Education and Youth Development - Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

Doctoral �� awarded grant to launch volleyball leadership program for Afghan refugee girls

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:24:22 +0000

Saria Bechara, a social work doctoral �� at the ��, has received grant funding to launch a community-based volleyball and leadership program for Afghan refugee girls and young women in the St. Louis region. Bechara received a Transform Grant through the St. Louis Impact Fund to establish the Afghan Refugee Girls’ Volleyball Leadership League in partnership with Monarch Immigrant Services. Supported by WashU’s Office of the Provost and donations to the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, Transform Grants fund ��-led projects that address regional priorities through partnerships with local nonprofit and civic organizations. The pilot program will begin this fall and run through April 2027, bringing together 20 Afghan refugee girls and young women ages 13...

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Brown School awards 31 scholarships to strengthen small St. Louis-area nonprofits

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:53:06 +0000

The �� Professional Development Program awarded 31 scholarships this summer to nonprofit professionals across the St. Louis region, aiming to strengthen leadership development, fundraising capacity and operational effectiveness. The Capacity Building Scholarships were available to staff members at organizations with annual operating budgets of $2 million or less. Each award covered full tuition for one course in the Brown School’s Summer Institute, which began in June and drew participants from organizations working in community services, education, health care and social support. Courses included donor solicitation, managing people and teams, project management and grant writing. Nicole Wood, assistant director of professional development, said the program received 38 applications representing 65 nonprofit professionals. Organizations were allowed to submit up to...

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CSD receives grant for next phase of SEED OK study

Roger — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 17:51:01 +0000

Researchers at the �� have received a $311,796 grant from the Brady Education Foundation to continue a landmark 18-year study examining how early asset-building policies influence children’s educational success. Led by Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and co-director of the Center for Social Development, and the CSD team, the project builds on the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) initiative, the nation’s largest and longest randomized policy experiment on Child Development Accounts. Launched in 2007 with 2,704 Oklahoma newborns, the study examines whether investment accounts opened automatically at birth, in combination with seed deposits and savings incentives, improve children’s educational and developmental outcomes over time. The Brady-funded project will support Wave 4 of data collection...

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Chung receives Spencer Foundation grant to study postsecondary options in St. Louis

Roger — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:02:58 +0000

The ��’s Social System Design Lab has received a $75,000 Spencer Foundation grant to study pathways from high school to careers in St. Louis. This collaborative vision planning grant will support a new research initiative focused on improving diverse education-to-career pathways for ��s in St. Louis. Principal investigator Saras Chung, a research associate professor and director of the Social System Design Lab, is leading this work in close partnership with diverse St. Louis community partners, including educators, business leaders and community nonprofits. This grant is a first step toward a potential larger award — up to $3.5 million — through the Spencer Foundation’s Transformative Research Grant program, which supports ambitious efforts to advance equity in education systems. The project...

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Alumna brings global Indigenous education expertise to Chicago classroom

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:13:41 +0000

When Loreina Hsien graduated in August 2025 with dual master’s degrees in education from Arts & Sciences and social work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, she expected to pursue a career in international development, policy advocacy or Indigenous cultural preservation. Instead, less than a year later, she found herself teaching English language arts at a middle school on Chicago’s West Side, where educators and ��s contend with long-standing challenges, including underinvestment, community violence, and high teacher turnover. The path was unexpected. But Hsien said the classroom became a place where years of experience in education, Indigenous initiatives, international relations, and trauma-informed practice converged. “I thought my path would continue through international cross-disciplinary work and Indigenous...

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Panel examines migration policy, vulnerability and survivor support

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:22:53 +0000

The Clark-Fox Policy Institute, Forced Migration Initiative and the Brown School Global Programs Office recently convened researchers and frontline practitioners working across the United States and internationally for “Borders, Vulnerability, and Protection: Rethinking Trafficking and Migration Policy,” a panel exploring the lived realities of migrants and trafficking survivors and the policy environments that influence their experiences. Hosted as part of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute’s Senior Policy Fellows initiative, the event reflected the institute’s commitment to connecting research, lived experience and policy to advance more effective and evidence-informed solutions for children, families and communities. The panel was led by Brown School faculty member and CFPI Senior Policy Fellow Mitra Naseh, assistant professor and founding director of the Forced Migration Initiative, and included social work scholar and researcher...

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Student wins Skandalaris Center funding for youth civic engagement venture

admin — Thu, 07 May 2026 17:54:32 +0000

A �� has won funding to expand a youth civic engagement initiative aimed at increasing public understanding of policy issues and supporting emerging leaders. Ella Dennis, who is pursuing a master’s degree in social work, was awarded an Innovation Grant through the WashU Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship during the Spring 2026 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) on April 15. Dennis was named an Innovator Funding winner for her startup, the Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE). The ��-centered policy program provides hands-on mentorship and publication opportunities to young policy thinkers while producing accessible, nonpartisan policy briefs to cultivate a more informed public. “Too often, policy conversations feel inaccessible to the very people most affected by them, including young people,” Dennis said....

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New funding expands Brown School–linked suicide prevention initiative in Missouri schools

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:06:45 +0000

A suicide prevention initiative that began at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is expanding statewide under a new name, supported by new funding to strengthen how Missouri schools prevent and respond to �� suicide risk. The program, now known as the Missouri Hope Policy Academy, has received support from the Missouri Suicide Prevention Network, in collaboration with the Missouri Behavioral Health Council, to develop curriculum and evaluate the scaled-up effort. The academy helps school districts build stronger suicide prevention, intervention and postvention policies. The initiative builds on work that began in 2019 at the Brown School, when faculty researchers sought to better understand how Missouri school districts approached suicide prevention and response at the policy level....

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Font testifies on adoption programs before House subcommittee

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:09:32 +0000

Sarah Font, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on the child welfare system, testified March 26 before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on the topic of federal funding for adoption programs. The hearing, titled “Advancing Permanency in Child Welfare: Leveraging Federal Funding for Adoption Programs,” focused on improving adoption outcomes for children in foster care. Font told the subcommittee that states routinely fail to facilitate timely, safe and stable adoptions. She cited federal data showing children spend a median of 31 months in foster care before adoption, with some states averaging more than 45 months. According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting...

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Chung co-authors chapter in book on emerging trends in school social work

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 17:34:47 +0000

The social work profession is rapidly evolving, driven by the growth of online mental health services, renewed attention to its history, and an expanding role in policy advocacy, particularly for marginalized communities. A new book explores these shifts and their implications for school social work practice. Saras Chung, a research associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, co-authored a chapter in “Emerging Trends in School Social Work Practice: Responding to Rapid Change in Educational Ecosystems,” published by Oxford University Press. Chung contributed Chapter 13, “Public School Districts as Policy Battlegrounds.” Her chapter explores the ethical and practical challenges school social workers face under restrictive school policies. It offers guidance on advocacy, maintaining ethical standards, and...

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College remains a strong investment — even with �� debt, study finds

Roger — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 15:38:15 +0000

Even after factoring in �� loan payments, completing a college degree continues to pay off, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School. The study, published Nov. 3 by the Brookings Institution, finds that degree holders earn on average $8,000 more per year than similar individuals who attended college but did not complete a degree — even after accounting for �� loan payments. Without factoring in debt, the earnings premium rises to $10,400 per year. “Despite concerns about rising tuition costs and growing debt, the data show that higher education remains a worthwhile financial investment,” said Jason Jabbari, an assistant professor at the Brown School, faculty director of the Clark-Fox Policy...

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How racial stress shapes Black parents’ confidence in discussing race, study finds

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:16:22 +0000

Black parents who experience racism in their daily lives may feel more confident discussing race and discrimination with their children, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. �� 75% of Black adults in the U.S. report facing some form of racial discrimination, according to the Pew Research Center. The study suggests that these experiences influence how parents approach conversations about race and racism with their children. Titled “Navigating Racial Stress: How Black Mothers’ and Fathers’ Trauma Shapes Confidence in Talking �� Racism,” the study was published in the Journal of Black Psychology. It was led by Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes, a Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar and professor at the Brown School. Researchers surveyed 681 Black parents,...

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Jabbari receives grant to study social mobility

Roger — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 18:38:35 +0000

Jason Jabbari, an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a two-year $352,943 grant from Arnold Ventures to evaluate the impact of the Cristo Rey Network’s professional work-based learning model on social mobility and racial equity. The Cristo Rey Network, which serves low-income ��s, combines college-preparatory curriculum with a corporate work-study program in which ��s work one day per week at a local corporation. Jabbari, along with Shaun Dougherty of Boston College, Lauren Russell of the University of Pennsylvania, and Fahvyon Jimenez of Jimenez Strategy & Analytics, will work with a variety of administrative datasets to compare college and employment outcomes of Cristo Rey graduates to similar non-attending applicants. “By leveraging historical application...

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Faculty, PhD �� receive grant to study adolescent girls in Ghana

Myra — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:33:30 +0000

Two members of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis have received a 2025 Seed Grant from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) to study sexual risk behaviors among adolescent girls in Ghana, drawing insights from both mothers and daughters. The grant recipients are Proscovia Nabunya, associate professor at the Brown School and director of the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD); Portia Nartey, a third-year doctoral �� in social work and research associate at ICHAD; and Juliet Iwelunmor, professor of medicine and associate director for global health and dissemination at WashU Medicine. Nartey will work under the mentorship of Nabunya and Iwelunmor. The research will focus on Ghana’s eastern region, which faces high poverty rates and...

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Brown School establishes endowed practicum award honoring Jeremy T. Goldbach’s legacy

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:25:00 +0000

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is raising funds to create a practicum award honoring Jeremy T. Goldbach, a faculty member and nationally recognized scholar on LGBTQ+ mental health who died of cancer in June at age 42. The Jeremy T. Goldbach Practicum Award will provide a paid practicum, helping reduce the financial barriers for a Master of Social Work �� seeking field experience in areas aligned with Goldbach’s legacy. Goldbach joined the Brown School in 2021 after spending a decade at the University of Southern California. In 2022, he was named the first Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education. He also served as associate dean for faculty affairs and directed the Sexuality, Health and Gender (SHAG)...

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