ethnic groups in the state. Moreover, all these factors result in a greater risk of behavioral health problems for Hispanics in Rhode Island."

from the community to the community | de la comunidad para la comunidad

5 Major Goals

The mission of the center is multifaceted and it plans to address these goals:

A Pipeline

  • create a pipeline of Latinx students from high schools and community colleges to RIC’s B.S.W. and eventually M.S.W. programs

Recruiting and Retaining

  • recruit and retain Latinx faculty at the School of Social Work

Community Partnerships and Experiential Learning

  • build community partnerships to provide experiential learning for clinical social work students

Revamping Curriculum

  • strengthen curriculum to address issues regarding Hispanic and other minority populations

Culturally Responsive Research

  • conduct research on culturally adapted evidence-based interventions for mental health issues that impact the Latinx and Hispanic community

Focus Areas for Success

Center of Excellence leadership addressing groups of students at tables

Our lead staff members are responsible for necessary, varied, yet complimentary focus areas that will be pivotal in fulfilling our goals as a center. Our focus areas consist of:

  • curriculum and training development, including interprofessional practice competencies
  • student recruitment, mentoring, retention, and graduation
  • student-faculty research
  • faculty development
  • community partnerships

A Center to Tackle a Specific, Local Need

Latinx/Hispanics in Rhode Island experience the highest rates of fair/poor health overall among all racial and ethnic groups in the state. (U.S. Census data, 2021)
Latinx/Hispanics in Rhode Island experience disproportionately high poverty rates, unemployment, food insecurity, lack of affordable and stable housing, and systemic inequities in education. (U.S. Census data, 2021)
At 24.0%, Hispanics in Rhode Island made up far more than the national average (16.5%) of the reported cases of mental health diagnoses for that year. (SAMHSA, 2019)

Our Team

Principal Investigator: Jayashree Nimmagadda, Ph.D., MSW, LICSW; Co-Director of the Center: Joise Garzon, Ph.D., MSW, LICSW; Co-Director of the Center: Vilna Tejeda DSW, MSW, LICSW; Faculty Development Coordinator: Aswood Bousseau DSW, MSW, LICSW; Student Recruitment Coordinator: Mary Archibald Ph.D., MSW, LICSW; Evaluator: Dr. Daniel Weisman, Ph.D., MSW;  Evaluation Coordinator: Amanda Monaghan, MSW, LICSW

Our Funding

The Center is generously funded through a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

This project is supported by the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) in Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

Making Change | Haciendo el Cambio

Our Center in the News

Students sitting together, smiling, raising their hands

Providence Business News

Rhode Island College social work student Julianna Alcantra, center, participates in the welcome event held by Atrévete Center of Excellence for Latinx/Hispanic Social Work Practice at the start of the fall semester. With her is, from the foreground, fellow students Vanessa Sanchez, Olivia Campos and Crissany Nazario.

Closing R.I.’s Language Gap in Behavioral Health Care
Rhode Island College entrance

Questions?

Contact the Center